Twitter officially rebranded to “X” after CEO Elon Musk replaced its iconic bird logo Monday. This change marks a significant shift since his takeover of the social media platform.
Musk tweeted an image of the X branding beamed across Twitter’s headquarters. “We’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blow torches,” Musk said in a Twitter Spaces audio chat.
Our headquarters tonight pic.twitter.com/GO6yY8R7fO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2023
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion last year, the social media platform has undergone sweeping changes, including the transition from bird imagery to an “X”.
Is Twitter becoming a Super App?
The move goes back as far as when the purchase of the company was finalized in October 2022. “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” he tweeted at the time. The rebranding is part of his strategy to create an everything app, similar to China’s WeChat, which combines video chats, messaging, streaming, and payments.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed in a series of posts that the rebrand is the beginning of a move to expand the app in new directions.
“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” she wrote. “Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”
Why ‘X’?
The letter “X” has been a prominent part of Musk’s ventures for over two decades. It was the original name for Paypal. It features in SpaceX company as well as Tesla SUV. His new artificial intelligence company is called X.Ai. And his child is named X Æ A-12. In April, Musk changed the name of the company from Twitter Inc. to X Corp.
Reaction
While some Musk fans celebrated the change, some longtime users of the platform aren’t particularly excited. Marques Brownlee, who joined the service back in 2009, says he’ll still call it Twitter, to which Musk responded, “Not for long.”
Not for long
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
Here are some other reactions on Twitter:
X. the thing I've been trained to click when I want to exit an app. perfect. no notes.
— Wagatwe Wanjuki 🇰🇪 🇧🇸 (@wagatwe) July 23, 2023
Some users pointed out that the logo looked exactly like an X in a certain font.
hey @monotype how much would it cost to license this font exclusively for use in logos pic.twitter.com/xzCWxlRBP2
— mike blackney 🌵 (@kurtruslfanclub) July 24, 2023
