Late on Sunday, Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter last year, initiated a significant rebranding effort for the social media platform. Twitter, known for its blue and white bird logo that symbolized its unique culture and language, saw major changes. The platform’s website was renamed X.com, and the iconic bird logo was replaced by a stylized version of the 24th letter of the Latin alphabet.
Inside Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Monday, the transformation was evident. X logos were projected in the cafeteria, and conference rooms were given new names featuring the letter X, such as “eXposure,” “eXult,” and “s3Xy,” as revealed in photos seen by The New York Times. To align with the rebranding, bird-related decorations and items, including a large blue logo in the cafeteria, were removed by the workers.
Outside the building, workers even attempted to remove the first six letters of the Twitter name, but they were halted by the San Francisco Police Department for engaging in “unauthorized work,” as per an alert issued by the department.
Musk had previously hinted that the name would change, but in an early Sunday morning tweet, he accelerated the process by saying that “soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” He has stated that he wants to make Twitter into a “everything app” named X, which would include social networking as well as banking and retail.
Earlier on Monday, Mr. Musk posted a picture of a huge X that was projected onto the Twitter office building in San Francisco along with the remark, “Our headquarters tonight.”
Many long-time Twitter users felt alienated by the sudden shift. Actor Mark Hamill even tweeted about the “eXecrable” new logo with the hashtag #ByeByeBirdie. Some users remained defiant, pledging to continue calling the platform Twitter and using the term “tweet.”
According to Mike Proulx from Forrester, brands becoming verbs is a coveted achievement as it signifies their integration into popular culture. By rebranding, Musk effectively erased 15 years of Twitter’s brand value, essentially starting anew.
Mr. Musk’s decision to change the logo and name came with risks. Twitter users were discontented, and this move could have negative consequences for Musk’s company, which is already facing financial challenges and increased competition from Meta’s Threads app.
Mike Carr from Name Stormers commented on the X logo, suggesting it could be interpreted as having an ominous “Big Brother” tech vibe, unlike the warm and cuddly but somewhat dated and negatively perceived blue bird logo.
In summary, Mr. Musk’s actions have resulted in a major rebranding of Twitter, but it has also sparked backlash and concerns about its impact on the platform’s users and future.
The choice of the letter X for the rebranding could be advantageous for Mr. Musk as it evokes phrases like “X marks the spot” and helps differentiate the platform from its Twitter associations, according to Mr. Carr, a branding expert who has worked with numerous clients, including CarMax.
The letter X has been of personal significance to Mr. Musk for various reasons. In 1999, he co-founded X.com, an online bank that later became PayPal after merging with another start-up. Mr. Musk also has other connections to the letter, such as the Model X SUV in his company Tesla, one of his son’s names being X Æ A-12 Musk, and holding companies involved in the Twitter acquisition being named X Holdings. Furthermore, Mr. Musk leads an artificial intelligence company called xAI, showcasing his affinity for the letter.
The tech billionaire has expressed discontent with Twitter’s previous corporate culture, finding fault with the numerous bird references in the company’s internal team names and products. He even changed the name of a fact-checking feature from “Birdwatch” to “Community Notes” and had the letter “w” in Twitter’s name covered at the company’s San Francisco headquarters.
Despite the change, some Twitter founders, like Jack Dorsey, didn’t seem bothered by the rebranding. Dorsey acknowledged that while a new name wasn’t essential for Mr. Musk’s vision, there was a valid argument for it. He emphasized that the utility the platform provides is more critical than its name.
In the past, Twitter’s bird logo was designed to represent simplicity, brevity, and clarity, aiming for a memorable impact similar to iconic brands like Apple and Nike, as explained by Martin Grasser, a San Francisco artist involved in designing the most recent Twitter bird logo in 2011.