In a series of surprising announcements, Twitter owner Elon Musk has revealed that the social media giant will soon undergo a significant rebranding, including a change of its logo and the elimination of its long-standing blue bird symbol. The new logo will incorporate an "X", marking a radical departure from the platform's traditional branding.
Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion and subsequently merged it into an entity called X Corp, took to the platform to announce the changes. "Soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds," he tweeted. He further added, "If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we'll make it go live worldwide tomorrow."
The move has been met with mixed reactions, with some users expressing nostalgia for the iconic blue bird, which has been a part of Twitter's brand identity since its inception. However, Musk defended the decision during a brief Twitter Spaces appearance, stating, "It should have been done a long time ago." He also mentioned that the Twitter logo is being physically removed from the company's San Francisco headquarters with blowtorches.
The rebranding is part of a series of changes Musk has implemented since taking over the company. These include efforts to make advertising more relevant and the introduction of controversial policies such as limiting the number of direct messages a user can send and the number of posts non-paying users can see each day.
Musk's latest tweets come after Meta launched Threads as an alternative to Twitter, with approximately 100 million people reportedly signing up for the Threads app in the first five days of its launch. Despite the competition and the challenges, Musk remains optimistic about Twitter's future under its new brand, "X".
However, these changes have not been without controversy. Some stakeholders, including Fidelity and Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management, have marked down the value of their holdings in the company. Despite this, Musk continues to push forward with his vision for the platform, even hinting at his interest in creating an "everything app," modeled on China's WeChat.
As Twitter prepares to bid farewell to its blue bird and embrace its new identity as "X", the world watches with bated breath to see how these changes will impact the platform's future.
