Elon Musk Announces Plans to Replace Twitter’s Bird Logo
In a surprising turn of events, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, announced that he will be making significant changes to Twitter’s branding. Musk, who took control of the social media giant last fall, tweeted early Sunday morning about his plans to bid farewell to the iconic bird logo that has become synonymous with the platform.
“Soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk tweeted. He then added that if a good enough X logo is posted that night, it would go live worldwide the following day. The term “X” refers to Musk’s vision of creating an “everything app,” which combines social media, instant messaging, and payment services, similar to China’s popular WeChat app.
Musk has previously stated that acquiring Twitter is a vital step towards realizing his vision for the “everything app.” To facilitate this acquisition, he established a corporate entity called X Holdings. Speaking on a Twitter audio livestream, Musk expressed his intentions to change the platform’s logo, acknowledging that the change should have happened a long time ago and apologizing for the delay.
Hours later, Musk sent an email to Twitter employees confirming that the change to the X branding would occur that day. This marks his final message from a Twitter email, as he signed off with a salute emoji. As the owner of the company since taking it private, Musk has few barriers to implementing these alterations. However, potential resistance may arise from the banks that have provided billions in loans and private investors involved in the deal. Concerns could be raised regarding the removal of one of Twitter’s most recognizable assets.
Twitter has faced its fair share of challenges recently, with a decline in advertising revenue, multiple sales executive departures, and worries over problematic content on the platform. Additionally, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, recently introduced Threads, a well-funded rival to Twitter.
At the time of writing, Twitter has not responded to requests for comment regarding Musk’s announcement. Nevertheless, Musk’s affinity for the letter X is well-known. He co-founded online bank X.com in 1999, later merging it with another start-up to create PayPal. In 2017, he repurchased the domain name X.com from PayPal.
It’s worth noting that Musk has not always followed through on his public statements. For example, he previously tweeted about creating a content moderation council for Twitter, but no such council materialized. Nonetheless, Musk has made changes to certain Twitter practices, such as discontinuing free verification for prominent users and introducing a subscription fee for the checkmark verification badge.
As Musk continues to make headlines with his ambitious plans and ventures, the tech world eagerly awaits the unveiling of Twitter’s new logo and the potential future developments under his leadership.