Elon Musk, who took control of Twitter last fall, revealed plans to make a significant visual alteration to the platform: replacing the iconic bird logo that has long been associated with the social media giant.
In a tweet, Musk shared that the Twitter brand would soon bid farewell to its bird-themed imagery, stating, "gradually, all the birds" will be phased out. He went on to propose that if a suitable X logo is posted that night, it would go live worldwide the following day.
The letter "X" refers to Musk's vision for an "everything app," a platform that combines social media, instant messaging and payment services, similar to China's popular app, WeChat. Musk believes that acquiring Twitter will expedite the creation of this ambitious project, and to facilitate this, he established a corporate entity called X Holdings to purchase and manage Twitter.
Musk reaffirmed his intent to change Twitter's logo, expressing regret that it hadn't been done sooner and apologizing for the delay.
Since Musk privatized Twitter as part of his acquisition, he has exercised significant power in making these changes. However, potential obstacles could arise from the banks that have lent him substantial amounts and private investors involved in the deal, who might raise concerns about discarding one of Twitter's most recognizable assets.
Twitter has faced challenges, including a decline in advertising revenue, executive departures and concerns about problematic content. Additionally, it now faces competition from Threads, a well-funded Twitter-like service introduced by Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
As for Musk's fascination with the letter X, it has a history dating back to 1999, when he co-founded X.com, an online bank that later merged with another startup to form PayPal. In 2017, he even repurchased the X.com domain from PayPal.
While Musk hasn't always followed through on all his public statements, he has already made some changes to Twitter, such as ending free verification for prominent users' accounts and introducing a subscription fee for the checkmark verification instead. The transition to X branding appears to be a more substantial move, signaling his commitment to transforming the platform.