Twitter Rebrands To X

 For more than a decade, Twitter has been known for its blue and white bird logo, which has become a symbol of the social network’s own culture and terminology. The verb “tweet” was created. A post was referred to as a “tweet”. The term “Tweeps” was adopted to refer to Twitter employees.

In April, Elon paid $44 billion for Twitter, and shortly thereafter, the company’s name was changed from Twitter Inc. to X Corp. Since then, he has made more significant changes to the platform that most users don’t like, such as restricting daily direct messaging and daily reading posts for unverified users. Elon explained to his followers that the new logo’s “X” was intended to “embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique.”

Elon’s influence drove Meta, the company that owns Instagram, to introduce Threads, a Twitter rival, on July 5. After the new platform emerged with millions of members, Elon called it a “copycat” and accused it of being imitative. Elon challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a battle on Twitter in June after learning about the platform.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX as well as Twitter’s CTO and executive chairman, stated early on July 15th that the social media company’s cash flow is still negative due to “heavy debt” and a roughly 50% decline in advertising revenue.

According to Musk, “almost all” sponsors had started purchasing Twitter advertisements in April, he told a BBC reporter. At the time, he also asserted that the business was “roughly breakeven” and anticipated turning cash flow positive within the next quarter.

So could this rebranding save Twitter , sorry x

First, Lets talk about what Elon Musk is actually changing in the rebranding

  • The domain name x.com now points to twitter.com 
  • The bird logo has been replaced with the letter x
  • Earlier on Monday, Mr. Musk also shared a photo of a giant X projected on Twitter’s San Francisco office building with the caption: “Our headquarters tonight.”

Behind the scenes, he has changed the platform’s features, such as badges intended to verify users and the regulations dictating what can and cannot be stated on the site, in addition to firing thousands of staff.

Yet it was impossible to overlook the name and logo alterations. By beginning to erase the Twitter name, Mr. Musk changed a well-established brand that had existed since the company’s founding in 2006 and that had simultaneously delighted and irritated celebrities, politicians, athletes, and other users. In 2010, Twitter unveiled its blue bird mascot, which was refreshed two years later.

 

What does this rebranding mean for business?

According to one observer, Twitter, or X, lacks the resources (time, money, and staff) to carry out such a shift. Due to the $13 billion debt load Musk’s acquisition left the company with, most of the crew has been laid off, and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has introduced Threads, a copycat “Twitter killer” product. The company is also highly indebted.

According to Mike Proulx, research director at the consulting firm Forrester, “Musk’s vision is to turn X into a ‘everything app,’ but this requires time, money, and people, three things that the company no longer has.” “As Musk’s company continues to lose money, dissatisfied Twitter users will increasingly flock to Threads. In other words, X’s runway is closing.

Farhad Divecha, the managing director of the UK digital marketing agency Accuracast, says a logo change will not bring back advertisers, but the creation of a plausible “everything app” will. “The logo change marks the start of transitioning towards his vision of X. We’re not recommending advertisers jump on to it just yet, but we are watching this space very closely.”

Will Musk’s rebranding succeed – or fail?

According to Time: Analyst and brand agencies said Musk Move wiped out anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion in value.

“It took 15-plus years to earn that much equity worldwide, so losing Twitter as a brand name is a significant financial hit,” said Steve Susi, director of brand communication at Siegel & Gale.

It’s “completely irrational from a business and brand point of view,” said Allen Adamson, co-founder of the marketing and brand consulting group Metaforce. He called it an “ego decision” on the part of Musk. “To me, it’s going to go down in history as one of the fastest unwinding of a business and brand ever.”

But Elon Musk is now the first business leader to decide that his company needs a makeover

In 2021, social media giant Facebook morphed into Meta, a new identity that reflected owner Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitions for the metaverse (a project which has since been called a flop).

Apple has drastically changed its logo in the decades of its existence, going from a rainbow-colored pome in the 1970s to the sleek, minimal silver fruit on today’s laptops and smartphones.