Elon Musk is removing Twitter Bird in favor of “X”

Since 2006, Twitter has been a favorite app for sharing streams of consciousness, breaking news, or anything else under the sun – just as long as what we share is 280 characters or less. In October 2022 though, Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk for $44 billion, and since then Twitter has slowly taken steps towards rebranding; a rebranding that is more closely aligned with Musk’s overall vision for the future of the app.

A lot has happened since Musk took ownership, with the latest news surrounding how Musk removed the Twitter bird from the app altogether. To bring you up to speed on what is happening behind Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters’ doors, we’ve included everything you need to know about this move below.

What was Twitter’s focus pre-Musk? 

For Twitter users between 2006 and 2022, what you likely encountered was an application where you could post a series of short updates. These updates could be new posts on your feed, replies to users that you follow, or retweets of a post you found that stood out.

With each post maxing out at 280 characters, Twitter was known to deliver us easily digestible content. While Twitter still does this today, the Twitter you find today is different than what you encountered during those 15+ years.

What is Twitter’s focus post-Musk? 

If you go to your search bar and type in “X.com,” that URL will automatically bring you to Twitter.com Musk is no stranger to changing up a company’s norm. Since joining Twitter, Musk already has pushed forward several changes.

One of the first big moves Musk made was laying off half of Twitter’s workforce. Other implementations Musk made included a monthly subscription service, longer tweets, faster and better video quality, limited direct messages for non-paying users, verification only for paying users, and job posting capabilities.

Even though Musk has only been involved with the application for a short while, he hasn’t wasted any time on getting down to work.

Outside of Twitter’s walls though, advertisers have left the platform, causing Twitter to lose nearly half of its advertising stream of revenue. This has impacted Twitter’s cash flow, making the app cashflow-negative so perhaps this big unveiling is a step to try to turn this around.

Why did Musk decide to make this switch to X?

Musk sees Twitter as more than a social update platform. He sees it as a one-stop shop for users. In early conversations, Musk referred to his plans as shifting Twitter to X to represent “the everything app.” Musk wanted to develop a place where users could do anything from posting updates to direct messaging to ordering a taxi to sending payments to everything else. This concept was built off an existing app in China called WeChat that had similar capabilities. 

Using X for the new Twitter name is likely not a surprise for anyone who has followed Musk over the years. He first used this URL for PayPal, he uses the letter across his other companies (SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI), and it is even in his son’s name.

He took the first steps towards Twitter’s new identity back in April 2023 when he changed Twitter’s official name to X Holdings Corp. To add context to Musk’s decision, he tweeted that the reason behind this shift was “to embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique.” This represents Musk’s plans to turn X into a place where everyone has a purpose.

What does this change mean from a branding perspective?

Once Musk found a logo he liked, he switched out the Twitter bird in a matter of a day. This rebranding isn’t a brand-new idea though.

When Musk first took ownership of Twitter, he shared that rebranding the app name and logo was part of his early ideas for Twitter.

Twitter previously relied on its blue hue to convey the social media space it operated in, mimicking the color scheme found on the logos of similar social media apps like Facebook and Skype. Additionally, this color choice conveyed the friendliness of the app and the friendliness of connecting with friends and fellow users.

Musk decided to ditch the blue coloring, changing the branding to black and white and has plans to remove all the Twitter birds across the platform, with Musk saying, “And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” The Twitter bird has been associated with the brand since 2010 so removing them is a monumental move. 

This move is profound because it shows Musk’s plans for a completely reimagined social media outlet. He is making a clear statement that the Twitter you use today is not the Twitter you once used. In advance of the public announcement, Musk emailed his employees telling them it was the last time they would receive an email from him from his Twitter address. 

Externally though, this sudden rebranding may be confusing to users who have been active on the site for a long time. To provide another voice behind the public roll-out of this new rebranding, Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino tweeted “There’s absolutely no limit to this transformation. X will be the platform that can deliver, well …. everything.”

How was the new logo chosen?

Twitter’s previous “Larry T- Bird” was a universally recognizable logo and one of the brand’s key identifiers. Removing the bird and replacing it with a new symbol is a huge undertaking because you need to choose a symbol that can have just as big of an impact as the “Larry T Bird” design did. How

Musk generates buzz often though is through a series of tweets. For this new logo unveiling, Musk did just that. In one of his tweets, Musk wrote, “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make it go live worldwide tomorrow.”  And that is exactly what happened.

The logo that Musk chose for the initial unveiling on July 24, 2023, is a design from user, Sawyer Merritt. Merritt is a co-founder of an apparel company and developed this design based on inspiration from the font used from a discontinued podcast Merritt followed.

If Musk’s new logo for X pays off, this will help get Musk one step closer to aligning the platform with his overall vision for all his companies.

If his move doesn’t pay off, he’ll have to spend some time generating a new user base as he tries to beat out competitors that are trying to become the new “Twitter.”

What do you think of Twitter’s new name and logo? Comment below to share your thoughts!