The blue tweeting bird no more exists. X is the new in. X.com, formerly known as Twitter, created a stir on the internet when it changed its name recently. Now, if you type X.com in your browser, you’ll be redirected to Twitter.com, where you can still “tweet.” Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, announced that he got rid of the bird logo and all words related to “tweet.” This decision, according to experts, caused a loss in value estimated between $4 billion and $20 billion.
Six years ago, Musk took back ownership of X.com. Before Musk took over, Twitter was a well-known social media platform. After he took charge in October, he had a vision for an all-in-one super app called X. This app would include various services like social updates, payments, and banking. Musk wanted to go beyond just social media and offer users even more, like peer-to-peer payments. An idea similar to the popular WeChat app in China.
According to analysts, if the platform expands to include shopping and paid subscription content, it could thrive in the long run. This expansion would create multiple revenue streams and reduce its dependence on big companies’ spending.
In April, he officially changed Twitter’s legal name to X Corp. During the weekend, X.com was redirected to Twitter.com, and on Monday, a crane started removing Twitter’s famous bird logo from the company’s San Francisco headquarters. However, the police intervened and halted the work shortly after it began.
The new logo shows a white X on a pitch-black background. It has already been applied to the web and mobile versions of the famous microblogging website.
The logo was created through crowdsourcing. Elon Musk asked his huge following of 149 million users to suggest an X logo. After receiving submissions, he picked one design and quickly updated his profile picture with it. Musk explained to his followers that this design will be used temporarily, and there may be more changes and improvements in the future.
As Musk keeps everyone guessing about the sudden overhaul’s real purpose, a new report seems to suggest his bigger intentions. Elon Musk recently shared his reasons for rebranding Twitter to X, emphasizing that it’s not just a name change. He sees it as a step towards creating an “everything app.” X Corp acquired Twitter to protect freedom of speech and to speed up the development of the comprehensive Everything app.
For the time being, the platform’s rebrand is only a name change, and no new features have been introduced. This aligns with Musk’s apparent product strategy of creating excitement first and delivering updates much later.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh suggests that the name change indicates Musk will probably retain control of the company for a while. When Musk took over in April 2022, some thought he might make changes and sell Twitter to someone else. But with the name change, Singh believes that option is no longer possible, as other potential buyers may not be interested.
In the short term, developing those capabilities would need a significant investment in staff and infrastructure. However, it’s uncertain whether a company that has cut about three-quarters of its staff and is facing multiple lawsuits over unpaid bills can achieve that.
