Twitter's blue bird will be replaced with an X in corporate rebranding

It's the end of an era for Twitter, or at least for its iconic blue bird symbol. On Sunday, Elon Musk announced that Twitter's new logo, an X, would replace the company's bird design. This being the latest in a string of divisive changes to the social media network that he has overseen.

pic.twitter.com/IwcbqMnQtA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023

In the early hours of Sunday, Musk, who paid US$44 billion for the website last October, tweeted that he planned to replace the blue bird symbol with a "X" logo by as early as Monday if a suitable design was presented.

Musk's account was the first to tweet about the upcoming removal of the Twitter logo, writing: "And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds."

And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023

A subsequent tweet added, "If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we'll make [it] go live worldwide tomorrow."

Musk officially changed the company's name to X Holdings Corp in April, taking inspiration from his first business, X.com, to highlight his goal of building "X, the everything app," which would perform social networking and payment services akin to China's WeChat.

The logo switch is the latest instance of Musk's tendency to make significant and divisive changes to the site seemingly on the fly on his public feed, with varying degrees of success.

The latest change will most likely divide opinion among Twitter users, a large number of whom have already become weary of the social media site as a result of a series of other significant changes made by Musk. Many of these changes, such as removing the historical "blue ticks" of users whose accounts were verified as genuine while allowing others to pay for the privilege and, more recently, limiting the amount of content users can view per day to combat bot accounts, have drawn criticism and were later changed or reversed as a result.

Twitter’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, confirmed the launch of the X brand on Sunday. She tweeted: “It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”

Yaccarino added that X would be “centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking” and would be a “global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities”. She added: “X will be the platform that can deliver, well … everything.”

Musk stated recently that the company remains cashflow-negative with a significant debt load after losing half of its advertising revenue, undermining his goals to become cashflow-positive by June despite firing half of the company's employees after the acquisition.

Soon after Musk took over the company, several advertisers deserted the site out of concern for the damage the early upheaval would have to their brands. They have reduced ad spending in part as a result of worries that the new owner has made adjustments that have encouraged the growth of more offensive content. Yaccarino's hiring as a respected advertising executive was primarily motivated by the desire to win back advertisers who had either stopped using the platform or dramatically reduced their expenditure there.

The logo replacement and rebranding comes shortly after Threads, Meta's rival to Twitter, was launched earlier this month and picked up 100 million sign-ups in its first five days. It was perceived as a daring attempt to entice consumers away from its faltering rival with a nearly identical platform. Since then, Musk has threatened Meta with legal action over its new social network tool Threads, alleging that it's a "copycat" platform built by hiring former Twitter staff.

Given Musk's patchy record of keeping his Twitter promises, it is unclear whether the logo will switch to an X permanently. But at least for now, it looks as though the blue "Larry T Bird," as Twitter co-founder Biz Stone called him, will be confined to history.

In the past, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey claimed in interviews that the site's relationship with a bird came from his discovery that the dictionary definition of "twitter" was a "short inconsequential burst of information; chirps from birds".

Now that the blue bird is being replaced by an interim "X" logo it's unclear whether posting on the site will still considered a "tweet" or will require a new descriptor.