New York
CNN
—
In a radical rebranding, Twitter owner Elon Musk has begun the process of replacing Twitter’s iconic bird symbol with an X.
Musk made a shocking announcement about his plans early Sunday. Monday morning US time, he tweeted X.com now points to Twitter.com.
« Interim X logo goes live later today, » he wrote, shortly before sharing a photo of Twitter’s headquarters lit up by a giant new X.
He is a social media giant Official account Now bearing the same logo, the familiar blue bird can still be seen on the site.
Earlier, he said he would bid « Goodbye to the Twitter brand And, gradually, all the birds. »
Twitter
(TWTR)Founded in 2006, it has used its vivid, globally recognized blue bird logo for over a decade.
The rebranding could be seen as a « Hail Mary » rebranding for the company: In recent months, Musk has repeatedly warned that Twitter, which is facing steep losses in ad revenue, is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Adding to the pressure, rival social media site Threads launched from Facebook earlier this month
(FB) Parent Meta. It is beyond 100 million user records In its first week.
Twitter had 238 million active users before it was taken private by Musk in October 2022.
One The richest people in the worldMusk was once best known for his innovative ventures with companies like SpaceX and Tesla
(TSLA) To launch rockets and build electric cars.
Now, now——-, he makes a lot of headlines for his outlandish comments on his personal Twitter account – often sharing conspiracy theories and engaging in public spats on the social media platform.
Musk turned it around after buying the site for $44 billion in late October, which has since been plagued by mass layoffs, disputes over millions of dollars in alleged severance and Musk’s note to the staff Staying in the company means « working long hours at high intensity ». He wrote: « Only exceptional performance will be the passing standard. »
The upheaval sparked organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, Free Press and GLAAD. Pressure on brands to rethink advertising on Twitter.
The groups pointed to mass layoffs as a major factor in their thinking, citing fears that Musk’s cuts would render Twitter’s election-integrity policies technically in effect, but unable to effectively enforce them.
Musk began overseeing controversial policy changes that led to frequent service disruptions at Twitter and boosted his own reputation in the process.
David Odisho/Getty Images
Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters in November 2022
In June, Musk named Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal marketing executive, the company’s CEO.
He commented on the name change on Twitter on Sunday afternoon: « It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impact. Twitter had a big impact and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go even further and change the global city square. »
When a new venture starts, it faces challenges. Musk recently revealed that the site still has negative cash flow due to a 50% decline in ad revenue and heavy debt loads.
Criticizing the exit or suspension of Twitter advertisers such as General Mills
(GIS)Macy’s
(M) And some car companies that compete with Tesla, Musk has called himself a « free speech absolutist » and said he wants to buy Twitter to increase users’ ability to speak freely on the platform.
Musk explained his approach to free speech: “Is someone you don’t like allowed to say what you don’t like? If so, we have freedom of speech.
He said Twitter was « very reluctant to remove things » and that the site would aim to allow all legal speech. Many users are concerned that it could mean an increase in hate speech.
Meanwhile, the initial frenzy around competitor threads appears to have come back down to earth, especially with the lack of spam and many user-friendly features that Twitter or, now X, offers.
Adam Mosseri, who oversees the Threads release for Meta, has hinted at plans to add features such as a desktop version of the app, a feed of accounts a user follows, and an edit button.
Its ability to garner advertising support is yet to be proven.
