The billionaire entrepreneur revealed the new identity over the weekend, changing his profile picture to the new logo and adding “X.com” to his bio, which now redirects to an “X” splash screen on Twitter’s homepage. Linda Yaccarino, Twitter CEO, publicly embraced the change with a tweet saying, “X is here! Let’s do this.” Musk also shared an image of the new ‘X’ branding projected onto the facade of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters.
While the legal name of the company was registered as X Corp earlier in 2023 following the October 2022 acquisition, the avian branding had remained until now. Since its inception in March 2006, the platform had been known as Twitter, and its About page even referred to the blue bird logo as “our most recognizable asset” and something the company was protective of.
However, Musk, who has a known affinity for the letter ‘X’ as seen in his SpaceX and X.Ai company names, opined that this rebranding “should have been done a long time ago”. Notably, Musk co-founded an online bank named X.com, which eventually merged with Confinity to become PayPal.
According to Zoe Schiffer from Platformer, Musk emailed Twitter employees informing them about the public rebranding to ‘X’ and that it was the last communication they’d receive from a Twitter email address.
In a recent tweet, Yaccarino hinted that ‘X’ would leverage AI to offer users “unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities… X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”
Posts, previously known as “tweets”, will now be referred to as “x’s” according to Musk. While the service still appears as Twitter in the official app as of writing, it’s expected to reflect the new name soon.
