Twitter rebranding to the letter X did not come as a shock. According to a court filing in April, the owner had initially converted the company’s corporate name to X Corp.
Elon Musk has finally accomplished his desire to rebrand the Twitter logo from the blue bird app to the letter “X”, and many believe that this only brings more damage to the company. The billionaire has always been vocal about his intention to make Twitter the everything app and has continually made changes to the social networking service. Since he acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, he has conducted different restructuring, dramatically impacting the company. The service provider is currently struggling financially as advertisers bid farewell to the company. As it is, about 50% of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers have left the platform since Musk’s acquisition.
The billionaire’s vision for X may be likened to China’s super app WeChat. The app allows users to buy goods online and give them access to online services. At the same time, people use the WeChat app for entertainment and message friends as they post updates. However, many believe this is not the right time for Twitter to replace its popular blue bird logo with the letter X.
What Is the Impact of Twitter Name Change to Letter ‘X’?
Apart from the situation regarding the parted advertisers, Twitter is also facing major rivalry from the new Instagram thread. Instagram launched Twitter-like app Thread in early February, and the new social app surpassed 100 million users in a week. Mark Zuckerberg announced the app when Twitter users were complaining of Musk’s erratic behavior concerning the networking service. Despite Elon Musk’s criticism against Thread, the service keeps onboarding more users and recording high user engagement. Also, the newly-introduced app amassed 20% of Twitter’s weekly active user base in about two weeks of launch. The Thread app came with a full force, appearing to cater to social media users who had their cup full with Elon Musk’s diverse changes with Twitter. Data showed that over 10 million users signed up for Threads within a few hours of launch.
With rival apps gaining momentum, Forrester analyst Mike Proulx believes it is “extremely risky” for Twitter to kill an iconic internet brand at this time. The blue bird logo has become a significant identity for Twitter, and a replacement for the letter X amid heightened rivalry could cause further decline for the Elon Musk-owned app. The analysts said in an email that Musk has “singlehandedly wiped out over fifteen years of a brand name that has secured its place in our cultural lexicon”.
Notably, Twitter rebranding to the letter X did not come as a shock. According to a court filing in April, the owner had initially converted the company’s corporate name to X Corp.