Elon Musk, since acquiring Twitter for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,59,100 crore), has been introducing changes and updates to the microblogging site. The latest stir is a complete change of his brand name and logo, from Twitter to X. The billionaire also Announced in a tweet that the X.com domain now redirects users to Twitter. From Twitter monetization through premium subscriptions to paid verification badges, the changes Musk has made to the company speak volumes about how he intends to lead the platform into one of his X group of companies.
When Musk first acquired Twitter in October last year, he was clear about his plans for the microblogging site. The Tesla CEO also tweeted at the time that “Buying Twitter is an accelerator to create X, the app of everything.” This “everything app”, as he explained, would be a super all-in-one app like WeChat, which can be used for multiple things like booking trips, sending money and making payments, as well as facilitating day-to-day communications.
Now, Musk has actually changed Twitter to X, when it comes to name, domain, and even its logo. However, it’s still not a super app. On Sunday, July 23, he aware about changing the Twitter logo to an X. In the hours that followed, he not only did that, but also made x.com redirects users to the Twitter home page.
Elon Musk and his love for ‘X’
The rebranding to X is recent, but Musk’s love for this alphabet isn’t so random. In fact, it has lasted for years. The idea for X first came about in 1999, when the billionaire pitched x.com as a financial platform, which later became Paypal after merging with software company Confinity in 2000. According to a article At Time, Musk was ousted from his position as Paypal’s CEO in 2000, and was later sold to eBay in a $1.5 billion deal.
While Musk was reportedly affected by this, he bought x.com back from PayPal in July 2017. explaining that “has great sentimental value.” Later that month, Musk restarted x.com and began redirect visitors to The Boring Company in December 2017.
Since the Twitter acquisition, Musk has decided to put his plans for X, his “everything app,” into action. In his conversation with Ron Baron, the new head of Twitter Announced his ambition to make Twitter “the world’s most valuable financial institution” by April 2023.
In addition to Twitter, Musk has also used the letter X in the name of his space exploration company, SpaceX; his latest AI initiative called xAI; and the first SUV mode released by his company Tesla under the name of Model X.
Changes at Twitter since the acquisition of Elon Musk
Twitter, under Musk’s leadership, has seen several changes, beginning with the termination of its then-CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives. In the months that followed, many banned celebrity accounts were allowed back on the platform.
A month after his multi-million dollar purchase, Musk began trying to monetize Twitter with the reinvention of Twitter Blue. The company also saw a series of job cuts and layoffs across all offices, including the layoff of its entire AI Ethics team.
Blue ticks for officially verified accounts, as well as subscriber accounts, started appearing in November. However, the checkmarks on the paid accounts disappeared within a few days. Musk also introduced different colored checkmarks, depending on the ownership status of the accounts, to recognize media outlets.
With all these changes, Twitter’s ad revenue has seen a nearly 50 percent drop. Musk has tried to keep users engaged by introducing multiple new features, including direct tweeting, community notes, and Twitter Blue for Business. To keep the business going, Musk recently announced his resignation as CEO, but he’s still heavily involved, pushing new features like view counts and the ability to upload long videos.
The next big news came in April 2023, when Musk announced Twitter’s merger with X Corp. In May of this year, Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to be the new CEO of Twitter. She has indicated that she will delegate authority to him and step back to focus on her other ventures.
A look at Twitter’s name and the history of the blue bird
Twitter was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass. Previously, Twitter was planned to have different names, such as Smssy and Twttr, according to CreativeBlock. Twitter’s first official logo was just its name written in light blue in sans sherif ways and was designed by Linda Gavin.
Twitter’s relationship with a blue bird began shortly after its launch. It was created by Simon Oxley, a British graphic designer. According to a NYT article, offered the design for sale on iStock’s website in 2006, and Twitter bought it for around $15. The name Larry was a tribute to basketball star and Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird.
The design has changed three times, in 2009, 2010, and 2012. The current bluebird design was created by Doug Bowman, the company’s former creative director, according to whom “Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.” Since then, Larry the bird has been known only as Twitter’s blue bird.
In 2023, the new owner Musk changed not only the logo, but also the name and domain of Twitter. The company will now be known as X, with an X logo. According to a cheep by Paris Marx, the new logo was created by an in-house designer, using the monotype font. Another Twitter user has also come forward to take credit for design, revealing the story behind how it all began.
