WHY ELON MUSK ‘EXED’ TWITTER
The infamous blue bird has shed its feathers and is now donning new branding reminiscent of a modern super hero origin movie versus its more humble and naturally inspired beginnings. The company, which was founded in 2006 originally took its name from the sound that birds make when they communicate with one another, and also used this as the basis of its logo through the blue bird stock image that they purchased at the time for a mere $15. Since the company began, it’s had three logos, however all three maintained the brand’s corporate imagery through the maintenance of Twitter’s recognisable blue hue (at least for the first two logos) and the avian imagery. In Twitter’s third revision of their logo, they opted for a slightly darker blue and the elimination of text altogether as they believed that the bird was iconic enough – and they were right.
When Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, the world knew that there were significant changes coming due to the nature of Elon Musk’s eccentricities and some of the commentary made during the acquisition. No one was sure though, as to whether or not Twitter would remain Twitter. And in July 2023, Musk made it clear through a number of cryptic clues and Tweets (can we still call them that?), that this wouldn’t be the case moving forwards. On the 24th of July 2023, Twitter officially rebranded itself as X. But why X, of all names? Well, as most that have been paying attention to Musk’s moves over the years, will have noticed that the letter X is clearly one close to the billionaire’s heart as it features in a number of his enterprises as well as in his kid’s name too. PayPal which was one of Musk’s first business ventures was originally known as X.com, while his space-race company is known as SpaceX.
Since Musk already owned the domain to X.com, he might as well make use of it. The supposed idea behind the rebrand is transformative as Musk wants Twitter, or X rather to become the new “everything app”. Exactly what that means, has yet to be seen. Twitter users have been experiencing a steady stream of changes including paid-for subscriptions, paid for blue tick status, posting limits for non-paying accounts as well as whole lot more. This move comes as the social media rivalry heats up with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg’s launch of Threads last month, which bears a number of similarities to Twitter. While users are divided in their sentiments around the rebrand, it could have a bigger impact on the market and its shareholders as they grapple with the new logo and the potential loss of brand value.