Twitter introduced its fresh logo, replacing the blue bird on its website with an X as part of a broader rebranding.

The social media platform displayed its new logo on Monday: a white X against a black background.

Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, along with the company's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, revealed the new logo for the social media platform.

The social network may do more than just change the logo. Musk stated that eventually, they will say goodbye to the name "Twitter" and slowly remove all bird-related elements.

On Sunday, Musk updated his profile picture to the new Twitter logo. The official Twitter account (@Twitter) has also changed its name and display picture to the new X logo.

In response to a user, Musk also suggested that everyone should call Tweets "x's."

Yaccarino tweeted, "X is here! Let's get started," and shared an image of the logo displayed on the company's San Francisco offices. This logo change comes after Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year.

On Sunday, the billionaire Musk announced through a series of tweets that he planned to implement the logo change globally, starting as early as Monday.

Musk's tweet read, "And soon we'll say goodbye to the Twitter brand and gradually move away from all the bird-related aspects."

The CEO of the company, Linda Yaccarino, shared on Twitter that while Twitter transformed how people communicate, X (a new project or platform) will take it even further. X aims to include various features like audio, video, messaging, payment, and banking. The ultimate goal is to create a worldwide platform where people can exchange ideas, buy and sell goods and services, and explore various opportunities. It's quite an ambitious vision!

Elon Musk has a strong fascination with the letter "X." He started X.com in 1997, which later became PayPal. His space venture, SpaceX, uses "X" as its logo. Recently, he also established an AI company named X.ai. Musk's social network, previously known as Twitter Inc., is now legally called X Corp.

Since taking charge of Twitter, Musk has repeatedly mentioned his vision of transforming it into an "X, the everything app."

This isn't the first time Musk has changed Twitter's logo. Earlier this year, he temporarily replaced it with the Doge meme. However, a developer created an extension to switch back to the original bird logo if users prefer it.

In its early years, Twitter didn't use the famous bird logo we know today. Then in 2010, they officially switched to the emblematic logo known as "Larry the bird," named after the legendary basketball player Larry Bird from the Boston Celtics.

Recently, the company decided to change its branding shortly after Musk responded to a user, mentioning that they are still experiencing "negative cash flow" due to a significant decrease in advertising revenue and a high debt load.

According to Tom Morton, the global chief strategy officer at advertising agency R/GA, the transformation is merely a means for Musk to leave his influence on the company. The change in Twitter's name and logo doesn't relate to user, advertiser, or market concerns. It's a symbol that shows Twitter now belongs to Elon Musk personally.

"Having achieved success, he is now asserting his ownership."

Mixed reactions

The new logo received different reactions from users and caused confusion about what tweets would be called now. Marketing and branding experts warned that the rebranding might lead to losing the recognition Twitter has built over the years.

Matt Rhodes, the strategy lead at creative agency House 337, which collaborated with the United Kingdom’s telecom company Sky, mentioned that only a few brands have become verbs or been referenced in global news outlets as frequently as Twitter.

He further explained that anything that complicates the process of finding or accessing the app on users' crowded phone screens could potentially harm its usage.

Fernando Machado, who had important marketing roles at Activision Blizzard, Restaurant Brands International, and Burger King, shared that rebranding usually takes time to be fully accepted. He mentioned missing the old Twitter logo as a user of the platform and felt that the new approach seemed distant and lacking a personal touch.

At Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, police prevented construction workers from removing the Twitter sign, witnessed by a Reuters reporter. The building now displayed only the blue bird and the letters "er."

The hashtag "#GoodbyeTwitter" trended on the platform, with many users criticizing the new logo.

Elon Musk asked his millions of Twitter followers whether they would prefer the site's color scheme to change from blue to black.

Tumultuous takeover

Since buying Twitter in October 2022, Musk has made significant changes. The company's name is now X Corp, as Musk aims to create a "super app" similar to China's WeChat. Last October, Musk stated that acquiring Twitter would speed up the development of X, an all-in-one app.

Musk's other company, SpaceX, is a well-known rocket company. Back in 1999, he co-founded X.com, which later became PayPal, an online financial services company. In 2017, he bought back the domain x.com from PayPal, citing its sentimental value. Now, x.com redirects to Twitter.

In a memo to Twitter employees, Twitter CEO Yaccarino mentioned that X will play a transformative role in the global town square.

The company received a memo mentioning their plans to work on new features in audio, video, messaging, payments, and banking, as reported by Reuters news agency.

Twitter is believed to have around 200 million active users each day, but it has faced technical issues since it was bought by the tycoon in 2022, who also dismissed a large number of its employees.

Since then, both users and advertisers have become less satisfied with the platform due to the introduction of charges for services that were previously free, changes in content moderation, and the return of previously banned right-wing accounts.

Musk stated this month that Twitter's advertising revenue has decreased by about half since he took over in October.

The rebranding suggests that Musk has abandoned any efforts to restore Twitter as a powerful standalone social network and now views the $44 billion spent on it as a fixed cost, according to Niklas Myhr, a marketing professor at Chapman University.

Drew Benvie, the CEO of social media consultancy Battenhall, expressed that the past months at Twitter have been chaotic. He doesn't believe that creating a new brand will solve all the issues.

The focus should be more on building a brand around Elon Musk's empire, which includes SpaceX. The "X" branding connects closely with it.

Twitter now faces competition from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which recently launched a text-based platform called Threads. This new platform has an estimated user base of up to 150 million.

However, after its launch, the amount of time users spend on Threads has significantly dropped, according to data from market analysis firm Sensor Tower.