adminLOS ANGELES. – Twitter has officially rebranded to “X” after owner Elon Musk changed its iconic bird logo yesterday, marking the latest major shift since his takeover of the social media platform.
The website Twitter.com remained live and branding on the app version of the platform did not appear to change as of early yesterday.
Twitter’s world-renowned bird logo was transformed into an X, however.
Early Sunday, Musk posted a short video of a flickering “X.” Asked if the logo would change in a Twitter Spaces audio chat, he said “yes,” telling an unknown speaker: “We’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blow torches.”
Early yesterday, Musk tweeted an image of the X branding beamed across Twitter’s headquarters.
Musk tweeted Sunday that the idea of changing the logo to “X” was to “embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique.”
“And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he wrote.
By Sunday afternoon, the web address x.com was already redirecting to what was once Twitter.
The domain returned to Musk in 2017 after it was relinquished under the merger that became PayPal,
The shift from bird imagery to an “X” is the latest sweeping change since Musk bought Twitter for US$44 billion last year.
Musk in April changed the name of the company from Twitter Inc. to X Corp.
The social media company also recently announced it was limiting the number of daily direct messages unverified users can send in what it said is part of an effort to reduce spam.
That change went into effect Friday, according to a message on the help centre.
If users want to increase the number of daily messages allowed, they will have to join the subscription service launched last year.
The latest changes come as the social media giant continues to face competition from Meta’s new app, Threads, which launched earlier this month.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a series of posts that the rebrand is the start of a move to push the app in new directions. She is the former head of ad sales for NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.
“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” she wrote. “Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.” – ABC
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter