Elon Musk is bidding “adieu” to Twitter as we know it with a rebrand of the social media site to “X.”
“Soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk tweeted Saturday.
And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
In a series of tweets Saturday night, Musk announced that the bird logo for Twitter will soon change to the letter “X.” The changes could come as soon as Monday, The Associated Press reported.
It is unclear what the logo, or the entire site, will look like with the new changes, but Musk did pin a gif with a concept logo created by Twitter user Sawyer Merritt, according to the Verge.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
The change is not surprising considering Musk’s tweet in October of last year in which he stated that buying Twitter “is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.”
Reactions to Twitter’s rebrand
Elon Musk received plenty of pushback to the news of the rebrand, with one Twitter user, independent journalist Ed Krassenstein, going so far as to say, “Renaming Twitter to “X” will single-handedly kill Twitter. Quite literally.”
Meanwhile, another user compared the move to “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
"Renaming Twitter X" is the 21st century replacement for "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" we didn't know we needed
— Joe Katz says #VoteNoInAugust (@joekatz45) July 23, 2023
Several other users pointed out that the rebrand could affect the site’s brand recognition:
That's completely destroying brand recognition.
— ItsWashington Rumble (@ItsWashington17) July 23, 2023
No one wants to join a social app just called "X". It'll make people avoid it or leave.
X sounds like a name for a supervillain company.
Getting rid of the brand recognition that everyone already associates with Twitter is incredibly stupid especially when you're already in the hole.
— Kimber Maddox 🍀⏳🎗🕊 (@MeanPanduh) July 23, 2023
Leave our bird alone 😡 https://t.co/cCgTrnKRqB