Twitter has officially rebranded as “X” after owner Elon Musk altered its iconic avian logo on Monday, marking the latest significant change since his takeover of the social networking platform.
As of Monday morning, both Twitter.com and the app version of the platform appeared to retain their previous branding.
However, Twitter’s renowned bird logo was replaced with an X.
Early on Sunday morning, Musk uploaded a brief video of a blinking “X.” In a Twitter Spaces audio chat, when asked if the logo would alter, he responded “yes” and told an unknown speaker, “We’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blow torches.”
Musk tweeted an image of the X logo being displayed throughout Twitter’s headquarters on Monday morning.
Musk tweeted on Sunday that the motivation behind altering the logo to “X” was to “embody the imperfections that make us all unique.”
He wrote, “Soon we will bid farewell to the Twitter brand and, eventually, all birds.”
By Sunday afternoon, x.com was already redirected to what was formerly Twitter.The domain was returned to Musk in 2017 after being surrendered during the PayPal merger.
The change from bird imagery to a “X” is the most recent radical transformation since Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year.
Musk renamed the company from Twitter Inc. to X Corp. in April.
In an effort to reduce spam, the social media company recently announced that it would limit the number of daily direct messages that unverified users can send.
According to a message on the help center, this modification took effect on Friday. If users wish to increase the number of daily messages permitted, they must subscribe to the service that was introduced last year.
The latest modifications come as the social media colossus continues to face competition from Threads, a new app released by Meta this month.
In a series of blog posts, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino stated that the rebranding is the beginning of an initiative to drive the app in new directions. Former director of ad sales for NBCUniversal, the company that owns NBC News.
“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered on audio, video, messaging, and 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.”
Musk has alluded to converting Twitter into a “everything app” similar to what WeChat has become in China ever since he purchased the platform a year ago.
The changes signal the conclusion of one of the most recognizable social media brands. The blue Twitter bird was also a well-known symbol that the company previously cherished.
“Our logo is our most recognizable asset,” the company stated on a branding page that remained active as of Monday morning. Therefore, we are so protective of it.
The origin of the new logo is currently unknown, but numerous online sources have noted its resemblance to a Unicode character.
Unicode is a standard for digital letters maintained by The Unicode Consortium, which is also responsible for emoticons.
