X factor: Elon Musk chooses new Twitter logo

Elon Musk has chosen the new logo for Twitter, replacing its signature blue bird with a stylised X as part of the billionaire’s vision of transforming the 17-year-old service into an everything app.

It only took 24 hours. Late on Saturday, Musk invited his 149 million followers to suggest an X logo, then chose one of the designs and made it his new profile picture. He confirmed in responses to followers that he intended to adopt it as an interim design, which “probably changes later, certainly will be refined”.

Elon Musk said on Sunday he was looking to change Twitter’s logo.Credit: Getty

While crowdsourcing the logo, Musk changed his profile information to read “X.com”, a web address that now redirects to corresponding user pages on twitter.com. Together with Twitter chief executive officer Linda Yaccarino, Musk said the move was part of a broader overhaul that will see all familiar “Twitter” and bird branding stripped away.

Musk’s stated intentions for Twitter have fluctuated over time, having initially started as a quest to eliminate bots on the service and preserve free speech. He has since talked about Twitter as an accelerant for delivering X, his vision for an everything-app akin to Tencent Holdings’ WeChat.

In supporting tweets on Sunday, the recently appointed CEO explained that the X service was envisioned as an AI-powered “global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities”. It would include payments and banking alongside audio, video and messaging.

Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester, said that the move would further alienate Twitter’s original, and once fiercely loyal, user base.

“On the one hand, you can make the argument he would be getting rid of an iconic brand. On the other hand, he is signalling it is a new day for what was once Twitter and that the company is heading in a different direction with a different user base.”

The billionaire Musk said in a Sunday post he wanted to change Twitter’s logo and polled his millions of followers whether they would favour changing the site’s colour scheme from blue to black. He posted a picture of a stylised X against a black outer space-themed background.

“And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he said.

Early on Monday morning, Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, tweeted: “It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”

Under Musk’s tumultuous tenure since he bought Twitter in October, the company has changed its business name to X Corp, reflecting the billionaire’s vision to create a “super app” like China’s WeChat.

In April, Twitter’s legacy blue bird logo was temporarily replaced by Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu dog, helping drive a surge in the cryptocurrency’s market value.

The company came under widespread criticism from users and marketing professionals when Musk announced early this month that Twitter would limit how many tweets per day various accounts can read.

The daily limits helped Meta Platforms-owned rival service Threads, which crossed 100 million sign-ups within five days of its July 5 launch.

The bird was temporarily replaced in April by Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu dog, helping drive a surge in the meme coin’s market value.

Reuters, Bloomberg

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