Twitter unveils X to replace famous blue bird logo
24 July 2023, 21:34
The latest major change to the social media platform comes as part of owner Elon Musk’s plans to create the ‘everything app’.
Twitter has replaced the social media platform’s famous bird logo with an X as part of owner Elon Musk’s plans to create an “everything app”.
Recently appointed chief executive Linda Yaccarino tweeted a picture of a white cross on a black background, saying “X is here! Let’s do this”.
Mr Musk unveiled the new logo over the weekend, marking the latest major change since he bought Twitter in October last year for 44 billion US dollars (£34.3 billion).
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX founder tweeted on Sunday morning: “And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”.
He reportedly told staff by email that Twitter would become X and has already changed his profile picture to the new logo.
Ms Yaccarino wrote on the platform: “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.”
Yaccarino added on Twitter that X would be “the future state of unlimited interactivity – centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities.”
Our headquarters tonight pic.twitter.com/GO6yY8R7fO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2023
Mr Musk had already hinted at the changes to come last autumn on buying Twitter, when he tweeted that that “buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app”.
After posting about the planned logo change on Sunday, thousands of users replied to him with design suggestions before the 52-year-old shared a short video of an X with a flickering background.
The blue logo, known as Larry the Bird, has been Twitter’s emblem since its creation in 2006, with the current design in use since 2012.
In April, the logo was briefly replaced with a small picture of a Shibu Inu dog, famously known as the Doge meme, in an apparent nod to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
An email sent to Twitter’s business partners in the same month said it had been renamed as X Corp following a merger, but that the social media platform would retain its original name.
The move is the latest in a series of major alterations to Twitter since Mr Musk’s takeover, including the “verified” blue tick status being monetised in April and a temporary limit at the start of July on the number of posts users were allowed to read.
Facebook owner Meta launched Threads, its own text-based conversation app, earlier this month.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said more than 30 million people had signed up to use his rival messaging app in the first 24 hours.
Twitter threatened to sue the company over alleged stolen trade secrets.
