THE REPLACED TWITTER BIRD AND THE NEW ‘X’ LOGOS | PHOTO COURTESY
The online community is buzzing with news of Twitter’s recent name change. X.com has now been redirected to Twitter.com, and the company’s headquarters has replaced its iconic bird logo with a flashing “X.” Additionally, the app now goes by the name “X” in both the Apple and Google app stores.
This rebranding represents a significant step in Twitter’s ongoing transformation. Once known as a platform for short 140-character messages, Twitter is now under the leadership of CEO Linda Yaccarino, who envisions it becoming an all-encompassing “everything” app. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the company, expressed that Twitter was acquired by X Corp to safeguard freedom of speech and to accelerate the development of X, the versatile app of the future.
Musk’s ambition is to turn Twitter into a super-app similar to China’s WeChat, capable of offering a wide array of online activities. Twitter has already expanded its features to include live audio conversations, longer text messages, and video broadcasting. If Twitter’s foray into paid subscriptions succeeds, it could potentially share subscription revenue with its users, transforming into a more mainstream version of platforms like Patreon.
The letter “X” holds particular significance for Musk, evident in his past ventures such as X.com (which became PayPal) and SpaceX, as well as his recent endeavors like the xAI artificial intelligence app and the Tesla Model X. Musk’s fixation with “X” even extends to the unique name he gave his son, X Æ A-XII.
While the rebranding of Twitter to X Corp is currently just a name change with no immediate introduction of new features, it signals Musk’s intention to maintain control of the company. Previously, there were speculations that Musk might make changes to Twitter and sell it to another owner, but the name change seems to rule out this possibility.
Turning Twitter into an “everything app” faces potential challenges, including user confusion and the need to attract sufficient advertisers. Musk’s belief in the product’s quality selling itself, as seen in Tesla’s limited advertising, contrasts with the advertising-heavy approach of Twitter’s current revenue model. Expanding into areas like shopping and paid subscription content could diversify revenue streams, reducing reliance on advertising revenue. However, this expansion would necessitate significant investments in staff and infrastructure, which may be a daunting task for a company that has recently downsized and is entangled in legal disputes over unpaid bills. Building the necessary cloud infrastructure alone could require investments of tens of billions of dollars.