Twitter today, unveiled its new logo X, replacing the famous Twitter bird or ‘Larry Bird’, as it is famously known as. The social networking site unveiled the new logo through its social media handle. As per the updates, the new logo comprises a white X on black background. “Nobody likes change, and truer words have not been spoken for the social media industry – of course this move comes with its own backlash. It’s unsettling to see a sad X replace the glory of the Larry bird,” Shubham Singhal, CEO and co-founder, Dot Media told BrandWagon Online.
And all this happened within 24 hours. On Saturday Musk had asked for suggestions for an ‘X’ logo to his 149 million followers late. With other companies of Musk using the letter ‘X’ hence, hence the idea from what it seems is to bring parity. On Sunday, he selected one of the submissions and proclaimed it as the company’s new corporate identity. Musk’s profile picture, the social network’s homepage logo, and even loading animations all feature the X. If media reports are to be believed, the unveiling of the new logo is nothing but a part of rebranding since Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, founded PayPal as X.com in the year 1999. He also named his other business Space Exploration Technology Corp as SpaceX. However, Musk had changed the company’s name to X Corp in October 2022 after acquiring the social media platform for $44 billion. “ The name change isn’t a surprise, it aligns with Musk’s agenda of making Twitter an everything app. A massive functionality upgrade required a fresher preview. It isn’t possible to change the current brand image of Twitter from a quick-fire conversations app to an everything app keeping the same identity, and hence the move is justified. The new name ‘X’ is also logically justified since ‘X’ can be anything,” Amit Dhawan, partner and CEO, Art-E, explained.
The saga of Twitter’s Blue Bird……
This is not the first time that Twitter has changed its logo. In 2005, when the platform was still in its developing stage, the logo was green in colour with a name written as ‘twttr’. But this was neve used. In fact, the platform was named as twttr and there were several other names as well which were to be thought upon. Next, when Twitter was launched officially in 2006, the logo got its signature blue colour designed by Linda Gavin. However, the bird did not exist even then. The bird was born in 2010, but it did not last long and the final bird logo which the world recognised as the brand identity of Twitter came into existence in 2012. The same year, the brand name was removed from the logo along with a few changes in the bird itself by Martin Grasser. “The platform has always set a benchmark with its trail-blazing innovations. With evolving times, Twitter is now ready to set the bird free. No frills or fancy designs, just a minimalist X is enough to rattle the many users. While this may divide the community, the timing of this rebranding is crucial. This could signify a significant departure from the platform’s current identity and potentially pave the way for Twitter’s evolution into a more multifaceted and innovative digital space,” Manish Solanki, COO and co-founder, TheSmallBigIdea, said.
How will this affect the marketing revenues?
Experts believe that the rebranding of Twitter could have both positive and negative effects on the platform’s marketing revenue. On the positive side, a fresh identity and repositioning may attract new advertisers and marketers who see potential in the platform’s transformation. “If ‘X’ successfully integrates new features and services that enhance user engagement, advertisers may find it more attractive to target a broader range of audiences. However, there are potential risks. Dwindling numbers and a decline in user engagement, as mentioned earlier, may already have negatively impacted marketing revenue. If the rebranding fails to address these underlying issues or if users resist the changes, it could further impact advertiser confidence in the platform. Advertisers might be hesitant to invest in a platform undergoing such significant changes, leading to potential revenue challenges,”Alin Choubey, business head-North, FoxyMoron, Zoo Media, said.
Moreover, this is not the first time that Musk has introduced any change to Twitter. He initiated a slew of changes including a paid verification model, golden ticks for brands or companies to differentiate themselves from individual profiles. Lately, Musk also limited the access to tweets for unpaid users, among others. “Twitter is an integral part of content consumption and has a loyal audience. They will not switch in at the blink of an eye and move to another platform like Thread or something else. But changing it too often is not comforting enough for anybody, neither for users nor advertisers,” Himanshu Arora, co-founder, Social Panga concluded.