Twitter Drops the "T" and Embraces the "X" in Bold Rebrand Move

Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter has swiftly prompted changes, like reportedly planning to rename the entire platform “X.” This is a very bold move from the World’s richest man but such a drastic rebrand comes with risks and challenges for advertisers and users.

Pressure

For a long time, CEO Elon Musk’s performance as the new owner and CEO of Twitter has been causing serious concern for long-time Tesla investors who are calling on the company’s Board of Directors to rein him in and get him to focus on the electric car and renewable energy company. Earlier this year, the 17 shareholders, who hold more than $1.5 billion of Tesla stock, said Musk is distracted by his commitments to other companies such as Twitter and must be reined in. You can imagine the kind of pressure Elon must be in to prove to his backers that Twitter is not a distraction but an asset that can be used in his business ecosystem. Not to mention the fact that he paid $44 billion for a company that is now worth $20 billion and a third of that money was borrowed. Musk is under real pressure to incorporate Twitter in his main business ecosystem whilst getting a healthy return on his investment at the same time.

Musk has Always Been This Way

Contrary to popular sentiment, Musk was not a Tesla founder. He was an early investor who only got in after a $6.3 mil investment in the company. Tesla was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003 and Elon only took over from the founders because he had the better strategy on how to take Tesla into the mainstream. The same story seems to be unfolding with Twitter. Take someone else’s good idea, pour wards of cash on it and pair it with a good strategy.

Obsessed With The Letter ‘X’

“Not sure what subtle clues gave it way, but I like the letter X. If X is closest in style to anything, it should, of course, be Art Deco,” Musk tweeted recently.

The letter X has significance for Musk, evident in companies he founded like X.com in 1999. He leads SpaceX, founded in 2002, and named his first child with Grimes X Æ A-12. There’s also the Tesla Model X which was the first all-electric SUV for the company.

The New ‘X’ Logo is A Downgrade from The Iconic Twitter Bird

The Twitter Bird logo is one of the best examples of the use of the golden ratio in design. The Bird logo golden ratio consisted of 15 circles layered on top of each other. The design was created by Martin Grasser, who had just graduated from the Art Center College of Design. Grasser built thousands of bird designs before creating 24, which Dorsey chose from.

The New ‘X’ logo on the other hand is just a Unicode character, lacking any soul or personality. He didn’t even get a designer for it, he simply just picked a font!

On the bright side, the ‘X’ logo is magnitudes better than the Threads logo but still a major fall off from the blue bird.

The ‘Everything App’

Musk’s goal in rebranding Twitter to X extends beyond a simple name change. He wants to transform the platform into an “everything app” like China’s WeChat with over 1 billion active users utilizing functions like messaging, payments, ride booking and gaming. WeChat and Co. are currently leading in this space so Musk and co are playing an enormous game of catch-up. Building an Everything App is also going to be a huge mountain to climb since hugely popular alternatives already exist in the market. If X intends to follow WeChat’s footsteps, it cannot overlook user experience. A frictionless transition requires preserving what makes Twitter useful today while layering on additional features carefully. Upsetting the delicate balance could prove calamitous.

Rushed Rebrand?

Twitter is not the first Tech giant to rebrand. Google and Facebook went down similar paths when they rebranded to Alphabet and Meta respectively. By contrast, when Google rebranded to Alphabet in 2015 and Facebook to Meta in 2021, they created parent companies rather than rebranding core products. Twitter aims to completely change its name to X. The speed of the rebrand suggests a lack of due diligence before rushing ahead. Reports also state that Meta owns the trademark for “X” which could complicate Twitter’s plans. If an enemy makes a blunder? You just let them be. That’s how Meta appears to be moving, with no word from the company about their ownership of the ‘X’ Trademark.

What do We Know About The Letter ‘X’ Online?

The prevalence of the letter ‘X’ in adult sites is not something that can be easily overlooked. ‘X’ has become the staple of adult branding. Already there is now a trend on Twitter of users pushing OF Content using the #TwitterX hashtag. Musk risks transforming Twitter from a high prestige respectable brand into a cheap knock-off product.

Will a Name Change Throw-off Advertisers?

Some advertisers say Twitter rebranding to X is unlikely to significantly impact spending as long as the user base stays stable. According to executives, stronger factors determining ad spend on X will be improvements to brand safety, the ad platform and infrastructure. But X must facilitate a smooth transition for users to maintain engagement. Building trust around brand safety, targeting and metrics on a freshly rebranded app poses difficulties. Without addressing these core ad concerns, marketers may pull spends.

So What’s The Conclusion?

While rebranding to X aligns with Musk’s ambition to transform Twitter into an “everything app,” the name change comes with risks to perception, legal issues and usability. Successfully implementing the rebrand and achieving Musk’s grand vision will rely on fundamental product upgrades while navigating potential PR pitfalls. Over time, customers and the public will likely adapt as long as X delivers on promises. But speed is not the only important factor; Twitter must get rebrand and subsequent product changes right to succeed long-term as X.