As Twitter's instantly recognisable blue bird has spread its wings, to make way for the platform's new X logo and branding, Natalia Kaczmarek, Senior Digital Content Creator at Whiteoaks International, asks if Twitter's move to X a smart one and if Elon Musk is a fool to throw away more than a decade of brand recognition.
Following a long and tumultuous takeover process, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, completed his purchase of Twitter in a $44 billion buyout in October 2022. His acquisition of the company led to numerous policy changes and a shift in the organisation’s culture.
But the social media platform’s website traffic has been in consistent decline under his tenure.
Wholesale changes
Twitter’s fall from grace has created alarm among marketers, advertisers and other creative professionals who have used the social media site as a way of communicating with prospects and customers over many years. It was once an esteemed social network among both individuals and businesses.
It served as a unique outlet for discussions, accommodating users of all generations to freely express their viewpoints. Many high profile celebrities from all walks of life, including Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber have regularly sent out tweets and engaged with their fans.
Fast forward to now, Musk has taken the drastic step of rebranding the business as ‘X’. The intention appears to be wanting to reignite user engagement and prompt curiosity towards the platform’s latest alterations, namely transforming it into an “everything app”, with private and public messaging, a marketplace and payments all in one place.
This concept isn’t new, with the WeChat app in China allowing users to book taxis, pre-order food from restaurants and get directions alongside instant messaging. It was only a matter of time before this kind of venture was also attempted in the western world as well, but there’s a feeling that Musk has taken a huge risk of throwing away more than a decade of brand recognition. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
Embracing a new brand
There’s also a huge amount of controversy around not just the dropping of the Twitter name, but its logo and branding. The concept of people “tweeting” messages was a term that entered social media lexicon, and was especially relevant when posts had a character limit of 140 and short messages went back and forth between users. The ‘X’ logo certainly showcases a sleek, stylish and modern design, but it doesn’t incorporate Twitter’s iconic feathers and bird in any way.
Instead, the ‘X’ logo looks very much like something that Meta would create. Is Elon Musk trying to one-up Threads, Meta’s new platform? It appears that the rivalry between Musk and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is only set to intensify as stories emerge of the ‘X’ brand name already being trademarked by the Facebook owner.
Looking ahead
So where does this leave ‘X’ moving forward? Undoubtedly we’re going to see a drop in users in the short-term as uncertainty continues and features change. However, there could be an opportunity for the platform to win back some of its past popularity if it can focus on news and views from key people to encourage engagement.
For marketers and social media managers, there will be a long learning curve associated with implementing ‘X’ into their social media strategies to maximise their brands. The value of paid ads on ‘X’ has recently decreased, which companies are having to navigate. As for the company itself, this development was unique in that the entire brand vision, mission and values have changed, as opposed to just the name. Time will only tell as to whether Musk has made the right move.
