Twitter rebrands to ‘X’ as Elon Musk loses iconic bird logo

Twitter has officially rebranded to “X” after owner Elon Musk changed its iconic bird logo Monday, marking the latest major shift since his takeover of the social media platform.

The website Twitter.com remained live and branding on the app version of the platform did not appear to change as of early Monday.

Twitter’s world-renowned bird logo was transformed into an X, however.

Early Sunday, Musk posted a short video of a flickering “X.” Asked if the logo would change in a Twitter Spaces audio chat, he said “yes,” telling an unknown speaker: “We’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blow torches.”

Early Monday, Musk tweeted an image of the X branding beamed across Twitter’s headquarters.

Musk tweeted Sunday that the idea of changing the logo to “X” was to “embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique.”

“And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he wrote.

By Sunday afternoon, the web address x.com was already redirecting to what was once Twitter. The domain returned to Musk in 2017 after it was relinquished under the merger that became PayPal,

The shift from bird imagery to an “X” is the latest sweeping change since Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last year.

Musk in April changed the name of the company from Twitter Inc. to X Corp.

The social media company also recently announced it was limiting the number of daily direct messages unverified users can send in what it said is part of an effort to reduce spam.

That change went into effect Friday, according to a message on the help center. If users want to increase the number of daily messages allowed, they will have to join the subscription service launched last year.

The latest changes come as the social media giant continues to face competition from Meta’s new app, Threads, which launched earlier this month.

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a series of posts that the rebrand is the start of a move to push the app in new directions. She is the former head of ad sales for NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.

“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” she wrote. “Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

Musk has teased turning Twitter into a bigger app since he bought the platform last year, talking about an “everything app” similar to what WeChat has become in China.

The shifts marks the end of one of the most recognizable brands of the social media boom. The blue Twitter bird had also become a known icon, and one that the company previously valued.

“Our logo is our most recognizable asset,” the company said in a branding page that was still live as of Monday morning. “That’s why we’re so protective of it.”

The origin of the new logo is not yet known, but many online have pointed to its similarity to a Unicode character. Unicode is a standard of digital letters maintained by the nonprofit group The Unicode Consortium, which also oversees emoji.

Chantal Da Silva

Chantal Da Silva is a breaking news editor for NBC News Digital based in London. 

Mirna Alsharif

and

Minyvonne Burke

contributed

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