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Elon Musk's Big Twitter Rebranding Plan Is Already Underway

Illustration Musk Twitter logo mundissima/Shutterstock
By Nadeem Sarwar/

Elon Musk's promised identity makeover for Twitter is already underway. In a tweet, Musk announced that the domain X.com now redirects users to the Twitter website. Over the weekend, Musk also confirmed that the social media platform will soon be operating off the X.com domain. The Twitter owner further revealed that an interim logo featuring the "X" insignia will soon be replacing the iconic blue bird logo on Sunday.

So far, Musk hasn't shared what the final logo design will look like, but it's clear that the social site will draw on its parent company, X Corp for inspiration. Earlier this year, the Tesla chief created a new company called X Corp to handle Twitter, which experts see as a formative step toward turning Twitter into "an everything app" that Musk likes to call X. Twitter's new CEO Linda Yaccarino seems excited for the change, claiming that "X will go further, transforming the global town square." 

Further details are still under wraps, but it's safe to assume that adjacent products like Twitter Blue will also undergo similar rebranding down the road. What of colloquial Twitter-inspired terms like tweets and Musk's own "chief twit" distinction? Well, Musk won't say anything about it, but Twitter users are already throwing around some ideas. Renowned Indian journalist Barkha Dutt proposed "Xterminator," which is somewhat fitting, as Musk chopped off two-thirds of Twitter's workforce, killed multiple projects, got rid of company properties, and even slashed Twitter's original $44 billion market value in half.

How will X reimagine the social identity of Twitter?

Tentative logo X Elon Musk/Twitter

Musk has been dropping clues about an X app for a while and has hinted that instead of creating one from scratch, Twitter would serve as a ready-made platform to morph into one. "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app," Musk wrote in a tweet in October 2022. Speculation is rife that Musk wants to create something along the lines of China's WeChat, a communication app that blends everything from social connections and mobile payments to ride-hailing and gaming.

Twitter already has some elements of that "everything" approach in place. The app is already cashing in on the appeal of blogs and newsletters with a new feature that lets paid users publish long-form articles, complete with in-line images. In order to boost Twitter's content appeal, the company has started paying creators a cut of its ad revenue. Features like paywalled videos, inspired by platforms like OnlyFans, are also said to be in the pipeline to bring more creators to the website. Recently, Twitter also increased the duration limit for video uploads, allowing some users to post full-length films on the platform.

Musk hasn't talked much about the peer-to-peer payments facility on Twitter, but features like subscriptions and tipping are already there. Interestingly, Musk also wants to snatch some thunder from LinkedIn by turning Twitter into a job posting platform but has advised users to keep things less boring.

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