Elon Musk has said he plans to revamp Twitter’s branding and ditch its iconic bird logo, posting on the social media platform that “soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”.
Musk has already made significant changes to Twitter since he bought the company last year, changing its name to X Corp in filings as part of his plans to create an “everything app” under the brand “X”.
In a tweet on Sunday, he said: “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make [it] go live worldwide tomorrow.” He also posted a poll asking users to vote on whether the platform’s default colour should become black.
Twitter has come under increasing pressure since the billionaire entrepreneur closed his $44bn acquisition of the company in October. Musk has slashed the workforce as he cuts costs, while radical policy changes have frustrated users and advertisers, with advertising revenues falling by half and the company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
The platform’s latest challenge came this month when rival Meta attracted tens of millions of users to Threads, its long-awaited Twitter competitor. Twitter has threatened to sue Meta, alleging it stole the company’s trade secrets when creating its messaging app.
Musk has a history of changing his mind after making public pronouncements. If he follows through with a rebranding, it would mark just the latest attempt to turn around the company.
In May, he appointed Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s former head of advertising, as Twitter’s chief executive in an effort to woo back dozens of big advertisers that had deserted the platform over Musk’s unorthodox leadership style and looser content moderation.
Musk has said advertisers are returning to Twitter but he has continued to upset its users. He sparked a backlash this month after announcing that the social media platform was putting temporary limits on the number of posts users are able to view.
Twitter’s light-blue bird logo is the company’s “most recognizable asset”, says its website, familiar to people around the world. It was named “Larry T Bird” by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone after Larry Bird, the former basketball player.