Twitter is no more. Elon Musk has announced that the bird has flown and the social network is now simple called "X".
He and the CEO of X Corp (formerly Twitter), Linda Yaccarino, have taken to X to unveil the new logo and announce the move.
Yaccarino called it "a second chance to make a big impression" and the company has certainly done that. However, her enthusiasm for it to "fulfill" its "great potential" is not necessarily shared by everyone. Myself included. For me, it's another example of self-destruction - something that started when Musk bought the social media service for $44 billion last year.
It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.July 23, 2023
Since then, he has allowed banned members who have posted extreme and/or purposely hurtful views to return to the platform. He's removed the verified badge from all but a handful of genuinely verified members - including renowned journalists and other accountable sources of information. Allowed anybody to purchase a "verified" badge without actual verification other than a bank account to pay the subscription fees from. And he's slowly hived standard features to behind the paywall, citing security or bots as reasons.
More features behind a paywall
Even on the day of the rebranding, Twitter X announced that unverified accounts now have daily limits on the amount of direct messages (DMs) they can send. This time, it's to reduce "spam".
I don't buy it and I don't get the rebrand. It's almost like Musk wanted to kill Twitter long before he bought it and hasn't let a fair few billion bucks get in the way of that mission. He certainly wanted to get rid of the bird, having replaced it briefly with the Dogecoin dog - something that drove up price of the crypto currency amid calls of insider trading.
Now he's done so, what else is next?
It's interesting to note that, while the social network is now just "X", the URL remains twitter.com - will that be replaced too? It looks like it as x.com exists and currently redirects.
And what should we call "tweets" going forward? I suggest "X-its"... as it accurately describes the feeling of many Twitter users as they flood to Threads or Bluesky after yet another knife in the back of the now-not-very-social network.
Perhaps you could call it an X-odus. It certainly feels that way.
Oh, and by the way Mr Musk, X Blue was the name of a series of hardcore adult movies in the 70s and 80s. Thought you'd just like to know.
