In the most significant rebrand since BackRub became Google, Twitter is now X.
What happened: If you’ve ever thought of changing your name and leaving it all behind, Elon Musk is right there with you. This week, the X (previously Twitter) owner began rolling out the platform’s teased rebrand, bringing his vision of an “everything app” closer to life.
- Musk has long been into the idea of an “X” brand—the name of the company he co-founded before it became PayPal. In 2017, PayPal sold Musk the X.com domain.
It’s all part of the plan, Musk says. Since scooping up Twitter for US$44 billion last year, Musk has talked about turning the product into a super-app, a hugely successful concept in Asia (yet to find much success in the West) that bundles a mix of services into one platform.
- For instance, China’s WeChat has been described as an "app for everything” since it offers features across messaging, games, payments, photo sharing, and more.
Why it matters: Besides offering creative agencies a case study on how not to execute a rebrand, Musk seems serious about making a go of this super-app thing. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, is trailing close behind, running all of Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.
But Musk faces a few challenges:
- He’s now lost one of the most recognizable brand names on the planet (“tweeting” has even earned the coveted status as a verb), worth between US$4-$20 billion.
- The move could land him in (more) legal trouble: Several companies, including Microsoft and Meta already have intellectual property rights to the same letter.
- Signs of a choppy rollout all over the internet, between pieces of the old brand still in place (including the domain), to police blocking the takedown of a Twitter sign at HQ.
Bottom line: Musk took on billion in loans to buy Twitter, so he needs to find a way to make the company profitable—and stat. With a disdain for advertising revenue (and advertisers fleeing the platform anyway), he’ll have to think big: Maybe even super-app big.—SB
