The internet is a buzz as the app previously recognized as Twitter declared a rebranding over the past weekend. X.com is now a redirect link to Twitter.com, despite the social media network continuing to prompt users to “tweet.”
The name switch forms part of the continuing metamorphosis of Twitter, a digital gathering spot for highly networked individuals, striving to transform into an app that offers “everything,” according to CEO Linda Yaccarino.
“X signifies the upcoming stage of endless interactivity, developing a worldwide marketplace for concepts, products, services, and possibilities,” she stated in a post on the platform. “Powered by A.I., X will link us all in ways we’re just starting to envision.”
Here’s what this change implies for X as Elon Musk aims to reinvent Twitter, a platform he purchased in 2022 for $44 billion.
Musk has been outspoken about his ambition to evolve Twitter into a super-app, something similar to China’s WeChat.
Currently, no American counterpart exists, but industry connoisseurs envision an app that virtually fulfills any online need a person may have.
“The app’s users can execute a variety of tasks on the platform, be it listening to a podcast, shopping, viewing videos,” remarked Nii Ahene, chief strategy officer of the marketing agency Tinuiti.
Twitter already facilitates live audio dialogues, sends extended text messages, and broadcasts videos, like the new program former Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently initiated on the platform.
If Twitter’s venture into paid subscriptions proves fruitful, it could potentially extend to sharing some subscription income with its users.
Musk seems to possess an enduring fascination with the letter X, titling his very first startup X.com. (After a merger, the app morphed into PayPal, even though Musk reportedly advocated for retaining the name X, as per biographer Walter Isaacson.)
After acquiring Twitter, Musk purportedly texted Isaacson that he was “very excited about finally implementing X.com as it should have been done, using Twitter as an accelerant!”
The character X recurs throughout Musk’s other ventures too, like his space-travel business SpaceX, his freshly unveiled AI app xAI, and the Model X, an early model from his electric car firm Tesla. Musk even named his son with singer Grimes, X.
“It’s just X, the letter X,” he disclosed on the Joe Rogan Experience recently, demonstrating how to pronounce his son X Æ A-XII’s name.
Musk reclaimed ownership of X.com six years prior. He officially altered Twitter’s legal name to X Corp in April.
Over the past weekend, X.com was redirected to Twitter.com, and on Monday, a crane initiated the removal of Twitter’s iconic bird logo from the firm’s San Francisco headquarters. However, the authorities halted the operation shortly after it commenced.
At the moment, the platform’s rebrand is merely a name alteration — no new functionalities have been launched, aligning with Musk’s favored product approach of building hype initially, with delivery following much later.
Nonetheless, the name change indicates Musk’s probable retention of the company’s control for the foreseeable future, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh suggested.
Following Musk’s acquisition in April of 2022, some speculated that the billionaire might tweak Twitter and swiftly pass it onto another owner, Singh observed.
“Now, with the name change, that possibility is off the table — I don’t see any other potential buyer stepping in at this point,” he stated.
