Current:Home > MarketsNovaQuant-Twitter replaces its bird logo with an X as part of Elon Musk's plan for a super app -Wealth Axis Pro
NovaQuant-Twitter replaces its bird logo with an X as part of Elon Musk's plan for a super app
Algosensey Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-09 13:36:52
Twitter's iconic blue bird logo was officially replaced Monday with the letter "X." A day earlier,NovaQuant the URL "X.com" began to automatically redirect users to Twitter.
Taken together, the two changes mark the latest and arguably most dramatic changes for the social platform since the billionaire's purchase last year. It may signal a new era for the platform — which Musk has long envisioned as a super app that will offer a variety of services from online banking to video messaging.
"X will be the platform that can deliver, well....everything," Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote Sunday on Twitter.
Musk has hinted at changing Twitter's name to "X" since last year when he was days away from officially owning the company. "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app," he said on Twitter.
Musk's vision for an "everything app" has been compared to platforms like the ubiquitous WeChat app in China.
"He wants to create an app similar to how WeChat is used in China, where it's part of the fabric of day-to-day life. You use it to communicate, to consume news, to buy things, to pay your rent, to book appointments with your doctor and even to pay fines," Ashlee Vance, the author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, told NPR in a May interview.
Social media experts are doubtful of Musk's "everything app"
Twitter's new logo is sleeker and on par with the futuristic style of Elon Musk's other business ventures, Tesla and SpaceX. But social media expert Jennifer Grygiel is skeptical that Musk can create an innovative Twitter as the re-branding suggests.
"I'm not sure he has enough trust from his user base to get people to actually exchange money or attach any type of financial institution to his app," Grygiel, a professor at Syracuse University, told NPR.
Grygiel added that Musk hurt Twitter's integrity with decisions like removing blue checks, firing thousands of Twitter staff and reinstating problematic accounts.
Jeffrey Blevins, a journalism professor at the University of Cincinnati, agreed that Musk has dismayed a significant portion of Twitter users — so much so that a rebranding can't hurt.
"I think this is a way, maybe, to try to save it essentially by destroying it and recreating it as something else," he said.
Musk really likes the letter "X" but no one really knows why
For years, the billionaire has been known for having an affinity for the letter X — though he has shared little explanation as to why.
In one of his earliest ventures, Musk called his online bank X.com. That name was later dropped when the platform merged with a competitor to become PayPal.
"Everyone tried to talk him out of naming the company that back then because of the sexual innuendos, but he really liked it and stuck with it," said Vance.
"X" is already the name of Tesla's third electric car model, which debuted in 2015. Musk's spaceflight company is called SpaceX. And in 2020, Musk and his then-partner, the Canadian musician Grimes, named their youngest son "X Æ A-12."
veryGood! (11863)
Related
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- Washington police search for couple they say disappeared under suspicious circumstance
- Serena Williams and Ruby Bridges to be inducted into National Women’s Hall of Fame
- Police rescue children, patients after armed gang surrounds hospital in Haiti
- Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
- Lukas Gage Makes First Public Appearance Since Chris Appleton Divorce Filing
- Starbucks Red Cup Day is sheer stress for workers. We're going on strike because of it.
- Arizona woman accused of animal abuse arrested on suspicion of another 77 charges
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Drake announces 'Scary Hours 3' album, new project coming out Friday at midnight
Ranking
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- 5 tennis players were suspended for match-fixing in a case tied to a Belgian syndicate
- Aid to Gaza halted with communications down for a second day, as food and water supplies dwindle
- Andrea Kremer, Tracy Wolfson, other sports journalists criticize Charissa Thompson
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- Longtime Israeli policy foes are leading US protests against Israel’s action in Gaza. Who are they?
- Puerto Rico signs multimillion-dollar deal with Texas company to build a marina for mega yachts
- Why is the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix so late? That and all your burning questions, explained
Recommendation
NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
Karma remains undefeated as Deshaun Watson, Browns finally get their comeuppance
Starbucks sued after California woman says 210-degree hot tea spilled on her in drive-thru
ASEAN defense chiefs call for immediate truce, aid corridor in Israel-Hamas war
New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
New York judge lifts gag order that barred Donald Trump from maligning court staff in fraud trial
Details Revealed on Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker's Baby Boy Rocky Thirteen
Officials name a new president for Mississippi’s largest historically Black university