Is Elon Musk right to ditch the Twitter logo?

Social Media · July 25, 2023

When Jean-Pierre Dube saw the news that billionaire Elon Musk was scrapping Twitter's blue bird logo in favour of an Art Deco-style black and white X, the marketing professor thought it was a joke.

"Why take a recognised brand, with a lot of brand capital around it and then completely throw it away and start from scratch?" said Prof Dube, who teaches at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

"In the short-term, it seems weird." But in the long term, could it work?

Mr Musk's takeover of Twitter last year has been punishing for the social media platform.

Advertising revenue has dropped by half, Mr Musk said this month, as big brands pulled back, wary of changes he has made, including how the firm handles verified accounts and moderates content. Abrupt layoffs and unpaid bills have also led to bad press and lawsuits.

Estimates by Fidelity, which has a stake in the company, suggest it is now worth just a third of the $44bn ($34.3bn) that Mr Musk paid for Twitter in October.

FULL STORY

Tug · July 25, 2023

Meh…who cares

Neeranam · July 25, 2023

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Meh…who cares

People who comment about it.

stevenl · July 25, 2023

21 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

People who comment about it.

Not necessarily.

I don't care about Twitter, just don't understand a waste of value like this.

Neeranam · July 25, 2023

Just now, stevenl said:

Not necessarily.

I don't care about Twitter, just don't understand a waste of value like this.

I hated the old logo and owners, with a new one, I am tempted to use it more.

Rebranding is nothing new.

ballpoint · July 25, 2023

No, but it's a good move for the Twitter logo.

Bkk Brian · July 25, 2023

Twitter is already reported to have lost 2 thirds of the value Elon paid for it, now this. The investors must be so pleased with him.

By Turning Twitter Into X, Elon Musk Risks Killing Billions in Brand Value

It’s rare for corporate brands to become so intertwined with everyday conversation that they become verbs. It’s rarer still for the owner of such a brand to announce plans to intentionally destroy it.

On Sunday, in the middle of a quiet summer weekend, Elon Musk decreed that Twitter’s product name would be changed to “X,” and that he is getting rid of the bird logo and all the associated words, including “tweet.” Musk’s move wiped out anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion in value, according to analysts and brand agencies.

https://time.com/6297303/twitter-x-rebrand-cost/

Neeranam · July 25, 2023

Many/most people don't understand how big the metaverse and Web3 are going to be. Musk is ahead of them all.

Berkshire · July 25, 2023

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

Twitter is already reported to have lost 2 thirds of the value Elon paid for it, now this. The investors must be so pleased with him.

By Turning Twitter Into X, Elon Musk Risks Killing Billions in Brand Value

It’s rare for corporate brands to become so intertwined with everyday conversation that they become verbs. It’s rarer still for the owner of such a brand to announce plans to intentionally destroy it.

On Sunday, in the middle of a quiet summer weekend, Elon Musk decreed that Twitter’s product name would be changed to “X,” and that he is getting rid of the bird logo and all the associated words, including “tweet.” Musk’s move wiped out anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion in value, according to analysts and brand agencies.

https://time.com/6297303/twitter-x-rebrand-cost/

Elon is smart about some things, but incredibly dumb in others. It takes years, sometimes decades, to successfully build a brand. Now he's essentially starting over. I also read somewhere that Meta owns the "X" thing....

Bkk Brian · July 25, 2023

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

Many/most people don't understand how big the metaverse and Web3 are going to be. Musk is ahead of them all.

I think you'll find Zuckerberg and Facebook are well aware of it, that's why a couple of years ago he changed Facebooks company branding to "Meta" (for metaverse) however he was a little wiser and left the Facebook logo.

Neeranam · July 25, 2023

I am hoping it has to do with Metaversx.

https://multiversx.com/

JonnyF · July 25, 2023

Seems like a strange decision.

However, Musk is an extremely successful businessman so it's reasonable to assume that he has a plan in place for his free speech platform.

vandeventer · July 25, 2023

12 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Many/most people don't understand how big the metaverse and Web3 are going to be. Musk is ahead of them all.

Yes, out with the old logo in with the New. Free speech at last, go Musk!

stoner · July 25, 2023

never been on tweety site.

OneMoreFarang · July 25, 2023

IMHO what Musk bought was the brand Twitter including the well-known logo and the millions of users.

Soon after he bought it, he changed a lot, often A to B and back to A.

Now he also changes the name and the logo. What is still left of what used to be Twitter?

I think the actual computer technology behind Twitter is not extremely complicated. I am sure engineers could recreate it for less than 1% of the price what he paid for Twitter.

So what did he pay all that money for? His ego?

BritManToo · July 25, 2023

30 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

So what did he pay all that money for? His ego?

i thought he bought it to shut them up.

And sack all the people that closed his account.

Revenge seems a pretty good reason to me, if you have money to burn.

If i were rich I'd love buying up the 'wokes' safe places and putting them out of work.

Imagine having enough money to buy the banks of your opponents, then close their accounts and foreclose on their mortgages.

Edited July 25, 2023 by BritManToo

KannikaP · July 25, 2023

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

I am tempted to use it more.

Instead of, or as opposed to what?

gargamon · July 25, 2023

Disclaimer: I have never had a twitter acct nor perused twitter for any reason.

So all the lingo will go away. No more “tweet“ing I guess. What's it going to be now? X-claim?

Neeranam · July 25, 2023

28 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Instead of, or as opposed to what?

More than I have in the past,

stevenl · July 25, 2023

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I hated the old logo and owners, with a new one, I am tempted to use it more.

Rebranding is nothing new.

Looking forward to your example of a comparable rebrand.

Edited July 25, 2023 by stevenl

stevenl · July 25, 2023

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-crane-removes-twitter-sign-san-francisco-police-2023-7

Lol

Bkk Brian · July 25, 2023

1 hour ago, gargamon said:

Disclaimer: I have never had a twitter acct nor perused twitter for any reason.

So all the lingo will go away. No more “tweet“ing I guess. What's it going to be now? X-claim?

Musk said they will be called "x's"

The twitter files I guess will now be the x files....lol

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1683365872323133442

pedro01 · July 25, 2023

The whole thing is a non-issue.

You can say that the "twitter" brand was well known - but everyone can still go to twitter.com or use twitter app and tweetdeck apps - so basically nothing has changed from the perspective of the odd man in a cave that didn't hear about the rebrand. The rebrand itself makes little sense to anyone other than Musk, I think. It's not going to attract more people for sure. Not can I see it attracting less.

As for the metaverse - it's a huge flop and will remain so. Not all technology advances will appeal to consumers, and the metaverse is of that ilk. No doubt also - despite millions of takers, Zuckerberg's attempt at a Twitter rival will also flop due to people just waning off the platform. Twitter/X has a vastly superior user base and Zuckerbergs @ - has a few major disadvantages to Twitter, that will ultimately see it's demise. One of them being the lack of a desktop app.

StayinThailand2much · July 25, 2023

5 hours ago, Tug said:

Meh…who cares

Same here. Apart from not asking people whether they 'twitter' anymore, but whether they 'XXX'... :laugh:

scottiejohn · July 25, 2023

2 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

whether they 'XXX'.

Who gives a "XXXX" !

I hope it burns and dies along with all the other so called "Social" (for "Social" read read "online gullible") media cr@p!

Edited July 25, 2023 by scottiejohn

John Drake · July 25, 2023

4 hours ago, Berkshire said:

I also read somewhere that Meta owns the "X" thing....

You can't "own" the letter, x. You can own your graphic design of it. I imagine Musk copyrighted this new logo quite some time ago. It goes along with his SpaceX and Tesla X. For some reason, he has a fixation on X.