Bird has flown the coop: Twitter X rebrand rolls out

Twitter’s little blue bird has started to leave the nest.

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Elon Musk announced Sunday that he was changing Twitter’s bird icon to X and the rollout of the new branding has already begun, CNN reported.

The bird, which is named Larry, according to Forbes, had been the icon of the social media platform for more than a decade.

The X logo started rolling out on desktop platforms, while the bird was still seen on phone apps Monday morning, The Associated Press reported.

The change is expected to come to phones as the apps are updated, Forbes reported.

Musk said on Twitter that “X.com now points to twitter.com. Interim X logo goes live later today.”

He also shared an image of the company headquarters with a giant X projected on the building.

Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of Twitter, tweeted, “Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”

She added, “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity = centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking - creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

Forbes reported that he had wanted to make Twitter into an app similar to the Chinese company WeChat and that the name change is one of the first steps.

Musk crowdsourced the interim logo, which he called minimalist Art Deco, adding that it “certainly will be refined,” the AP reported.

Tweets will also be called X’s.

This isn’t the first time Musk has used X in his businesses. He has SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and he had a startup in 1999 named X.com that was an online financial services company. It’s now called PayPal, the AP reported.

He also calls his son with the singer Grimes, X.

While Musk and Yaccarino are touting the change, not everyone is behind the move. Some industry watchers say the change from Twitter to X will confuse audiences and may force people from the platform to its competitors, including the Meta and Instagram foray called Threads, the AP reported. Threads currently has only a phone-based app, but Meta has alluded to adding a desktop version as well as other additions, CNN reported.

According to Twitter, the company has 528.3 million global monetizable monthly active users. Threads started strong earlier this month with more than 100 million signups in its first week, but has plummeted to 13 million active users, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Musk purchased Twitter for $44 million last year, the AP reported. He quickly made changes, including drastic employee cuts and tweaks to how the company moderates content and verifies users, Forbes reported. He told those who stayed with Twitter that it would mean “working long hours at high intensity” and also told them that “only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade,” CNN reported.