In an unexpected move, Elon Musk, the proprietor of Twitter Inc, implied on Sunday his intentions to overhaul the platform's brand identity. He plans to retire the familiar blue bird logo, replacing it with an 'X' in response to the tepid return of advertisers.
This move comes amidst challenging circumstances for Twitter, marked by advertising revenues that are currently a mere half of their previous figures, alongside a negative cash flow, fueled by its substantial debt burden.
Forrester's research director, Mike Proulx, voiced his concerns on Sunday, apprehending that such a dramatic shift could estrange Twitter's initial user base, which was once fiercely loyal. "The signals from Musk indicate a dawning of a new era, a deviation from what Twitter once was. It might be perceived as a dilution of a well-known brand, yet it also implies the platform's future lies with a different set of users," he said.
In a bid to re-imagine Twitter's visual identity, Musk held a poll among his numerous followers, asking if they would support a change in the platform's color theme from blue to black. To elucidate his vision, he shared a design of an 'X' juxtaposed against a backdrop reminiscent of outer space.
The imminent departure from the original Twitter brand will be a gradual one, Musk noted. "In time, we shall bid farewell to the Twitter brand and, gradually, to all the birds," he stated.
Twitter's newly appointed CEO, Linda Yaccarino, made her views clear on Sunday. "Very seldom do you get a second shot at making an indelible impression, whether in life or in business. Twitter transformed the communication landscape with its debut. Now, X Corp is poised to further revolutionize the digital public square," she tweeted.
Since his acquisition of Twitter last October, Musk's tenure has been marked by significant changes. His vision to develop a 'super app', akin to China's WeChat, led to a renaming of the business to X Corp.
Twitter's legacy blue bird logo was replaced briefly by the Shiba Inu dog of Dogecoin in April, which significantly boosted the value of the cryptocurrency.
However, Twitter faced backlash from users and marketing experts when Musk announced earlier this month the platform's plans to restrict the number of tweets accessible to various accounts each day.
This decision proved advantageous to Twitter's competitor, Threads, owned by Meta Platforms. Following Twitter's restriction policy, Threads saw a surge in registrations, surpassing 100 million within five days after its launch on July 5.
