Is Twitter getting the X Factor?

In the latest instalment of the ongoing saga, Twitter has undergone a rebrand, replacing the bird brand that had been in place since 2012 with a new “X”, clearly designed to align the social network with the recent introduction of X Corp. as the new holding company behind Twitter.

Elon Musk has long held ambitions of creating an “X” app, dating back to his tenure with PayPal. He bought back X.com from PayPal in 2017 for what he stated at the time were “sentimental reasons”. But it is now clear he still harbours ambitions of leveraging the name as part of a wider digital ecosystem.

However, the introduction of the new brand has not been without issue, and with the current iteration of the logo having been crowdsourced and selected from an existing Windows typeface rather than developed bespoke, it’s unclear whether Twitter even owns the right to use the X logo on an ongoing basis.

On the Interface

There have since been several real time adjustments to the logo, with Musk publicly critiquing new versions after they go live. Even, as if rumoured, that this logo is only a placeholder until a final version is created, Twitter still has the bird logo and colour scheme throughout its site and is seemingly going through quite an elongated redesign process.

Considering updating your Twitter icon?

With this in mind, it’s still too early to be updating your own brand assets, such as website imagery or email signatures, to try and align with this new update.

It’s highly likely there will be multiple rounds of development of Twitter’s new identity before settling on its new brand, and for most users the classic “bird” logo will still have more resonance.

How does this affect my current strategy?

In short, it shouldn’t affect your current strategy for the immediate future. In the context of Twitter’s recent platform updates, it is a relatively minor, superficial change and isn’t affecting user experience or advertising effectiveness yet.

If you are currently activating paid campaigns on Twitter or creating content using the platform, we would recommend continuing for now as while there’s a new visual identity which is slowly filtering through, the functionality remains the same, and Twitter’s new CEO remains committed to wooing advertisers back to the channel.

However, this symbolic change does perhaps signal the informal beginning of a new phase for the channel. It’s likely that we will see real material change to Twitter, and indeed see the realisation of Elon Musk’s long-held dream of “X, the everything app”.

However, in the interim we’re monitoring these changes and once it becomes clear the new identity is final, we’ll share more concrete recommendations on transitioning your visual assets.

If you have any more questions about Twitter or any other aspect of your digital strategy, please don’t hesitate to contact [email protected].