Technology billionaire Elon Musk, who took over Twitter in October 2022, recently replaced the platform’s catchy logo with the “X” logo. This change is not limited to the logo, of course. Musk also announced that Twitter will soon be renamed “X”. Even the X.com address is now redirecting to Twitter. So what does all this mean? Why did Twitter change to X?Twitter became X
“X is the future of unlimited interaction centered on voice, video, messaging, payments/banking, creating a global market for ideas, products, services and opportunities. Powered by artificial intelligence, X will connect us all in ways we have begun to imagine.” These words were shared by Linda Yaccarino, the current CEO of Twitter.However, Musk has owned the X.com domain name since 2000, when he was working on PayPal. Before Twitter was rebranded, the website only featured the letter ‘X’, but now it redirects to Twitter.com. Earlier this year, Twitter had already changed its business name to X Corp to align with Musk’s “app everything” vision.
Where did this X come from?
The name X has been part of Musk’s grand plan since the late ’90s, when he first started making a name for himself in the online payments space. Musk had founded a payments company he was considering naming ‘X.com’; this new platform would offer not only instant and free payments, but also credit and other banking elements in a simplified and streamlined manner.
But when his company merged with PayPal, his new partners did not accept the X concept, and Musk was eventually forced to abandon his plan and move on to other ventures. But the idea and the name stayed with him. Musk still believes he can create a disruptive, game-changing application that will use payments as the backbone and then facilitate any transaction activity in addition to social media and entertainment elements.
X is a tough journey
Musk has repeatedly claimed that the acquisition of Twitter is ‘an accelerator on the road to X’, but despite Musk’s long-held hopes, achieving X will not be easy. The first challenge is that regulators are not welcoming payments that disable existing banking systems. At the same time, Western users show little interest in paying and purchasing products on social apps.The situation is different in Asian countries. For example, with WeChat in China, users prefer to be able to do whatever they want, and this preference is also used by some Asian governments as a tool to better track citizen activity.
Though, it was 24 years ago when Elon first came up with this concept. Elon seems to have potentially missed the ship, but he’s committed to an idea he’s planted in his mind that is unlikely to come to fruition no matter how hard he tries. This dedication is strong enough to destroy the blue bird that is the symbol of Twitter, which immediately brings the platform to mind when you see it.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of the company, argues that the brand name renewal is an exciting opportunity: “Twitter has made a huge impact and changed the way we communicate. X will go further and transform the global town square.”
The phrase “global town square” was used as one of Elon Musk’s goals for the platform when he took to Twitter: a square where different ideas from all walks of life meet.
Why did Twitter become “X”?
The answer to this question is actually a result of what we explained above. Musk’s decision to adopt ‘X’ as Twitter’s new identity is part of a plan to transform the micro-blogging platform into a “superapp” similar to China’s WeChat, which combines various services and functions into one platform.
After that, the new features to be added to Twitter, or rather X, will be decisive. Judging by the words of the new CEO, it is highly likely that we will see something in audio, video, messaging and payments/banking. Over the past 8 months we’ve been starting to see X take shape on a fast feature basis, and from now on, the process will get even faster. As the Twitter CEO said: “There is absolutely no limit to this transformation. X…. will be a platform that can offer anything.”
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