Elon Musk’s Pivot to X Draws Strong Opinions Across Twitter

Elon Musk’s rebranding of Twitter to X elicited excitement, exasperation and effrontery from users as they adjusted to the billionaire’s latest change in remaking the social-media platform he acquired last year.

Reactions in the Twitterverse after Musk’s announcement on Sunday ranged from dismay at Musk bringing an end to Twitter’s globally recognized blue bird brand to jokes and sarcasm about the new “X” branding to excitement about the billionaire’s ambition to turn X.com into a so-called everything app—in which the platform would offer an array of services including audio, video, messaging and banking. 

Musk has moved swiftly to put his mark on the platform, including sweeping job cuts, charging for verification, and content-moderation changes such as reinstating many previously suspended accounts. The changes have been polarizing, upsetting many Twitter users but appealing to others who like the billionaire’s vision. At the same time, Twitter’s business has struggled after many advertisers pulled back from the platform in part because of concerns over Musk’s approach to content moderation. 

Musk tweeted earlier this month that Twitter had a “~50% drop in advertising revenue.” He also said this month looked “a bit more promising” compared with June.

Advertising executives said the new branding isn’t likely to persuade brands that have paused ad spending on the platform to return, but also isn’t likely to turn off advertisers who have stuck with the platform so far under Musk’s ownership, as long as users also stay. 

“The recent announcement of a rebrand won’t do much in the way of swaying advertisers one way or another,” said Brendan Gahan, chief social officer of ad agency Mekanism. He said the company ultimately must deliver on brand safety and a compelling ad product to woo advertisers back.

Nii Ahene, chief strategy officer at digital-ad agency Tinuiti, said, “Those who don’t see eye-to-eye with Musk’s politics or interpretations of free speech will still back off.”

But, Ahene said, the rebrand is creating a stir. “It’s a helpful way to divert the conversation back to Twitter after Threads’ spectacular launch,” he said, referring to the Twitter-like microblogging app that Meta Platforms started earlier this month.

Threads gained more than 100 million sign-ups within a week after launching, but user engagement fell after that initial surge, according to third-party estimates last week. 

“A lot can and will be said about the merits of changing the brand from Twitter to X,” said Nick Miaritis, chief client officer at ad agency VaynerMedia, “but I think the most interesting aspect of the whole moment is how Elon used a series of different pieces of content to capture the attention of millions (on and off Twitter) and allow the users of the platform to weigh in on the decision.”

Twitter’s brand change generated enthusiasm among those who embrace Musk’s track record and ideas for the platform, as well as among some employees. “What would you build in a world where everything is possible?” tweeted Alexa Alianiello, a sales and partnerships employee at Twitter, with a photo of an X-shaped balloon and a sign showing #lovewhereyouwork, a slogan popular among Twitter employees before Musk’s takeover.

As of Monday, the brand change wasn’t complete. While the logo on the website showed “X,” the app on users’ phones was still named Twitter; the button to post showed the word “tweet”; and other features kept references to the old company name, such as the company’s subscription service, called Twitter Blue. Twitter had changed its corporate name to X Corp. earlier this year, but at the time kept the Twitter branding. 

In a seemingly inadvertent symbol of the incomplete transition, workers started removing Twitter signage from the outside of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco on Monday, but halted before the work was done. A company spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment about the stoppage. The change also drew the attention of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, which said it was looking into whether a permit was needed.

Users had questions about the change to the platform, which Musk revealed in a series of tweets early Sunday. One Twitter user asked: What will be the new name for a tweet? Musk answered: “An X.” Another user asked what a retweet is now called.

“That whole concept should be rethought,” Musk replied.

“I’m still gonna call it Twitter,” Marques Brownlee, a tech influencer, tweeted Sunday.

“Not for long,” Musk replied.

Some Twitter users found humor in the rebrand. On Sunday, “Xvideos” was trending on Twitter, with users joking that Twitter’s new name reminded them of an adult website with a similar name. 

“Welcome to X” was trending Monday, along with #RIPTwitter.  

Some former employees said they found some comfort in saying goodbye to old Twitter. “I will be at peace with this,” tweeted Jean-Philippe Maheu, a former ad-sales executive at Twitter. “The Twitter I knew and worked at for ten years no longer [exists] since the acquisition.”

The history of corporate branding and rebranding is littered with missteps and successes. One of the most famous marketing blunders was the introduction of New Coke, when Coca-Cola reformulated its Coke drink in 1985. The resulting customer backlash led the company to bring back the original version soon after.

Sometimes new names are panned early on but manage to gain acceptance over time. Verizon Communications, for example, initially had some critics over its name, which was formed by combining the Latin word “veritas” with the word “horizon” when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged. 

Companies often spend a lot of money on new names, hiring consultants and copyright lawyers and testing different iterations with focus groups to make sure new names appeal to customers and investors—and avoid offending anyone. 

While Musk has a vision to turn Twitter into what he has called an “everything app,” such a transformation is easier said than done. Tencent’s WeChat in China offers an example of a super app that Musk has said he admires. But huge challenges loom, including entrenched players and regulatory hurdles.

“This is an astonishing branding move,” said Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, in part because the change has been so abrupt. 

“It may be that Twitter, or X, is now going to bring forth a big campaign to explain what this brand means,” he said. “So we’ll have to wait and see how it unfolds. At the moment, I think it’s creating more confusion than anything.” 

—Suzanne Vranica contributed to this article.

Write to Alexa Corse at [email protected] and Patience Haggin at [email protected]