The original text-based social network has a brand-new name. On July 22nd, Twitter officially rebranded as X.
And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
The change, first announced by owner Elon Musk in a series of posts, has been long in the making.
PayPal, one of Musk’s earliest startups, began life as X.com back in 1999. In April of this year, Musk officially changed Twitter’s legal name to X Corp. After the most recent changes, the X.com domain now redirects to Twitter.
https://t.co/bOUOek5Cvy now points to https://t.co/AYBszklpkE.
Interim X logo goes live later today.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
The new name looks like the next step in Musk’s plan to build an “everything app” like WeChat or Line.
An “everything” or “super app” is a multi-functional mobile app that can handle many aspects of digital life, including messaging, social networking, ecommerce, delivery services, and even online banking.
According to Musk, “The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth – like birds tweeting – but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video. In the months to come, we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world. The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird.”
Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app. This is not simply a company renaming itself, but doing the same thing.
The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth – like…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2023
What does an everything app mean for the future of text-based social media? So far, it doesn’t seem like the name change has impacted the app’s core functionality, but we’re excited to see where this latest development takes us. Stay tuned!