Twitter Is Rebranding as X, but When Is the Shift Actually Happening?

The gist:

• On July 23, 2023, Elon Musk announced that Twitter would be rebranded as X.
• Many Twitter users noticed changes to the logo on the Twitter website and app by July 24. The new X logo appears in the corner of Twitter's website, and x.com redirects to Twitter.
• It's unclear exactly why Elon made this change, but theories suggest that he may be hoping that rebranding Twitter under this new name will allow the company to stay afloat.

In the months since Elon Musk officially purchased Twitter, it's fair to say that the sailing hasn't been super smooth. The platform is dealing with a wave of new competitors as well as the fairly erratic whims of its owner, who seems to make changes without fully thinking them through.

It's in that spirit that Elon recently announced he was rebranding Twitter as X, a letter he uses across many of his products and brands. Now, many want to better understand the change and when it might take effect.

The changes to Twitter have already begun. If you navigate to the site on desktop, you'll see that there's already an X in the top left corner where there used to be a little blue bird. x.com also redirects to Twitter, although it seems like x.com will eventually be the default URL, and the Twitter URL will disappear completely.

While the rebrand is far from complete, and the mobile experience seems largely unchanged, it looks like the rebrand is already underway.

Elon began tweeting about the rebrand early in the morning on July 23, 2023, and confirmed later in the day that they would be rolling out the new brand later that day. Elon reportedly also sent an email to Twitter employees notifying them of the change, and added that this would be the last time he sent them an email from the Twitter URL.

Elon tweeted about the change for several hours, and even unveiled the new logo, splashing it on the side of Twitter's headquarters.

Twitter's new CEO Linda Yaccarino also weighed in. She said that the new social media site would revolutionize everything from social media to banking with the help of AI. What that means exactly and how it will come to fruition remains to be seen.

"X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine," she wrote.

The news of the rebrand has naturally led to plenty of mockery from Twitter's regular users, some of whom have already shifted to platforms like Bluesky or Threads.

The exact reasoning behind Elon's decision to rebrand Twitter remains slightly oblique, but the most obvious may be that he wants to definitively pull Twitter away from what it once was. The service has been changing gradually under Elon's tenure, but this rebranding is the kind of definitive move that will delineate what Twitter was from what X will become.

Elon has also announced that non-paying users will only have a limited number of DMs, and that verified companies can now use the site for hiring. He's making the changes with the hope that he can keep the company afloat in a totally new shell, but whether that's actually going to be the case or not remains to be seen.