Elon Musk renames official Twitter handle 'X', soon after logo change

Following a series of drastic changes to Twitter over last few months, Elon Musk has now renamed the official Twitter handle as 'X'. Last night, Linda Yaccarino, CEO, Twitter, posted a series of Tweets in which she highlighted the significance of this decision, labelling it as an 'exceptionally rare thing'. 

"X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centred 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," tweeted Linda.

Rebranding of Twitter to 'X'

Both Yaccarino's and Musk's Twitter handles feature the X logo, although the Twitter blue bird is still visible across the platform.

"#GoodbyeTwitter" was trending on the platform with reference to the old logo as several users criticised the new one. Musk said on a post on Sunday he wanted to change Twitter's logo and polled his millions of followers on whether they would favour changing the site's colour scheme from blue to black.

Twitter's official handle has been renamed to 'X' with a new logo | Image credit: Twitter

He posted a picture of a stylised X against a black outer space-themed background. He also referred to the "interim X logo," and tweeted that "soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds". In response to a tweet asking what will tweets be called under "X", Musk replied "x's". The original Twitter logo was designed in 2012 by a team of three. "The logo was designed to be simple, balanced, and legible at very small sizes, almost like a lowercase ''e''," tweeted Martin Grasser, one of the designers.

Weeks before completing his Twitter acquisition last year Musk had said that buying the company would speed up his ambition to create an "everything app" called "X" by three to five years.

(With Reuters inputs)