Elon Musk's Twitter changes username to X on official account, takes @ from another user

After Elon Musk's controversial rebranding, a Twitter user who had been using the @X username for a long time decided to relinquish it. This account has been active on the platform since March 2007, which was less than a year after Twitter's initial launch. Notably, the user is based in San Francisco, California, the same city where the company's headquarters are located.

"Alls well that ends well," said the account, which now has the username @x12345678998765.

Following Elon Musk's decision to rebrand the platform as "X," the official Twitter account has now changed to @X. Other affiliated accounts on Twitter have also undergone name changes, but remnants of the original branding can still be found in certain areas, such as mobile apps.

One example of this is the transformation of the subscription service Twitter Blue, which is now known as @XBlue.

Interestingly, Musk has hinted at the possibility of further tweaking the branding, with a potential future change to "X Black."

No 'tweets' from @X since rebranding

Since the rebranding to @X, the account has remained inactive, leading to a division among users' opinions on the change, which took place on Monday.

Elon Musk, who took over Twitter with a $44 billion (£38 billion) acquisition last October, has implemented several significant changes, including the introduction of paid verification and reading limits. He had previously hinted at his vision to transform Twitter into an all-encompassing app called "X."

In defence of the rebranding, Musk argued that the platform's evolution rendered the original name obsolete as it no longer aligned with its expanded capabilities. He expressed his desire for tweets to be referred to as "x's" from now on. Musk further explained that while the name "Twitter" made sense in the past when messages were limited to 140 characters, the platform now allows users to share a wide range of content, including lengthy videos that can span several hours.

The tech billionaire also aims to implement a payments and banking system within his platform X, taking inspiration from China's WeChat.

This envisioned system on X will integrate a variety of features, including messaging, text posts, photo sharing, payment processing, and gaming functionalities. The goal is to create a comprehensive and versatile platform that offers users a wide range of services within a single app, similar to the model of China's WeChat.