Elon Musk on the road to transformation

In an unexpected tweet, Elon Musk, the American billionaire and founder of SpaceX, announced the official change of Twitter's name and logo. The famous platform is abandoning its historic identity to become "X", in reference to the company's new official name, X Corp. This decision is part of a series of major reforms undertaken by Musk since his acquisition of Twitter for the impressive sum of 43 billion dollars just over eighteen months ago.

Photo credit : newpubmarketing

A Major Upheaval

The social network Twitter has been undergoing a major metamorphosis since billionaire visionary Elon Musk decided to replace the iconic blue bird with a simple 'X'. This change of logo does not seem to be insignificant and could well mark a desire to wipe the slate clean of the platform's past.

This upheaval has been marked by the dismissal of several thousand employees worldwide, the appointment of a new CEO, the introduction of paid subscriptions, and the recent limitation on the number of private messages (DMs) that non-subscribing users can send per day, with the official aim of combating spam and junk mail.

The main aim of these changes is clear: to acquire new paying subscribers for the service, which costs just under 10 dollars a month. Twitter's revenues have plummeted by 50% since Elon Musk took over as CEO, so the billionaire is looking for new sources of income to ensure the platform's long-term future.

What is surprising about this development is the radical decision to abandon the emblematic Twitter name and logo in favour of a simple "X". Twitter was an extremely popular brand, whose vocabulary had even infiltrated popular culture with terms like "tweet" and "retweet".

The mystery of the "X

On his personal account, Elon Musk hinted that he had big ambitions for Twitter, wanting to turn it into a multi-faceted application, like WeChat in China, a must-have application that offers a wide range of services.

The choice of the 'X' seems to have a very special meaning for Twitter's CEO. Back in April, he renamed the social networking company 'X Corp'. This letter is no stranger to Elon Musk's life, as it is found in the first name of one of his children, X Æ A-12, born in April 2020. It is also present in the name of his company SpaceX, which specialises in the space sector, and in the Tesla brand with the Model X, the brand's iconic SUV.

This consistency in the use of the 'X' shows just how attached Elon Musk is to this letter, which for him seems to symbolise a certain spirit of adventure and exploration, values that he also wants to instil in Twitter.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Elon Musk has used the 'X' in his companies. Before PayPal was acquired by eBay in the late 1990s, the online payment service designed by Musk was called "X.com". So the choice of the "X" for Twitter is in keeping with the continuity of the names of his various companies.

The new vocabulary of X

Elon Musk, determined to mark this transition, has already begun to unveil the new vocabulary that will accompany X from now on. Here are a few examples of the new words Musk has proposed:

1. Twitter = X: The name of the social network is now "X".

2. A tweet = an X: The term "tweet" is replaced by "X" to designate a message published on the platform.

3. He tweeted = he X'ed: Elon Musk suggests adding an apostrophe to this letter, giving "he X'ed" instead of "he tweeted".

4. Retweet = ? Elon Musk has not yet revealed the new term for "retweet", suggesting that this function will be transformed.

5. Un twitto = a X'o: X users should be called "X'o".

In a nutshell

Elon Musk's objective is clear: to make X the best-known new brand in the world, despite the complexity of the name chosen, its difficulty of being referenced due to its brevity, its difficult pronunciation in many languages and its proximity to potentially negative connotations.

Despite the risk of losing thousands of users accustomed to the old vocabulary, Musk remains determined to pursue his ambitious vision for X. The name change came as a surprise on 23 July, without the Twitter teams having had time to fully coordinate the transition, leading to some initial confusion in the interface.

So the metamorphosis of Twitter into X is underway, and Musk continues to gradually unveil the new vocabulary that will accompany this transformation. We can expect further updates in the coming weeks as the entire social network adopts this name change and aligns itself with the vision of its visionary founder.

Despite growing competition in the social media sector, including the recent launch of Threads by Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk remains determined to make X a platform to be reckoned with, paving the way for a new era for the old Twitter.