How Elon Musk’s Quest To Turn Twitter To The ‘X’ App Actually Started in 2017

Posted on by Nick Raffoul
Elon Musk rebranded Twitter into X the everything app. Learn how it all started.

When Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion late last year, he was supposed to be the X factor that kept the social media platform relevant for years to come.

Instead, Musk has turned Twitter into ‘X’ with plans to introduce new features that turn it into a powerful do-it-all mobile app.

That transformation has already begun, as Musk recently replaced the famous blue Twitter bird logo with an ‘X’ to indicate to company’s transition toward becoming ‘the everything app’.

Musk made an official announcement on Monday about the company’s rebranding.

“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 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.”

— Elon Musk

Twitter Rebranding Has Already Begun

Over the weekend, Musk revealed his plans for the platform, stating that the Twitter brand and all its bird-related elements would gradually be phased out.

Although Twitter.com is still active, users visiting X.com are now redirected to Twitter’s homepage. While many users haven’t experienced any changes to the mobile app’s branding yet, new features are apparently going to be rolled out soon.

Musk’s vision for the platform is to transform it into an “everything app,” centered around audio, video, messaging, and payments/banking. He aims to integrate artificial intelligence into the platform as well.

According to Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, “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.”

Musk Has A History With X.com

The process of transitioning from Twitter to X began in April, when the company’s name changed from Twitter Inc. to X Corp., as mentioned in court filings.

That doesn’t mean all of Musk’s plans for the future of the company are set in stone though.

In his role as executive chairman and CTO of the company, Musk revealed that tweets will now be referred to as “x’s.” However, when questioned about what retweets would be called, he suggested that the concept should be rethought.

Musk has an interesting history with the domain X.com.

He originally founded it before it merged with Confinity and became PayPal in 2001. In 2017, he repurchased the domain from PayPal and has since rebranded it into ‘X, the everything app’.

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