Why and when is Twitter changing to X? All about the Elon Musk rebranding initiative

American business magnate and Twitter owner Elon Musk revealed that the social media platform's iconic blue bird logo will be replaced by a new one named "X." On July 23, the 52-year-old personality took to his social media handle to announce the big news revealing that the change will be implemented later today. He also switched his profile picture to a white X on a black background.

Musk announced the news after dropping a hint earlier that the company shall soon "bid adieu" to the Twitter brand and "gradually, all the birds." He then posted a photo of the new X logo on the side of Twitter's San Francisco offices.

The CEO of Twitter, Linda Yaccarino, also announced the same news on Monday, July 24 morning, stating "X is here!"

Musk also shared that "tweets" will also be replaced soon and would be called "x's."

Musk changed the company's name in April 2023 to X Holdings Corp, which was the name of one of his early businesses, X.com. He did this to show that he wanted to make "X, the everything app," which would have social media and payment features like China's WeChat and India's Paytm.

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Elon Musk's fascination with the term 'X' goes back to 1999, before his acquisition of Twitter

According to author Walter Isaacson's upcoming biography of Musk titled Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, the concept of "X" goes back to 1999 when the now-owner of Twitter founded http://X.com and envisioned it to remodel the finance industry.

At the time, Musk thought of "X.com" as a site offering all kinds of monetary services, such as banks, digital payments, credit cards, stocks, loans, and more. Musk thought money was mostly data, so he tried to make 'X.com' a multitrillion-dollar business by securing and recording all interactions in real-time.

As per Business Today, Walter Isaacson wrote in his book that Musk's concept to revolutionize X was "grand" and a one-stop solution to people's financial needs.

"Transactions would be handled instantly, with no waiting for payments to clear. His insight was that money is simply an entry into a database, and he wanted to devise a way that all transactions were securely recorded in real time."

As per the author, Elon Musk thinks that Twitter, as a social media platform, can become his vision of X from years ago. He feels that Twitter can be a combination of social media and financial platforms powered by artificial intelligence and could be used to provide more to customers as a global marketplace.

The new change comes after Musk's constant alterations to the social media website in October 2022 for $44 billion.

Many advertisers quickly quit the site after Musk took charge, concerned that the early uncertainty would harm their businesses. They have reduced ad expenditure in part because of worries about modifications made by the new owner that have enabled more offensive material to spread.

Musk also revealed a new policy that limits users to view limited posts and content depending upon the verification status of their account. Verified users are allowed to view 6000 posts per day, unverified users can access 600 posts per day, and new unverified accounts can view 300 posts every day.