The transformation signified the company’s aspiration to shift from a social media platform to an enterprise focused on the metaverse. When Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in 2021, it was part of a comprehensive, strategic and long-term plan. Oddball branding is hardly unusual for a big tech company. But because these changes go deeper than most, I believe the risks of damage to the company are greater. Logos and brand names change all the time and rarely cause this much commotion.
I’m paying close attention to this corporate pivot because I’m a scholar of design who researches social media and brand campaigns. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey signaled that he was finding the uproar overblown. It’s hard to find anybody praising the change so far, except perhaps some of Elon Musk’s most devoted fans. For the most part, longtime Twitter users are unhappy at what they perceived as another unnecessary change that’s eroding their enthusiasm for the social media platform. The reaction has mainly been a mix of ambivalence, ridicule and scorn. Ditching the company’s well-known logo and changing its name to a letter often associated with danger, death and the unknown is only the latest user-aggravating step CEO Elon Musk has taken since he bought Twitter in October 2022 for US$44 billion. Twitter has swapped the fluffy bird that used to symbolize the social media platform for a spindly black X.
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