As the old proverb goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. At Twitter, they've killed all three and erected a giant X statue instead.
On Monday, Twitter underwent an official rebranding, adopting the name "X." The company promptly began the process of taking down its old signage from the San Francisco headquarters, while eager employees took it as a call to action to go "bird hunting", using power drills or other means to purge the premises of Twitter's iconic blue bird logo.
The pivot to X has long been in the works for the company's billionaire owner Elon Musk, who changed Twitter's corporate name to X Corp in April. Central to Musk's strategy is his ambition to establish a “very powerful finance experience,” that goes beyond even PayPal, a company he co-founded (originally known as X.com). Instead of the "twttr" microblogging service that company cofounder Jack Dorsey famously launched 17 years ago, a forthcoming "everything app" modeled on China's WeChat appears destined to swallow the bird.
While many longtime users of Twitter have decried the branding change, some company employees are loudly embracing the new beginning.
.@brockpierson and I met up outside 𝕏 HQ just so we could combine arms to form an 𝕏 . It took advanced geometry to get this picture e𝕏actly right pic.twitter.com/T2S2Dv6dDw
— Dan (@KettlebellLife) July 26, 2023
"I see a blue door and I want it painted black," a product engineer at X posted, referencing Twitter's signature blue color that decorated the office to the tune of a Rolling Stones song.
Another X staffer shared a series of videos capturing significant moments at the headquarter's conference rooms. One video shows employees dismantling the Twitter bird, affectionately known as Larry. Just above the bird, the letter "X" was projected, which can now be found throughout the office. In another video, the same staffer documented someone painting a once-colorful wall pitch black, covering the Twitter bird mural.
"X will become the most valuable brand on Earth. Make my words," Musk posted. "Ready or not, here we come," a current staffer replied.
"Should we all get matching X tattoos," the same staffer posted.
For some, wiping out the brand recognition Twitter spent years building is a supremely befuddling move. Some former Twitter employees weren't happy to discover on Monday that their LinkedIn profile had been updated, with their job history now claiming they had worked at "X." Interestingly, overnight, the LinkedIn profile reverted to the original name—but some former staff had already attached their experience to a "Twitter 1.0" page.
Some former employees paid tribute to the old Twitter by selling #OneTeam shirts featuring the Twitter bird. The funds generated from these sales were directed to the National Audubon Society, an organization dedicated to protecting birds through scientific research, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation efforts.
It's a stark contrast to the attitude within the company, where the headcount has shrunk by more than 75% under Musk as a result of mass layoffs and departures. For those that remain, and with X actively hiring to rebuild its staff, the demise of the bird and the Twitter brand appears to represent a clean break from the past.
"It hasn't been Twitter since November," a former executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Fortune. "[This] will help everyone move on and stop comparing the entire platform/approach to Twitter."
"Twitter died so 𝕏 could live," a current employee posted.
