Twitter owner Elon Musk signal he would do more to take the social media company in a new direction with a rebranding that will replace its well-known blue bird logo with an X after acknowledging advertisers have slow to return.
This change, which was not evident on the website, follow Elon Musk’s recent admission that advertising revenue remains nearly half of what it once was.
And Twitter’s cash flow has negative as a result of that and its heavy debt load.
Elon Musk said in a post he want to change Twitter’s logo and poll his millions of followers whether they would favour changing the site’s colour scheme from blue to black.
Change default platform color to black
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
He post a picture of a stylized X against a black outer space-themed background.
Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, tweeted :
"It's an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square."
Under Elon Musk’s tumultuous tenure since he bought Twitter in October, the company has change its business name to X Corp, reflecting the billionaire’s vision to create a “super app” like China’s WeChat.
In April, Twitter’s legacy blue bird logo was temporarily replace by Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu dog, helping drive a surge in the cryptocurrency’s market value.
The company came under widespread criticism from users and marketing professionals when Elon Musk announce early this month that Twitter would limit how many tweets per day various accounts can read.
Elon Musk Says He Intends to Rebrand Twitter, Blue Bird Logo to Be Replaced by an X
— 2YoDoINDIA News Network (@2yodoindia) July 24, 2023
For more details visit : https://t.co/mZr7PKmwl9
For more news visit : https://t.co/98KV4yIruC#2YoDoINDIA #Twitter #X #ElonMusk #Business #SocialMedia pic.twitter.com/PiSVGEl1jg
Twitter will Soon Limit the Number of DMs Unverified Users can Send
As if Twitter rebranding itself wasn’t enough, the company has announce that it will soon limit the number of daily direct messages (DMs) for unverified accounts.
This has spark controversy among users yet again.
The platform claims the decision is aim at curbing the rising spam issue in DMs, but many see it as a means to passive-aggressively force users into subscribing to the Blue membership.
Introduce on July 14th, a new message setting was implement by Twitter, segregating DMs from accounts users follow into their primary inbox and DMs from verified users they don’t follow into the message request inbox.
This change result in a notable 70% reduction in spam messages within a week.
Prior to this, sending DMs to non-followers was limit to Blue subscribers only.
Critics argue that while the motive to reduce DM spam is understandable, the way Twitter has presented the update indicates a clear intention to encourage unverified users to opt for the paid Blue membership.
The announcement explicitly urges users to “subscribe today to send more messages” and conveniently provides a link to the subscription page, fueling the perception of prioritizing profit over user satisfaction.
Twitter has grappling with negative cash flow due to a substantial drop in advertising revenue, as highlighted by entrepreneur Elon Musk in a recent tweet.
While subscription revenue might not entirely bridge this gap, it does offer an additional stream of income for the company.
Twitter’s push for more Blue memberships has raise concerns about inclusivity and accessibility for non-paying users.
Striking a balance between financial viability and user experience is vital for the platform’s success as it navigates these changes.
While the move aims to tackle an ongoing issue, it also raises questions about the platform’s priorities and its potential impact on the user community.
Achieving a balance between revenue generation and user satisfaction will be crucial as Twitter, or rather X, continues to evolve.
