What’s the Twitter Rebrand Really About?

In a new article for CommPro.biz I argue there may be more to Twitter’s rebranding than simply a change in business direction. 

It is clearly more than about dollars and sense. Despite Elon Musk, the Twitter brand by almost any measure was strong. 

In “Will Killing The Bird Help X Or Its Users Fly?” I write that this is not a normal rebranding exercise and Musk clearly has little concern about alienating many of his users. 

With a personal net worth of $240 billion and a history of successfully doing things his way, he can afford to lose a few billion dollars to take the platform in a new direction.

The change, and barebones vision he and X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino have articulated, have left commentators bemused and befuddled. There may well be more to the change than meets the eye.   

One possibility that should be considered is that the rebrand is an opportunity to drive a wholesale shift from Twitter’s perceived liberal base, as an extension of Musk’s war on what he outlined with Tucker Carlson as the “woke virus.”

I would not bet against Musk and his ability to succeed, or that X will come with strong ideological underpinnings that reflect his point of view.

In the CommPro article, I note... “for the die-hard Twitterati and Elon fans, after the noise about the rebranding has died down and we get used to the idea that the bird is no more, I suspect not much will change. Over time the direction X takes will become clearer and people will vote with their laptops and phones.”

But for others, the change will provide a reason to flee the coop, something I suspect may, at least in part, be the point. Time will tell if X will be able to fly without wings. 

Simon Erskine Locke is founder & CEO of communications agency and professional search and services platform, CommunicationsMatch™, a writer, and Vice President of the Foreign Press Association.