Brand X

A lot has been said (and tweeted) recently about Twitter re-branding to X. I’ve gotten several questions, texts, calls, emails, and messages through several social media pages.

Yet, I’ve not had anyone contact me through X, formerly known as Twitter. It makes sense. I’m not on X. I’m not on Twitter either. Some regular readers of the Weekly Report will know “I didn’t leave Twitter, Twitter left me.” My personal account was hacked – then hijacked with a fake profile in 2021 – and I was never able to recover it.

I WAS a big fan of the social media micro-blog formerly known as Twitter and was an early champion, signing on in 2008. At my peak, I had 30,000 followers and a blue check mark I didn’t have to pay $8 for. Yet, I had pretty much given up on it by the time my personal account was stolen. It got stale. It was noisy. I grew tired of the fights in the “echo chamber.”

When Elon Musk bought Twitter I hoped to see improvements and I’ve been watching and waiting. At Madison+Main we still use X and use it for most of our clients too, so I’ve followed the saga closely. Depending on who you believe, daily users are either up or down. Musk has vowed to “defeat the spam bots or die trying.” Twitter reported that 5% or less of its users were spam bots before the sale. Musk found that number was considerably deflated. X deletes more than 1 million spam bots a day. So yes total users are down, but real users are up. That’s good news for X — that you don’t read in the news.

Musk has grand plans for X. He wants to create an “everything app” – Twitter + Substack + YouTube + PayPal + Amazon + TikTok + WeChat + Baidu — all rolled into one platform called X. Admittedly, I’m an Elon Musk fan and I’m cheering for him, but he totally botched the rebranding. Brand X has alienated customers, caused confusion, and been universally poo-pooed. It was an exercise in everything not to do when rebranding.

But here’s the thing no one is talking about; Twitter desperately needed a new brand. It was losing users, and losing users’ faith and loyalty. It failed to protect its users from spam bots and phony news and limited free speech (on both sides of the political spectrum). Its business model was also not clearly defined. Twitter’s ad platform was complex, functioned poorly, and favored big biz. By contrast Facebook & Google made billion$ making easy-to-use ads for small businesses. Twitter had become merely an overvalued tech lab, where other tech giants (Meta, Google, Microsoft, etc.) stole their ideas and technologies and then profited from them.

X has a bigger, broader vision and it’s growing beyond a 140-character micro-blog, so it needed a new name and brand. I would’ve advised a different name and strategy and a VERY different brand rollout, but no one asked me. I have a feeling Elon Musk doesn’t really seek advice….he gives it. 

QOTW: Will X survive, thrive or dive? Let me know your thoughts!