What An “X” Can Mean

We just learned that Twitter is rebranding itself to X:

No longer the iconic bird that tweets, Twitter has a new “source identifier.” As “X,” Twitter reminds us that one of Elon Musk’s first ventures, PayPal, originated from an online bank called X.com.

One of the first PayPal logos:

In addition, Musk is the CEO of Space X and his 3-year-old son-X Æ A-12- appears to be nicknamed X. Also, X holdings was the corporate entity that bought Twitter. Perhaps though, most cleverly, the “X” selected by Mr. Musk is a standard Unicode glyph called Chirp (that might Tweet?)

Also though, “X” takes us to a slight problem because Meta has the trademark for an “X” logo. Sounding rather similar to its Twitter reincarnation, the Meta “X” signifies “online social networking services” and “social networking services in the fields of entertainment, gaming, and application development.”

Converging perhaps in X territory, both companies have begun a radical rebranding.

Logo Rebranding

Less extreme than Twitter and Meta, Apple has gradually tweaked its logo:

Our Bottom Line: The Value of a Brand

Done well, a logo acquires meaning when we associate it with a brand. The logo identifies a private company or a government agency. Taking the next step, the brand establishes a firm’s individuality. It can create an emotional loyalty that is separate from any of the product’s attributes. Distinguishing the firm, the brand helps it compete:

With Apple #1, and Amazon close behind, the top brands have immense value:

My sources and more: To further compare Twitter and Meta’s rebranding, you could read this Insider and this TechCrunch article. Meanwhile the NY Times describes some “X” history.

Please note that a part of Our Bottom Line was in a previous econlife post.