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Twitter’s been going by an particularly tough patch recently. However its model and tweets are well-known. Giving these up as the corporate transitions to X may very well be an costly lack of model worth.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Elon Musk has determined to rebrand Twitter as X. The social media web site has a brand new capital-X brand, and a large X has been projected onto the corporate’s San Francisco headquarters at night time. Let’s speak about what the X branding means with NPR tech correspondent Dara Kerr. Dara, good morning.
DARA KERR, BYLINE: Hello, Steve.
INSKEEP: And I simply need to suggest right here, if it is all proper with you – and it is advantageous both approach – however I want to check with you on this interview as only a single letter. How about Okay? Is Okay OK with you?
KERR: (Laughter) Oh, yeah. That is sensible, contemplating my final title’s Kerr. Yeah. OK.
INSKEEP: OK. You may name me Okay additionally as a result of I’ve obtained a Okay in my title. However anyway, we’re speaking right here about X. Elon Musk – OK, I get it. There’s SpaceX. There’s the Tesla Mannequin X. What makes Musk assume a lot about X?
KERR: You realize, he has been obsessive about the letter X for a very long time. And, yeah, when he introduced that he was rebranding Twitter to X, he even posted a photograph on Twitter making an enormous X signal together with his arms and the caption, unsure what refined clues gave it away, however I just like the letter X. So going again many many years, one among Musk’s early firm was already known as X.com, and that finally grew to become PayPal. And again then, the X branding was not common. In accordance with the guide “PayPal Wars,” buyer analysis confirmed folks did not just like the X title and most well-liked PayPal.
INSKEEP: Oh, OK. So there’s already a monitor file right here, however we’re going again to X. What are folks saying about X once they’re writing, , issues on X?
KERR: Yeah. Properly, to date, it is solely been a day. The drama has been on the spot. As building crews took down the large Twitter signal at its San Francisco headquarters yesterday, the cops confirmed up. The police later mentioned no crime was dedicated. So I spoke to Marisa Mulvihill. She’s a branding knowledgeable from advertising and marketing firm Prophet. She says we have seen firms like Uber and Google that originally had these names that have been form of meaningless grow to be fairly significant in our lives. Nevertheless, with a reputation like X, there’s simply plenty of unfavorable associations.
MARISA MULVIHILL: I’ve already heard among the jokes about, , why it is excellent ‘trigger it is precisely what he is executed, proper? He is eradicated jobs, eradicated options, eradicated advertisers, eradicated customers – so actually excising all of it.
INSKEEP: Excising – go on.
KERR: Yeah, I do know. That was an excellent one. And he or she additionally factors out, too, one other drawback.
MULVIHILL: The opposite concern is that it’s oftentimes used for – I do not even need to say this out loud, however – pornography. In order that’s additionally an actual problem that may very well be difficult in search browsers.
INSKEEP: May rebranding to X be a approach of adjusting the topic from all the opposite issues on the firm previously referred to as Twitter.
KERR: Yeah. Yeah, undoubtedly. We noticed Fb do that a few years in the past when it was rebranded as Meta. At the moment, Frances – ah, sorry. Excuse me – Fb was grappling with all these leaks from the whistleblower Frances Haugen. And a few folks may very well be saying this was – is Elon Musk’s approach of constructing a pivot away from all this turmoil and hassle. However – and he is making an attempt to show this X right into a – an app that does all the pieces, with banking and cash transfers. However to date, we actually solely have a reputation change.
INSKEEP: What turns into of the outdated brand?
KERR: Properly, the little blue fowl is gone off the web site. The Twitter signal is off the San Francisco headquarters, and persons are making all these jokes about, can we tweet or can we Xt (ph)? And so it actually exhibits how ingrained Twitter language has grow to be and the phrase tweet. And now Musk is simply strolling away from all of that model fairness.
INSKEEP: Wow. OK. NPR tech correspondent Dara Kerr, also referred to as Okay, coming to you in your information community, N. Okay, thanks very a lot.
KERR: (Laughter) Thanks, Okay.
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