Twitter given new URL hours after Elon Musk hints at logo replacement

Twitter could be about to undergo a rebranding after its billionaire owner Elon Musk announced he was planning to swap the well-known bird logo for an X.

Just hours after Musk took to the social media website to announce the change, he also confirmed Twitter has been given a brand-new URL, marking a new era for the platform.

A search for x.com on major search engines now sends users directly to the Twitter homepage. It has prompted speculation about a major rebranding for the site.

Musk, who paid $44 billion for the website, announced the bird logo would be replaced by an X “later today”. He also said a “tweet” would soon be known as an “X”.

Earlier Musk tweeted: “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make go live worldwide tomorrow.”

It is part of a host of changes implemented by Musk since his takeover, reports the Mirror. This has included making blue ticks a paid-for feature, at one point limiting the number of tweets people could see, and making the Tweetdeck platform soon to be a paid-for feature.

Mr Musk, 52, told Twitter users “we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.”

He then tweeted a picture of a potential new logo, replacing the bird that has been the face of Twitter since its foundation, to a simple “X”.

The world’s second richest man has already introduced a subscription service and could choose to roll Twitter into a multi-purpose app.

Swiss-army-style apps are already in existence in some countries. In China the super app WeChat has over 1billion users. On WeChat, users can do everything from making payments to calling a taxi.

There was some backlash to the proposed changes, but Mr Musk added: “Frankly, I love the negative feedback on this platform. Vastly preferable to some sniffy censorship bureau!”

Changes at Twitter have been widespread, with some reporting a negative experience since the Tesla tech mogul took over the business.