Twitter Logo Change has caught us by surprise and in the most bizarre fashion in longtime. It was just the start of the first week since the fiscal year 2022-23 shut shop and something which no one expected in their wildest weirdest dreams, happened, for real!
Most of the netizens along with the seasoned pundits of the industry, were numb for a while after watching the iconic blue bird of Twitter flying above the cuckoo’s nest [to oblivion], only to be replaced by none but the signature meme material, the widely popular Shiba Inu dogecoin logo.
If you were uninitiated and right now at your wit’s end, then sorry, we can’t help. For, it is what it is. Elon Musk who himself has been a firm favorite among memers, so far as over-the-top content is concerned, has done enough to provide them with almost an unending source of inspiration for the next couple of weeks, if not months.
Musk himself made a tweet with this meme, announcing the Twitter logo change. [Image Credit: Twitter]
But as memes fly high over not only Twitter but all across social media, trolls barge like nothing, the Twitter logo change appears to be a mystery. It’s not a whodunit or howdunit but whydunit, as it couldn’t be anyone other than Musk himself, who has engineered this wild move, which has left people absolutely perplexed.
Let’s delve deeper with the bizarre Twitter logo change incident phenomenon to find out the answers.
Twitter Logo Change: The Meme Nobody Asked For
Musk being Musk, has again managed to pull something extraordinary off — initiating a paradigm shift from the banking crisis in the US to a feast of memes and trolls. Apparently, the only positive side appears to be the fact that it has allowed people to have a laugh amidst the otherwise crunch situation marred by fears of another global recession.
Elon Musk is always known for creating controversies. The richest person on planet earth (he is supposed to be the richest person on Moon, soon), Musk unleashed a fresh wave of controversies when he finally acquired leading social media platform Twitter, after a topsy-turvy situation, in a massive $44 billion deal.
What followed the acquisition, is none but another series of controversies. After coming to throne, Musk catapulted a huge layoff at Twitter, which saw erstwhile CEO Parag Agarwal being taken away from the Twitter headquarters with security personnel. The never-seen-before Twitter layoffs almost reduced its total global workforce by more than 50%.
It was followed by Musk sending a ‘hardcore’ ultimatum email to the remaining employees titled ‘A Fork in the Road’, which mentioned that either they embrace the new “extremely hardcore” work culture that will have long, intense work hours, or, leave. When thousands of Tweeps left the company where they worked for more than a decade, in a mass exodus, the cloud of Twitter closing down started to loom large. This fear was further fueled by Musk himself, who responded to the global outcry by saying that “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question.”
Musk ticked another box of controversy with the new blue tick scheme, where people have to pay $8 to get their account verified with a blue tick. Elon Musk collided head on with renowned author Stephen King on Twitter itself, in which the ace writer threatened to leave Twitter forever. Musk’s revolutionary idea of blue tick created a lot of problems for business. In one of many such ridiculous incidents, a man paid $8 to get a verified account of a well-known pharma company and spread fake news about it. This resulted in the company in question, getting severely punished in the stock market. In the aftermath, the company sued Musk.
In a nutshell, there were backlashes after backlashes, in the last few months, right since Musk acquired Twitter. There weren’t many who decided to buy his arguments and were convinced with his promises.
Everyone could see that Twitter was losing popularity and bit by bit, its relevance and trust, built over a decade, was falling apart like a house of cards. In such a scenario, Musk, whatever might be his ‘vision’, has at least managed to bring it back to the forefront with the hilarious Twitter logo change incident.
Shiba Inu of cryptocurrency dogecoin logo fame, now appears on the web browser of Twitter. #TwitterLogo and #Doge is now trending on the social media platform. You can’t help but see yourself amidst a sea of memes and trolls on all over the internet.
Musk himself made a tweet with a meme that shows doge replying to a security officer’s enquiry during a security check that the identity with the blue bird, appears to be an old photo of his. The richest man on earth also referred to an old conversation on Twitter, where someone suggested that he buys Twitter and change its logo to doge. In his post, Musk says, “As promised.”
One must recall that when Musk accomplished the gigantic Twitter takeover he decided to enter the Twitter headquarters with a sink, which was recorded and later on shared by Musk, with the caption — ‘Let that sink in!’
These days, the millennials and Gen Z are more interested in memes and trolls. More often than not, memes speak to them more meaningfully, than anything else. Emojis have become an important tool to communicate, for people across age groups. Nowadays, there are meme marketing agencies who are hired by big brands to create memes for them.
When we take all these into consideration then the Twitter doge logo doesn’t seem to be devoid of meaning. It’s true that with the doge Twitter logo, it has become a mockery of itself. But as another famous meme would respond — “This is business!” Musk choosing the dogecoin meme template as the new Twitter logo impacts the brand’s global outreach. And if you have a close look at the astronomical rise of Twitter as the center of social media trends over the last couple of hours, it has worked. It has actually worked wonders for Musk to end the hibernation of the platform and use controversy as a tool to ensure an enhanced engagement. If you go by the numbers, then it has grown by manifold since this ridiculous Twitter logo change.
The focal point is, Twitter has suddenly become the fulcrum of the brand communications, around the world. Not only memers and trollers, but some of the biggest brands (along with the not-so big and small ones) are using the Twitter doge logo as an apt subject for moment marketing.
These days, we speak a lot about digital footprints. Just hold on and think about the number of digital footprints Twitter has already created (it’s only the tip of the iceberg, considering what it will end up adding to its kitty) because of this doge logo change. And all without spending a single penny! Isn’t it a superb marketing strategy? But doesn’t it put the brand and the business at stake?
See, Twitter won’t remain the same anymore after doge replaces the blue bird. Its business model, too, is changing fast. Now, old verified blue ticks have started disappearing. The official handle of the New York Times doesn’t have a blue tick anymore. But you will come across random accounts which possess blue ticks courtesy of paying $8 to Musk. We need to wait for sometime, at least till the initial euphoria of this absolutely-mad Twitter logo change takes a back seat, to assess the impact in true colors.
For the uninitiated, Musk is dealing with another controversy — a $258 million racketeering lawsuit that accuses him of resorting to a pyramid scheme to promote Dogecoin by illegal means. It reads that “Musk used his pedestal as world’s richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and amusement.”
Incidentally, the Twitter logo change comes days after Musk petitioned a court in the US to dismiss the lawsuit filed against him by Dogecoin investors. For your information, the lawyers appearing for Musk and Tesla have called these allegations nothing but a “fanciful work of fiction” over Musk’s “innocuous and often silly tweets” about Dogecoin.
On the other hand, the official Dogecoin account has tweeted in the wake of the Twitter logo change which says: “Very currency. Wow. Much Coin. How Money. So Crypto.” Meanwhile, as a result of the new Twitter doge logo, the stocks of the cryptocoin have spiked by almost 30%.
Just a while ago, there was the announcement of the Twitter ad revenue now being shared with the blue verified creators. But it hasn’t attracted people much. It needs to be seen how much does the new Twitter logo appeal to the netizens in the long run and if it could manage to help Musk revive the Twitter business, whose valuation has plummeted to $20 billion within months of the high-voltage takeover.
