Please Hold A Poll Asking Users If They Prefer The Twitter Name

Renaming Twitter to ‘X’ is proving to be the dumbest branding mistake of the yr.

In recent weeks, I’ve seen countless articles and opinion pieces making fun of the change, which eliminated almost 20 years of brand name recognition instantly.

The jokes normally go like this:

While covering the change in brand name, commentators almost all the time refer back to Twitter. In lots of cases, they discuss with a tweet as an ‘X’ or that a post has been ‘X’ed’ as an alternative of retweeted, but as they proceed explaining this head-scratching move, writers like me normally slip back into calling the corporate Twitter, eventually mentioning a tweet or retweet — and abandoning the entire X idea. The X-shaped sign that sits atop the corporate’s headquarters can be referred to, as are the constant reminders of Elon Musk’s fascination with the letter. (I haven’t seen too many comments about SpaceX for some reason.) In other words, it’s all pretty ridiculous.

A number of of the social media experts I talked to refused to even mention X. They simply think it’s dumb. For one thing, it’s hard to recollect. In casual conversation, if you happen to say you will have ‘X’ed’ a post, you normally have to clarify what it means. For the casual social media user, if you happen to mention the corporate X, it sounds confusing — like a placeholder for an actual company. “Have you ever tried the X app?” normally results in blank stares. That is after the news that Twitter modified its name has spread widely.

People don’t appear to care. People need to keep using Twitter.

That’s why I need to throw out this challenge.

Since Elon Musk loves polls, I’d prefer to see one asking users if he should revert the name back to Twitter. Truthfully, there’s no technique to predict how people will react, since I’m basing my assumptions on a number of experts and pundits who’ve called the rebrand and renaming a mistake. Also, polls on Twitter (I mean, X) conducted on Musk’s feed would not likely be ideal, since people know he likes the name. And yet, it’s the one way. Musk is surrounded by tens of millions of fans, so if anyone challenges him, it could send a robust message.

My prediction? He is not going to do it, I predict. He’s already made the change, and the corporate has already auctioned off Twitter branded items.

Meanwhile, someone has to take a stand — it’d as well be me. I’ll keep calling the corporate Twitter for now, and reference the official rebranded name. That’s what I’ve been doing recently anyway, and it actually results in lots less confusion.

Possibly I’ll be mistaken and the name X will catch on with users. It may very well be the app Musk has all the time wanted. Perhaps the tweet is finally dead.

I doubt it.

What will occur? We’ll just move on, ignore the X company, and find something else to discuss. Threads, anyone?