On March 21, 2006, Twitter, Inc. emerged in San Francisco, California, capturing the hearts of both anonymous users and celebrities around the world, heating up the social media segment, a microblog that encouraged the world to express itself in 140 characters, later expanding to 280 characters, an extraordinary success.
The company's name, the term tweet, and especially its logo, the blue bird, quickly became established worldwide as the official communication channel for politicians, entrepreneurs, and celebrities; if you want an official statement, go to Twitter.
In 2022, the company was sold to the eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, the same person who wishes to colonize Mars, store energy, reinvent space travel, and dig tunnels under Los Angeles. It is a fact that Musk heavily utilizes marketing tools to promote himself and his million-dollar businesses.
A significant portion of Musk's actions has made him earn many millions of dollars; even when things go wrong, he makes money, gains visibility, and generates numerous comments on social media worldwide.
The rebranding of Twitter dominated global news; he knows that the media does the marketing, and thus he makes drastic changes to the company, the main one being the change of the logo, retiring the iconic blue bird for the X, which will also be the name of the microblog.
Musk is not very charismatic; he compensates for this with effort, sincerity, and intelligence. He discusses his fears and failures in interviews, and his passion for science and engineering is contagious.
The end of the Twitter brand, the end of the blue bird, the end of texts in 280 characters, and the emergence of a super app are the main changes. The cost of this was the loss of half of the advertising revenue, apparently a huge loss in the initial changes, especially with the loss of brand value. However, knowing his business skills and appreciation for marketing, it is possible to affirm that something of great value will come; if this does not happen or takes time, Elon Musk ensures visibility in the news, promotes his actions, and increasingly expands worldwide. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and other internet celebrities have taken a back seat to this eccentric visionary of the business world.
Changes generally provoke discomfort; witnessing the drastic changes at Twitter has generated a flood of memes and comments from users and supporters of the company, most of whom are unhappy with the decisions of the main shareholder. However, as a marketing professional for over 30 years, I can affirm that some decisions are difficult to make but necessary. Elon Musk certainly has in his decision-making agenda the sequence of each step taken since he took control of Twitter Inc. and does not play to lose. Despite appearances to the contrary, let’s wait for the next chapters of this story and see if it turns into a great case of success or failure; time will tell.
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