Elon Musk has just killed Larry the Twitter bird, and replaced him with the single letter ‘X’.
Musk seems determined to kill Twitter itself, or at least to drag it down to such a spectacular loss that he will be able to greatly reduce his income taxes. That would be the perfect plot for a story about a diabolical genius who both wants to take down Twitter and reduce his taxes on his 2023 or 2024 tax returns, wouldn’t it?
Didn’t know that the Twitter bird has a name? Well he does (did?); Larry the Twitter bird, officially known as “Larry T. Bird” was actually named for Boston Celtics basketball player Larry Bird. As Twitter co-founder Biz Stone explained in this Tweet, “I’m from Boston! When we wanted to trademark our logo, the lawyers said it needed a name so I named it Larry T Bird after Larry Bird from the Celtics.”
But now Larry T Bird is dead, and has been replaced by the ignominious letter X. What an unfitting end to a beloved logo. Of course this gives rise to this question: If messages on Twitter were called Tweets, what will messages on X be called? And why, oh why, just a single letter X?
As the Guardian explains, “The ‘X’ has long been an obsession of Musk’s, and is his name for an “everything app” that he has pledged to launch at some point – with Twitter the likely vehicle. Shortly before buying Twitter in October, Musk described the social media platform as “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app”.”
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
CashApp us
Venmo us
Paypal us
Wait, what? The “everything app”? Yes, that’s right. Musk says that he wants Twitter X to be a one-stop everything app that will be an audio app, a video app, a messaging app, and, wait for it.. a banking app and a payment app.
Now, we ask you (and we really mean that we are asking you, so please let us know in your comments): would you trust Elon Musk with your money? Would you trust him to run your banking, or your payment processing?
Of course this isn’t the first dramatic, and some would say negative or even bad, change that Musk has brought to Twitter as of late. He’s instituted the “pay to get verified” rule, the limiting of how many Tweets one can read, and how many messages one can send. Meanwhile advertisers, who have been Twitter’s main source of revenue, have been dropping like the proverbial flies. Indeed, this does all seem just a bit too close to a master plan to destroy Twitter, with the added benefit of getting a big fat tax write-off when Twitter does finally crumble.
But why? Please be sure to tell us your thoughts on the “why” and your predictions in your comments!
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
CashApp us
Venmo us
Paypal us
Good riddance (though my granddaughter will be devastated)!
Megalomania, anyone?