In the last year, Elon Musk managed to shock the business world not once but twice. First, when he after months of negotiations and decided to lay off almost the entire team, including developers, which resulted in a steep decline in quality. The second came… no, not when he challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a , but when he decided to . ultimately bought Twitter cage fight rebrand Twitter as X This rebranding took everyone by surprise. What we can do now is get used to it and learn the lessons the situation taught us. Any Change Should Be Justified Customers and users . Whatever business is changing, everything needs to be justified and merited. No CEO or manager should make changes “just because they can,” as such changes may reflect poorly on customer satisfaction. do not like change This is exactly what happened with X. In users’ opinion, there was no reason to change the social network’s name and brand, especially with Twitter being used by on a monthly basis. This is why we still can’t wrap our heads around the change. 450 million users Conducting surveys and asking customers whether they want anything to change OR explain why the transformation is needed will soften the blow and will show users and customers why a product, interface, or service needs to transform. any change needs to be thought through and justified, especially when it comes to a company or a service beloved by millions of users. Lesson learned: The Community Needs To Understand It Not asking customers and users what they want leads to businesses driving blind. The absence of communication leads to a void and can result in a high churn rate. All users need to understand what changes are coming and why they are necessary. In a perfect world, they also have to agree with them. Have users agreed to ? Not really. That doesn’t change anything for Mr. Musk, but, in my opinion, that is hardly an advantage for him. Twitter’s rebranding Once again, communication is key. Asking customers for their opinions and testimonials before and after the changes are implemented and being ready to pull back is a sign of a company ready to do everything to satisfy its users. users are the most important stakeholders for any business. They have to see and understand the need behind every change, and they have to back everything. Lesson learned: A New Brand Image Needs to be Well-Developed What is X? In Musk’s words, X will become an ‘ ’ Musk also with the letter X. But is it worth risking Twitter’s positioning and reputation, especially when we know nothing about this newly-emerging company? . everything app has an odd fixation When rebranding, a new image, positioning, mission, and vision need to be developed and presented to the public. New and existing users need to understand what to expect and what will happen in the future. It is also good practice to align the new image with the needs and wants of users and customers. Otherwise, it may all be for naught. mission, vision, positioning, and brand image come before the logo and the name. They need to be clear and understandable. Lesson learned: Rebranding Won’t Solve Issues Did Twitter have issues? Before Musk, it was , which was why Musk wanted to pull out of the deal in the first place. Users were not impressed with the very limited number of characters they could use to tweet, and there was no possibility to edit one’s tweets. flooded with bots Did rebranding fix any of these? No. I can understand why slapping a new name and a new logo on a website may feel like a new start, but in Twitter’s case, it is not. There are actual faults that need to be fixed to make the user experience better. fixate on what’s inside and not on what’s on the cover. Lesson learned: If It Isn’t Broken, Don't Fix It Even with all its faults, . It is used by politicians, actors, influencers, businesses, leaders of thought, and many more people. It is one of the primary sources of instant news for the global community and one of the most popular platforms for users all around the world to connect with each other. Twitter was one of the most beloved social networks out there Twitter needed a lot of things to change, but the iconic blue bird and the name were not on the list. if something is working, make a decision to make it better and not change it altogether, especially when everything is hanging in a fragile balance. Lesson learned: What’s next for Twitter? Only Musk knows. All we can do is watch, draw conclusions, and learn from the mistakes of others.

The is an opinion piece based on the author’s POV and does not necessarily reflect the views of HackerNoon.

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