By Abhik Sengupta: Twitter is fully embracing the "X" branding. Earlier this month, Twitter owner Elon Musk announced that Twitter would adopt the "X" logo and moniker, setting the original blue-coloured bird free. The company has already replaced the Twitter bird logo with X. Now, it has also changed its official username to match the company's new identity. However, by doing so, the company seems to have taken the "X" username from the original owner without any financial compensation or warning.
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As reported by Mashable, the original "X" username belonged to one Twitter user, Gene X Hwang, who has been using it since 2007. Hwang is a co-founder of an event photo company, Orange Photography, and is among the rare users on Twitter whose username has only a single letter. Given that there are only 26 letters in the English language, usernames with single characters are much more valuable. Usernames on websites are unique and can't be replicated to protect users' online identities.
The same applies to website URLs. For instance, Musk bought the X.com domain from PayPal in 2017 for reportedly over a million.
However, Hwang tells Mashable that he has received no financial compensation from Twitter for the "X" username, which now Twitter's official account (also called X) uses. He states, "(I) got an email basically saying they (Twitter) are taking it (username)," adding that Twitter once offered him an alternate account with X in the username. In short, Hwang's new Twitter username reads, "x12345678998765."
After Twitter's username change, Hwang tweeted, "Alls well that ends well," which could mean he got some deal from this transition. He told the publication that Twitter offered some merchandise and the option to meet the management, likely including the current Twitter boss and owner. That's because Twitter barely has employees now.
Interestingly, Zoe Schiffer of Platformer said in April that Elon Musk bought the "e" Twitter (or X) username shortly after the takeover late last year. She claimed that Musk got it as an alternate account, adding that the original owner did not want to hand it over due to its high value.
Meanwhile, Musk has said that he wants to build an "X" app for everything. Speaking more about the transition from Twitter to X, he said in a tweet that the move goes beyond "renaming." The tweet adds, "The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140-character messages going back and forth – like birds tweeting – but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video. In the months to come, we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world. The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird."
Musk is not fully happy with the X logo and said it would change over time.
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