Why Twitter Has A Dog As Its Logo Instead Of Iconic Bird

Over the years, the social media platform has become uniquely identifiable by its blue colour and bird logo, earning its nickname the ‘bird app’.

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Apr 5, 2023 - 17:00
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Why Twitter Has A Dog As Its Logo Instead Of Iconic Bird
Elon Musk changing Twitter's logo to a doge. /SALON.COM

Many Kenyans On Twitter (KOT) from Tuesday, April 4 were greeted with a surprise change while opening their timelines, affecting its famous 'bird' logo.

Dogecoin's Shiba Inu dog replaced Twitter's blue bird as the social media company's logo, the meme coin deriving its logo from the doge which became an internet meme in 2013.

Over the years, the social media platform has become uniquely identifiable by its blue colour and bird logo, earning its nickname the ‘bird app’.

Side-by-side image of Twitter's bird logo and the Doge logo. /FILE

Twitter Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and billionaire Elon Musk, while not revealing the reason for the change in logo, had shared a one-year-old conversation with a follower who had suggested that he should buy Twitter and change its logo.

It was a follow-up to a meme he shared seemingly alerting Twitter users of the change to the doge logo. The official Dogecoin account tweeted in response: “Very currency. Wow. Much Coin. How Money. So Crypto.” 

Some users speculated it was meant to be an April Fool’s Day gag that the company was unable to bring in on time on April 1. Others wondered if it was an effort to flood out news of a court case against Musk.

The change came just days after Musk petitioned a court in the United States (US) to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by Dogecoin investors for $258 billion (Ksh34.4 trillion) over an alleged pyramid scheme.

Reuters reported in June 2022 that according to the complaint, the plaintiffs claim Musk knew that since 2019 the cryptocurrency had no value, but promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading.

“Musk used his pedestal as the world’s richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and amusement,” the complaint reportedly stated.

In January 2022, when Musk announced on Twitter that dogecoin payments were live, the cryptocurrency jumped as much as 15 per cent.

CNN notes that the price of dogecoin was up more than 20 per cent over the past 24 hours, even though it remains unclear whether the changes are temporary or permanent as they were effected on its web version and not the mobile applications.

According to CoinMarketCap.com, dogecoin is the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market cap of over $13 billion. Musk has been touting dogecoin and he periodically tweets about the token.

CNBC reported that in December 2021, Tesla announced it would accept dogecoin for some merchandise. This saw the dogecoin rise more than 20 per cent.

An image of Dogecoin. /CNBC

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