Consumers Far Prefer Twitter’s Bird Logo to X

Consumers feel more than twice as positive about Twitter’s Larry the Bird than they do about the new X logo, according to new research from creative effectiveness platform System1.

System1 analysed the logos of seven major social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Threads, TikTok and the old and new logos of Twitter/X – through Distinctive Asset Testing, which reveals how recognisable a brand is (fame), how quickly attributable it is (fluency) and how that brand makes people feel (feeling).

Whilst X and Larry the Bird are as equally recognisable and attributable as both each other and other leading social networks (fame and fluency), X’s logo falls far behind other leading networks in how it makes consumers feel: just 12% of consumers felt happiness towards the new X logo, compared to 26% for Larry the Bird.

Furthermore, nearly half (47%) of consumers felt neutrality towards the X logo, and 29% felt contempt – the second highest neutrality and highest contempt levels for any network logo. This compares to 43% of consumers feeling neutrality and 19% feeling contempt for Larry the Bird.

The research also reveals how the phrase ‘tweet’ has the highest level of both fame and fluency amongst social media network phrases (such as ‘share’, ‘story’, ‘reel’, ‘status’ etc.). By replacing both Larry the Bird (high levels of feeling) and the phrase ‘tweet’ (high fame and fluency), the platform is losing two of its strongest brand assets and undermining both its distinctiveness and emotional appeal.

Jon Evans, chief customer officer, System1 said, “Fluency and fame are hugely important components of effective brand building, but ultimately it is a brand’s ability to evoke positive emotional impact - and make consumers feel good – that drives engagement. With X moving away from Larry and the tweet phrase overnight, the platform faces an uphill battle in recapturing distinctiveness and emotional appeal.”