Can you really change the name of a household brand? Or will Twitter, always be, Twitter?  

Over the last week at Digital Safety we have been watching changes happening in Twitter, new logos’s, the end of the free blue tick and even the blue bird now. It got us talking in the office about social media platforms and online safety.   Our head of marketing, Sarah Scorer has a few thoughts about the change at X, the app formally known as Twitter.  

“Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app” the company’s owner, billionaire Elon Musk, posted recently in what will be one of the most high-profile name changes in recent times.  

Many brands have done this, but few after they are very well known. PayPal was known as Cofinity and BlackBerry was Motion Research, but most of us would never have known, as these shorter and sharper names were the ones that pushed them to the forefront of success. Building brand recognition is expensive and time consuming for most, but once you are in the daily vocabulary of £368m (give or take) users how do you even begin to turn that tide. No doubt this has been planned by Musk for some time, with X being a long-time obsession of his. But this bold move so close to major market changes including restrictions for users and the introduction of Threads from Meta may well be a step too far? Only time will tell. 

Whichever platform you are having conversations on, here are some tips from digital safety CIC to stay safe online whether that is on Twitter, X or other socials:  

Review your privacy and security settings to help protect your digital footprint. 

Think about what you share. It is easy for someone to use that information to steal your identity or commit other crimes such as cyber stalking.  

Use strong passwords. 

Add a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters (for example, @, #, or £). Always use a separate password for each account. And add 2 Step Verification (2SV) also known as two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) as this well help to keep cyber criminals out of your accounts, even if they know your passwords. 

Always think before clicking a suspicious link.  

Unfamiliar links that look they come from friends can sometimes contain harmful software or be part of a phishing attack. 

Know how to block and report accounts. 

If someone is abusive or threatening you, remove them from your friends list, block them, and report them to the site administrator. 

Sarah’s final thought “For most of us (over a certain age at least) Starbursts are still Opal Fruits and Twitter will always be Twitter.” Digital Safety CIC is a social enterprise based in Chester-le-Street. As such, one of its core objectives is to re-invest for public good by carrying out activities to promote digital safety, reduce harm, and increase the digital online safeguarding and resilience of UK communities. One way we are doing this is through our innovative and unique conference 7th September 2023 Digital Wellbeing and young people: The Castle Conference.  Find out more about the conference here: The Castle Conference