To no one’s surprise, Rebranding to X Has Led to Decreased Downloads in App Store and Play Store

Eric Seufert, writing on Threads:

Twitter has seen a dramatic decrease in its Top Downloaded chart position across both platforms since the app was renamed to X. Why? The situation presents a fascinating case study at the intersection of brand equity and mobile platform dynamics.

The case is somewhat unprecedented: Twitter built a ubiquitous, household-name brand over the course of nearly 2 decades and then simply abandoned it, leaving it to be exploited by competitors, unopposed, through the mobile platforms’ branded search ads.

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My hypothesis is that, while the terminally-online are entirely aware of Twitter’s rebrand to X, most consumers aren’t, and their searches for “Twitter” on platform stores surface ads and genuine search results that are in no way redolent of Twitter.

Basically, if someone was missed the memo that Twitter became "X", they might find themselves in a bit of a digital pickle trying to figure out what happened to it.

Imagine searching for "Twitter" and landing on a paid ad from one of its frenemies, like Snapchat or Facebook.

And "X"? Well, it's like expecting Batman and getting Aquaman.

Instead of the familiar blue bird or even anything close to what you previously expected, you get this random X icon with a slogan that screams, "Blaze your glory!"

I mean, seriously? Might as well have called it "Ctrl-Alt-Delete!" 🤓🙄