Listen to the article
On Monday April 3, Twitter users noted that the platform’s logo on the homepage and loading screen was changed from its signature blue bird to a dog icon.
This dog graphic is the logo for dogecoin, a cryptocurrency Twitter owner Elon Musk has publicly supported in the past, allowing owners to use it to pay for Tesla merchandise.
The digital currency was set up in 2013 as a parody of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Dogecoin was based on a then-popular doge meme, which featured a Shiba Inu dog surrounded by colourful comic text.
While everyone was wondering why the Twitter’s logo changing, Dogecoin’s value jumped from US$0.079 to US$0.094, the highest value the currency has been since November last year.
Almost 36 hours after Twitter changed its blue bird logo to what looks like a badly cut-out image of a dog meme, the company’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk has still offered no explanation to the change. Some users have assumed that it is a late April Fool’s joke.
To add further confusion, Elon Musk tweeted on Monday a photo in which a dog was sitting on the driving seat of a car and a traffic policeman was holding a license with a picture of a blue bird on it. The dog was saying that this is an old photo.
Whatever the reason, it is unclear how long Twitter intends to apply the change.
