X has abandoned the Twitter brand, Operation Bluebird wants to own it
13 December 2025
An American startup called Operation Bluebird is hoping to take ownership of the defunct Twitter name, the term “tweet”, and famous blue bird logo, and relaunch Twitter anew. Operation Bluebird’s backers believe the old micro-blogging service can be restored to its former glory, and revive the “town square” the old Twitter once, for a time, gave the web.
I like the idea, but how feasible is it? Just crazy enough that it might work?
While X no longer uses the Twitter branding, they would still own it, despite Operation Bluebird’s claims it has been “abandoned”. I somehow doubt the present owner, Elon Musk, of what was once Twitter, X, sees things that way though. He would expect to see a very generous offer, before even beginning to consider parting with the Twitter branding.
It will be a hard sell, or a hard buy. Twitter branding aside, Musk believed as the buyer of Twitter, he also owned the micro-blogging concept. When Threads launched in 2023, Musk threatened to sue Meta, claiming Threads was a copy of X. Little came of that, but it says a lot about Musk’s resolve.
Selling the Twitter branding to someone who wants to establish a direct competitor to X, doesn’t seem like the sort of thing anyone would do, let alone Musk. But Musk has given X its own, quite distinct, identity. Everyone knows who owns X, and what it is about. It almost seems there could be little confusion if a new version of Twitter were launched, so entrenched is X as a brand.
Musk bought Twitter three years ago, but it seems like a lifetime ago. X is X now. It is no longer the old Twitter. Still, Operation Bluebird must have some idea of what they’re up against. Yet they think there’s a chance of success, taking control of the Twitter branding, as fanciful as it might seem.
Still, I’ve requested my preferred username (you’ll never guess…), and would be keen to be involved in the new Twitter if it ever happened. Twitter, to me, seemed to be the ideal accompaniment to a blog. It was a great place to go and mingle with others with similar interests. Town square, indeed.
It was neither too much, nor too little.
To my mind, nothing else was needed. I once set up a Facebook page for disassociated, but could never get enthusiastic about it. Ditto the prospect of having presences on the likes of YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Linkedin, and Pinterest. That was like five places too many to be spread across. Plus none of then were particularly relevant to a site like mine.
Despite having my fingers crossed for Operation Bluebird, I still can’t help feeling that the “Twitter moment” in general is gone, as exciting as bringing back the early Twitter is. It seems like the micro-blogging site was part of a web that no longer exists. While Mastodon and Bluesky are fine latter-day variants, they’re not what Twitter was.
So I wonder: could (new) Twitter, were it ever to eventuate, ever be what old Twitter was?
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