Twitter’s new Doge web logo looks like it might be here to stay

Twitter’s logo was changed to Dogecoin on Monday. It is an image that is associated with the ailing cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The meme, Doge, dates back a decade and depicts a smiling Shiba Inu. It’s an almost too on-the-nose example of the site’s recent devolution since Elon Musk bought it. Musk took a hands-on management approach to the social media platform since then.

It was done without any fanfare or explanation, and there wasn’t even an announcement. And it’s starting to look less like a late April Fool’s Day Joke or whimsy, and more like it could have some staying power. Musk sent this tweet on Monday just hours after changing Twitter’s logo. meme about it. He was then shared a screenshot of a conversation from March 2022@WSBChairman submitted the suggestion that Musk switch to Doge for his bird logo It was at the time: Musk replied to the suggestion saying: “Haha that would sickkk. [sic]” Not long after the logo changed, Dogecoin’s price jumped by over 35%, according to Coinbase.

At this point, Doge feels like an ancient meme: It started as online slang for “dog” and was all over Tumblr in the early 2010s. Although the meme was originally intended to be a way of sharing wholesome content online, it soon evolved into something more ironic with darker jokes. As a joke, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus created Dogecoin cryptocurrency in 2013. The on-site logo exchange comes at a moment when Musk is facing a $258 billion lawsuit. This suit alleges that he operated a pyramid scheme to support cryptocurrency.

Musk made many other confusing updates to social media platforms. On March 27, Musk tweeted that by April 15 only “verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.” On Monday, many users noticed that their following tab, which is supposed to be limited to accounts that users have directly subscribed to, suddenly included a lot of other accounts that they didn’t actually follow. This would be a massive change for Twitter, directing all users to something more akin to the site’s recently added For You page, which uses Twitter’s algorithm to show targeted content, including ads and promoted tweets.

Additionally, Musk said he was going to remove “legacy verified” blue checkmarks, because “the way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical.” But the checks still haven’t gone away. The process is supposed to be a rollout, but the timetable hasn’t been clarified. The description of the checkmark was modified to indicate that the accounts were either legacy verified or started on the date the rollout was to begin. Oder pay for Twitter Blue — with no way to differentiate the two. The New York Times was the only organization to lose its checkmark, as of this writing. This removal appears to have been directly at Musk’s request.

Musk was a longtime supporter of Dogecoin. He has often tweeted about it throughout the years. But Musk’s big public history with the coin starts in 2021 when he became a vocal public advocate of the cryptocurrency, declaring that a SpaceX mission would be funded with Dogecoin and that the currency would be accepted to buy Tesla merchandise. Musk’s legal and financial advisor Jared Birchall even sits on the board of the Doge Foundation as a representative of Musk. Musk made his debut on the 2021 edition of Saturday Night LiveHe joked about Dogecoin’s value, which fell to nearly 30% in a matter of months.

Furthering Musk’s connection with the coin, in July 2022, during Tesla’s quarterly investor call, Musk disclosed that the company owned Dogecoin and did not sell it as it did its Bitcoin investments — though he did not say how much Dogecoin Tesla owns.

Musk himself hasn’t said anything specific about the change, beyond tweeting a meme about it. Polygon reached out via Twitter to request a statement. As an automated reply, Polygon received the poop emoticon.