Twitter's owner, US entrepreneur Elon Musk, has announced that the social media platform has changed its name and logo to X to "embody the imperfections in us all".

Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion, revealed the name change on Twitter on Sunday 23 July. In an initial tweet, he wrote: "And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds."

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed the news in a tweet that described a number of industries that X would operate in.

"X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities," Yaccarino wrote.

"Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we're just beginning to imagine."

X "closest in style" to art deco

Musk, who crowdsourced the imagery for the new logo – a black-and-white X with a single bar diagonally crossed with a double bar – tweeted the X should "embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique".

He also stated: "If X is closest in style to anything, it should, of course, be art deco."

The logo has now replaced Twitter's previous bird logo on its website for some users and both Musk's and Twitter's official Twitter pages have changed their logos to the new X.

Earlier this morning, Musk posted an image of the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco with the X logo superimposed on the facade.

"It's an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression," Yaccarino said.

"Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square."

According to Musk, the x.com website address "now points to twitter.com" but when visited by Dezeen, the x.com website address led to a holding page that still offered visitors the opportunity to acquire the domain.

Latest Musk venture to be named with X

Twitter is the latest Musk project to be signified by the letter X, following the launch of an AI startup called xAI. The entrepreneur also runs spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX, which was recently given a NASA contract to design a moon lander.

Musk has previously expressed interest in creating an "everything app" that he compared to China's WeChat and which would encompass a wide variety of functions.

In a tweet ahead of his Twitter acquisition, Musk said: "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app."