Twitter’s Doge Icon Change

Overview

The Twitter Doge Icon Change refers to a UI design tweak to Twitter's desktop home page in early April 2023 that switched the site's traditional blue bird icon to the Doge meme (an image of a Shiba Inu). The change came without an announcement or explanation, leaving Twitter users to theorize about why the decision was made, with a common theory being that it was an April Fools' Day prank that launched late because Elon Musk removed a large amount of Twitter's staff during his onset as CEO. Many Twitter users expressed their distaste for the change. Musk later confirmed that he was behind it, and there is no indication of if or when the site will revert back to the bird icon.

Background

On April 3rd, 2023, Twitter's desktop UI suddenly changed so that the blue bird icon in the top left corner of the screen was replaced with the Doge meme. Additionally, retweets stopped appearing on users' timelines as retweets, making it appear as though tweets from random users were appearing as retweets.

Developments

The sudden and unexplained change left Twitter users to theorize why it had happened. Many posited the theory that it was supposed to be an April Fools' Day prank, but because Elon Musk had laid off a significant number of Twitter employees during his early tenure in late 2022 and early 2023, the site was unable to make the change in time for the day and pushed it two days later.

On April 3rd, 2023, Twitter user @Win98Tech^[1] posited this theory in a tweet that gained over 6,700 retweets and 40,000 likes in roughly 24 hours (shown below, left). That same day, user @ponnetplus^[2] also figured it was a late April Fools' prank while calling Elon Musk the "champ of unfunniness," gaining over 80 retweets and 420 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Others had a more conspiratorial theory, speculating that Musk had changed Twitter's icon to Doge in order to distract from a $258 billion lawsuit from a disgruntled Dogecoin investor alleging that Musk had inflated the price of Dogecoin. ^[3] On April 3rd, Twitter user @McJesse^[4] was among several users who posted the theory, gaining over 9,700 retweets and 34,000 likes in roughly 24 hours (shown below).

Later that day, Musk then appeared to confirm he was behind the change, posting a screenshot of a prior conversation he had with a Twitter user who told him to buy Twitter and make the icon Doge (shown below).^[5]

Search Interest

External References