Twitter users were surprised to find that the iconic blue bird logo used by the social media platform had been changed to a picture of a dog.

Some users were unsure why such a change had been made with others unaware of the dog's meaning.

When users load up Twitter, they will now be greeted with a picture Kabosu, the Shiba, a popular online dog often known as Doge.

The move comes as Elon Musk bought Twitter last year, making major changes to the site's verified feature.

Telsa and Space X billionaire Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44bn 

Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 following suggestions the tech billionaire should take over the social media giant.

Following news of his purchase, Elon Musk took to his personal Twitter account to say: "The bird is freed", later adding: "let the good times roll".

Since his takeover, Mr Musk has implemented a number of changes to the firm and fired over 200 Twitter staff in February.

He also implemented a number of changes to the site's verified feature which helps users distinguish between legitimate and fake accounts.

Why did Elon Musk change the Twitter bird logo to a picture of a dog?

It has been speculated that the logo change could be part of an April Fool's joke that has shown up on people's pages days late with many suggesting it could be much bigger than that.

By changing the brand's logo, the well-known cryptocurrency Dogecoin (which is inspired by the internet meme) has seen its value rise by 10%, though it is still lower than its May 2021 peak.

This comes as Elon Musk faces a $258bn racketeering lawsuit that accuses him of running a pyramid scheme to promote the currency.

What is the Doge meme?

Doge is an internet meme that became popular in 2013 and normally features an image of Kabosu, a Shiba Inu dog.

The meme normally includes captions in colourful writing, reading words like "so", "such", "many", "much", and "very" accompanied by words related to the subject of the meme.

Elon Musk announces legacy accounts will lose their blue checkmarks 

Musk has also revealed that accounts with the free checkmark will lose their verified status from April 1.

While many people and brands have lost their checkmarks, it has been reported that Musk does not have enough staff to finish this process more quickly.