Square, the mobile payments company founded by Jack Dorsey which also owns services like Cash App, has added five more sides to its identity. It’s called Block now, Bloomberg reports. According to the company itself (it’s gained sentience), “The change differentiates the Square brand, which was built for the Seller business, from the corporate entity.” It’s a move similar to Facebook, Inc. changing its name to Meta and relegating the Facebook name to only its main social platform. The New York Times suggested that the name change is a subtle nod to Dorsey’s interest in blockchain, which whoa, brother. His mind...
You gotta give it up to transcendental meditation for allowing Dorsey the clarity to come up with a name like Block. He’s no stranger to powerful, evocative brands: the blockchain company he joked about naming TBD54566975 (I don’t get it) is just one of his many brainchildren that fall under the corporate umbrella now called Block.
The Block logo isn’t exactly what my geometry teacher would call a “block,” as its six sides are curved, but I’m not into eastern philosophy and I don’t have a beard. I’m narrow-minded, a square even.
Block’s new website is just as wavy, and visiting it triggers the auto-play of a Tidal playlist (Block aquired the streaming site in May) called “Block Vibes Curated by JAY-Z.” Incidentally, “Block Vibes” is something I say to myself all day when people on Twitter (another Dorsey joint, of course) tell me I’m not funny and also an ugly whore.
Block’s website, Block dot xyz, actually looks a lot like Gawker sister site Input, and when I asked Input founder (and a guy who is maybe my boss, though nobody’s ever really told me what his job is) Josh Topolsky for a comment on the copy-cat cube, he said, “I can't even move there's so many CHUDs [sic] on my coattail.”
I don’t know what that means, and I guess that’s why I’m not a woman in STEM like he is.
Good luck, Block! I’m sure you’ll contribute to climate change in ways I never could have envisioned.
