X corp, formerly known as Twitter, is an online social media platform was founded in July 2006. The service allows registered users to post text, images, and videos in a social networking environment. Users can also interact with other users by liking, reposting (known as retweeting), or by replying to a public post. The platform also comes with a direct messaging feature for all registered users. The company was founded by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass. The company first launched in July 2006 in San Francisco, California under the name Twitter. Since then, the platform has gained over 300 million active users and till this day a large competitor within the social media space.
X's origins began on one "daylong brainstorming session" held by the board members of a now bought out podcasting company named Odeo. During the meeting, Jack Dorsey, the now ex-CEO of X, introduced the idea of using SMS for the sake of group communication. The original name of the application was named twttr after the five character length of American SMS short codes. The company later changed the domain to twitter.com six months after the original launch. The first prototype was developed by Dorsey and Florian Weber, which was used as a service and later a base for the full version before the public introduction on July 15, 2006. The first post came from Dorsey on March 21, 2006 stating "just setting up twttr".
X's long-expecting rise to popularity occurred on 2007 at the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference. During the event, X's usage surged from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000. Conference attendees constantly checked Twitter, with panelists, speakers, and bloggers mentioning and actively using the service. The positive feedback eventually led to the X staff receiving the festival's Web Award prize, expressing their gratitude in 140 characters or less, "we'd like to thank you in 140 characters or less. And we just did!". Between 2010 and 2021, X underwent various redesigns, including the introduction of "New Twitter" in 2014 and changes in layout resembling Facebook. This was the case as their growth slowed the following years with competitors like Facebook and Instagram continued to update and innovate their respected platforms. However, the platform persisted and became a key part during the 2020 U.S. elections during Trump's reign. In 2021, X began experimenting with projects like Bluesky, an open-source decentralized social media protocol, and introduced new features such as Twitter Spaces, "super follows," and ticketed Spaces.
Jack Dorsey testifying against Congress on behalf of Twitter
By February 2010, X users were sending 50 million tweets per day. This was the same year the first unassisted off-Earth X message was posted from the International Space Station. By late 2010, there were over a dozens of tweets being sent from the space station which led to the development of "tweetups" where users can have VIP access to NASA facilities through their screen.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, X experienced significant growth but also became a breeding ground for pandemic-related misinformation. The platform then began marking misleading posts and providing links to them to counter any form of delusion. In a notable incident, two tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump were flagged as "potentially misleading," prompting Trump to sign an executive order attempting to weaken law Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This would allow X later to ban Trump, citing a violation of their policy against the glorification of violence. This led many debates to open on the term of free speech.
The platform also underwent a major transformation when it was acquired by Elon Musk in October 2022 for $44 billion. In early 2022, he stated his concerns with the company's commitment to free speech and whether Twitter's moderation policies were undermining democracy. His vision to create the next "everything app" like WeChat was clear and he made major changes to the company to achieve this vision. He first started off by laying off about half the company (approximately 7,500). He then later revamped Twitter Blue and imposed limits on tweet views for unregistered users. He also changed the name of the company from Twitter to X, a form of rebranding that was done to attract new users. These changes stirred controversy, prompting criticism from various quarters which raised many questions within the social media space. Musk also reportedly made significant changes to Twitter's treatment of spambots with a more lenient content moderation policy.
Through a registered account, individuals can post via website or with compatible external applications such as SMS. These services are widely used in the U.S. and is also popular in different countries for digital communication. By using the site, users can upload text, images, and videos where they all go under the category of posts. They also have the option to categorize their posts based on topics using hashtags which is denoted by the "#" sign. On the other hand, the "@" symbol, when followed by a username, allows users to mention or reply to other individuals on the platform.The users then can interact with these posts by liking, reposting or, replying to the uploaded content. In 2015, X launched "quote tweet" (originally called "retweet with comment"), a feature that allows users to add a comment to their post, imbedding one post in the other. Users can also be subscribed by other users' posts which is known as "following" and subscribers are known as "followers".
-
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2023, October 5). X. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twitter
-
Smith, C. (2011, December 10). 9 things you need to know about Twitter’s massive redesign. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/twitter-new-features_n_1137850
-
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, October 9). Twitter. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter