History of Twitter
Jack Dorsey first began to develop his early idea for the social media site Twitter in 2006 while working at early Internet tech company Odeo. Spun off in 2007 and expanding rapidly after that, Twitter became a significant component of global society. It became a key part of politics and international relations but was also banned or blocked in some countries.
Twitter went public in 2013 and continued to expand. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged Twitter's handling of misinformation on the platform. Elon Musk took Twitter private in 2022 and later changed the name of the service to X.
Background
[edit]Twitter's origins lie in a "daylong brainstorming session" held by board members of the podcasting company Odeo. Jack Dorsey, then an undergraduate student, introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate with a small group.[1][2] The original project code name for the service was twttr, an idea that Evan Williams later ascribed to Noah Glass,[3] inspired by Flickr and the five-character length of American SMS short codes. The decision was also partly due to the fact that the domain twitter.com was already in use, and it was six months after the launch of twttr that the crew purchased the domain and changed the name of the service to Twitter.[4] The developers initially considered "10958" as the service's short code for SMS text messaging, but later changed it to "40404" for "ease of use and memorability".[5]
2006–2007
[edit]Work on the project which would become Twitter started in February 2006.[6] In March 2006 Dorsey published the first Twitter post: "just setting up my twttr".[7][8]
Dorsey has explained the origin of the "Twitter" title:[9]
...we came across the word "twitter", and it was just perfect. The definition was "a short burst of inconsequential information", and "chirps from birds". And that's exactly what the product was.
The first Twitter prototype, developed by Dorsey and contractor Florian Weber, was used as an internal service for Odeo employees.[6] The full version was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006.[10] In October 2006, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Dorsey, and other members of Odeo formed Obvious Corporation and acquired Odeo, together with its assets—including Odeo.com and Twitter.com—from the investors and shareholders.[11] Williams fired Glass, who was silent about his part in Twitter's startup until 2011.[12] Twitter spun off into its own company in April 2007.[13]
Williams provided insight into the ambiguity that defined this early period in a 2013 interview:[14]
With Twitter, it wasn't clear what it was. They called it a social network, they called it microblogging, but it was hard to define, because it didn't replace anything. There was this path of discovery with something like that, where over time you figure out what it is. Twitter actually changed from what we thought it was in the beginning, which we described as status updates and a social utility. It is that, in part, but the insight we eventually came to was Twitter was really more of an information network than it is a social network.
In 2006 Iconfactory was developing a twitter application called "Twitterrific" and developer Craig Hockenberry began a search for a shorter way to refer to "Post a Twitter Update." In 2007 they began using "twit" before Twitter developer Blaine Cook suggested that "tweet" be used instead.[15]
The use of the hashtag appeared in 2007, introduced by Chris Messina. Messina struggled to get Twitter executives to adopt his idea but was eventually successful in convincing Twitter to trial the idea. Messina drew inspiration from Internet Relay Chat and Jaiku however the way it was implemented on Twitter was unique. Initial reactions to the hashtag were mixed.[16]
2007–2010
[edit]The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference. During the event, Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.[17] "The Twitter people cleverly placed two 60-inch plasma screens in the conference hallways, exclusively streaming Twitter messages," remarked Newsweek's Steven Levy. "Hundreds of conference-goers kept tabs on each other via constant twitters. Panelists and speakers mentioned the service, and the bloggers in attendance touted it."[18] Reaction at the conference was highly positive.[19] Twitter staff received the festival's Web Award prize with the remark "we'd like to thank you in 140 characters or less. And we just did!"[20][better source needed]
The company experienced rapid initial growth. In 2009, Twitter won the "Breakout of the Year" Webby Award.[21][22] On November 29, 2009, Twitter was named the Word of the Year by the Global Language Monitor, declaring it "a new form of social interaction".[23] In February 2010, Twitter users were sending 50 million tweets per day.[24] By March 2010, the company recorded over 70,000 registered applications.[25] As of June 2010[update], about 65 million tweets were posted each day, equaling about 750 tweets sent each second, according to Twitter.[26] As of March 2011[update], that was about 140 million tweets posted daily.[27] As noted on Compete.com, Twitter moved up to the third-highest-ranking social networking site in January 2009 from its previous rank of twenty-second.[28]
Twitter's usage spikes during prominent events. For example, a record was set during the 2010 FIFA World Cup when fans wrote 2,940 tweets per second in the thirty-second period after Japan scored against Cameroon on June 14, 2010. The record was broken again when 3,085 tweets per second were posted after the Los Angeles Lakers' victory in the 2010 NBA Finals on June 17, 2010,[29] and then again at the close of Japan's victory over Denmark in the World Cup when users published 3,283 tweets per second.[30] The record was set again during the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup Final between Japan and the United States, when 7,196 tweets per second were published.[31] When American singer Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, Twitter servers crashed after users were updating their status to include the words "Michael Jackson" at a rate of 100,000 tweets per hour.[32] The current record as of August 3, 2013[update], was set in Japan, with 143,199 tweets per second during a television screening of the movie Castle in the Sky[33] (beating the previous record of 33,388, also set by Japan for the television screening of the same movie).[34]
Elon Musk joined Twitter as a user in 2009.[35] After an incident in which a lawsuit was launched over a fake account Twitter introduced "Verified Accounts."[36] Also in 2009 Ashton Kutcher's twitter account became the first one with a million followers.[37]
Twitter played a major role in the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests.[37]
The first unassisted off-Earth Twitter message was posted from the International Space Station by NASA astronaut T. J. Creamer on January 22, 2010.[38][37] By late November 2010, an average of a dozen updates per day were posted on the astronauts' communal account, @NASA_Astronauts. NASA has also hosted over 25 "tweetups", events that provide guests with VIP access to NASA facilities and speakers with the goal of leveraging participants' social networks to further the outreach goals of NASA.[citation needed]
Twitter acquired application developer Atebits on April 11, 2010. Atebits had developed the Apple Design Award-winning Twitter client Tweetie for the Mac and iPhone. The application became the official Twitter client for the iPhone, iPad and Mac.[39]
In 2010 the Library of Congress archived all Tweets back to 2006 and began archiving all new tweets. Only the text of tweets were archived, they do not include videos, images, or linked content.[40] They switched to archiving tweets on a selected basis similar to their treatment of other media in 2018.[41][40]
2010–2014
[edit]From September through October 2010, the company began rolling out "New Twitter", an entirely revamped edition of twitter.com. Changes included the ability to see pictures and videos without leaving Twitter itself by clicking on individual tweets which contain links to images and clips from a variety of supported websites, including YouTube and Flickr, and a complete overhaul of the interface, which shifted links such as '@mentions' and 'Retweets' above the Twitter stream, while 'Messages' and 'Log Out' became accessible via a black bar at the very top of twitter.com. As of November 1, 2010[update], the company confirmed that the "New Twitter experience" had been rolled out to all users. In 2019, Twitter was announced to be the 10th most downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019.[42]
Twitter played an important role in the Arab Spring across the Middle East and North Africa.[37]
On April 5, 2011, Twitter tested a new homepage and phased out the "Old Twitter".[43] However, a glitch came about after the page was launched, so the previous "retro" homepage was still in use until the issues were resolved; the new homepage was reintroduced on April 20.[44][45] On December 8, 2011, Twitter overhauled its website once more to feature the "Fly" design, which the service says is easier for new users to follow and promotes advertising. In addition to the Home tab, the Connect and Discover tabs were introduced along with a redesigned profile and timeline of Tweets. The site's layout has been compared to that of Facebook.[46][47] On February 21, 2012, it was announced that Twitter and Yandex agreed to a partnership. Yandex, a Russian search engine, finds value within the partnership due to Twitter's real-time news feeds. Twitter's director of business development explained that it is important to have Twitter content where Twitter users go.[48] On March 21, 2012, Twitter celebrated its sixth birthday by announcing that it had 140 million users, a 40% rise from September 2011, who were sending 340 million tweets per day.[49][50] In April 2012, Twitter announced that it was opening an office in Detroit, with the aim of working with automotive brands and advertising agencies.[51] Twitter also expanded its office in Dublin.[52]
In March 2011 a cobra escaped from the Bronx Zoo, soon after a parody twitter account for the cobra appeared using the handle "@BronxZoosCobra" which soon amassed a large number of followers.[53][54] The snake was on the loose for a week before being recaptured during which time the account tweeted regularly.[55] This parody account led to increased interest in parody accounts on twitter in general.[37]
On June 5, 2012, a modified logo was unveiled through the company blog, removing the text to showcase the slightly redesigned bird as the sole symbol of Twitter.[56][57] On December 18, 2012, Twitter announced monthly active users had increased 42% in the proceeding nine months and now surpassed 200 million.[58]
In December 2012 Pope Benedict XVI joined Twitter with the account name "@pontifex."[59][60][61][62] The account answers questions which are posed to it using the hashtag "askpontifex."[63]
In 2012 "tweet" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.[64] Vine (service), a short video service, was launched in 2013.[37]
On January 28, 2013, Twitter acquired Crashlytics in order to build out its mobile developer products.[65] On April 18, 2013, Twitter launched a music app called Twitter Music for the iPhone.[66] On August 28, 2013, Twitter acquired Trendrr,[67] followed by the acquisition of MoPub on September 9, 2013.[68] As of September 2013[update], the company's data showed that 200 million users sent over 400 million tweets daily, with nearly 60% of tweets sent from mobile devices.[69]
In April 2013 the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the twitter account of the Associated Press. The attack had a significant short term impact on the stock market.[70][71] In October they hacked the account of Barack Obama.[72]
During Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013, when the power went out in the Superdome Mondelez International, Kraft Foods vice president Lisa Mann was asked to tweet, "You can still dunk in the dark", referring to Oreo cookies. She approved, and as she told Ad Age in 2020, "literally the world [had] changed when I woke up the next morning." This became a milestone in the development of commenting daily on culture.[73]
Twitter went public in 2013 through an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO raised 1.8 billion USD.[8]
2014–2020
[edit]2014 was a hard year for Twitter with analysts and the market both pessimistic about the company.[8]
In April 2014, Twitter underwent a redesign that made the site resemble Facebook somewhat, with a profile picture and biography in a column left to the timeline, and a full-width header image with parallax scrolling effect.[a] That layout was used as the main for the desktop front end until July 2019, undergoing changes over time such as the removal of shortcut buttons to jump to the previous or next tweet in early 2017, and rounded profile pictures since June 2017.[74][original research?][75][76] Twitter still struggled to turn a profit.[8]
In April 2015, the Twitter.com desktop homepage changed.[77] Later in the year it became apparent that growth had slowed.[78][79][80][81]
In September 2016, Twitter shares rose 20% after a report that it had received takeover approaches.[82] Potential buyers were Alphabet (the parent company of Google),[82] Microsoft,[83][84][85] Salesforce.com,[82][86] Verizon,[86] and The Walt Disney Company.[87][88] Twitter's board of directors were open to a deal, which could have come by the end of 2016.[82][89] However, no deal was made, with reports in October stating that all the potential buyers dropped out partly due to concerns over abuse and harassment on the service.[90][91][92]
In 2017 Elon Musk first tweeted his interest in acquiring Twitter.[35] In June 2017, Twitter revamped its dashboard to improve the new user experience.[93][94] Vine was shut down in 2017.[37]
On April 29, 2018, the first commercial tweet from space was sent by Solstar utilizing solely commercial infrastructure during a New Shepard flight.[95] In May 2018, Twitter announced that tweet replies deemed by an algorithm to be detractive from the conversation would initially be hidden and only load by actuating a "Show more replies" element at the bottom.[96]
Moderation of terrorism and violent extremism on the platform was a significant challenge with Twitter suspending more than a million accounts on terrorism grounds from 2015-2018.[97]
In 2018 the tweet size limit was raised from 140 characters to 280 characters.[98] This change was trialed in 2017.[99]
In 2019, Twitter released another redesign of its user interface.[100]
2020-Musk acquisition
[edit]Twitter experienced considerable growth during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[101] The platform also was increasingly used for misinformation related to the pandemic.[102] This combination posed a significant challenge to Twitter,[103] as a result they started marking tweets which contained misleading information, and adding links to fact-checks.[104][105] Twitter was not always successful in marking and/or removing misinformation and on a number of occasions marked factual information as misinformation.[106] COVID and Twitter also presented science communicators with a mix of challenges and opportunities.[107]
In May 2020, Twitter moderators marked two tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump as "potentially misleading" and linked to a fact-check.[108] Trump responded by signing an executive order to weaken Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which limits social media sites' liability for content moderation decisions.[109][110][111] Twitter later banned Trump, claiming that he violated "the glorification of violence policy".[112] The ban drew criticism from American conservatives and European leaders, who saw it as an interference on freedom of speech.[113]
In 2020, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian pushed conspiracy theories about the pandemic on Twitter, which is blocked in mainland China but is used as a public diplomacy tool by Chinese officials to promote the Chinese government and defend it from criticism.[114] China's ambassador to South Africa also made these claims on Twitter.[115] In May 2020, Twitter placed fact-check labels on two of the Chinese government tweets which had falsely suggested that the virus originated in the US and was brought to China by the Americans.[116] In January 2021, Hua Chunying renewed the conspiracy theory from Zhao that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in the United States from the U.S. military biology laboratory Fort Detrick. Hua continued to refer to it on Twitter, while asking the government of the United States to open up Fort Detrick for further investigation to determine if it is the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.[117][118]
In April 2021, Twitter announced that it was establishing its African headquarters in Ghana.[119][120] On June 5, 2021, the Nigerian government issued an indefinite ban on Twitter usage in the country, citing "misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real world violent consequences",[121] after the platform removed tweets made by the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.[122] Nigeria's ban was criticized by Amnesty International.[123]
In 2021, Twitter began the research phase of Bluesky, an open source decentralized social media protocol where users can choose which algorithmic curation they want.[124][125] The same year, Twitter also released Twitter Spaces, a social audio feature;[126][127] "super follows", a way to subscribe to creators for exclusive content;[128] and a beta of "ticketed Spaces", which makes access to certain audio rooms paid.[129] Twitter unveiled a redesign in August 2021, with adjusted colors and a new Chirp font, which improves the left-alignment of most Western languages.[130]
In June 2022, Twitter announced a partnership with e-commerce giant Shopify, and its plans to launch a sales channel app for U.S. Shopify merchants.[131]
On August 23, 2022, the contents of a whistleblower complaint by former information security head Peiter Zatko to the United States Congress were published. Zatko had been fired by Twitter in January 2022. The complaint alleges that Twitter failed to disclose several data breaches, had negligent security measures, violated United States securities regulations, and broke the terms of a previous settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over the safeguarding of user data. The report also claims that the Indian government forced Twitter to hire one of its agents to gain direct access to user data.[132]
Acquisition by Elon Musk
[edit]The business magnate Elon Musk initiated an acquisition of American social media company Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. Musk had begun buying shares of the company in January 2022, becoming its largest shareholder by April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors, an offer he initially accepted before declining. On April 14, Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company, to which Twitter's board responded with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover before unanimously accepting Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion on April 25. Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-source, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech, framing the acquisition as the cornerstone of X, an "everything app".
In July, Musk announced his intention to terminate the agreement, asserting that Twitter had breached their agreement by refusing to crack down on spambot accounts. The company filed a lawsuit against Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery shortly thereafter, with a trial scheduled for the week of October 17. Weeks before the trial was set to begin, Musk reversed course, announcing that he would move forward with the acquisition. The deal was closed on October 28, with Musk immediately becoming Twitter's new owner and CEO. Twitter was taken private and merged into a new parent company named X Corp. Musk promptly fired several top executives, including previous CEO Parag Agrawal. Musk has since proposed several reforms to Twitter and laid off half of the company's workforce. Hundreds of employees then resigned from the company after Musk issued an ultimatum demanding they commit to "extremely hardcore" work. Linda Yaccarino was appointed CEO of X Corp. In July 2023, the Twitter service was rebranded as X.
Reactions to the buyout were mixed, with praise for Musk's planned reforms and vision for the company, particularly his calls for greater free speech, but criticism over fears of a potential rise in misinformation and disinformation, harassment, and hate speech on the platform. Within the United States, conservatives have largely supported the acquisition, while many liberals and former Twitter employees have voiced concerns about Musk's intentions. Since becoming owner, Musk has faced backlash for his handling of the company and account suspensions, including the December 2022 suspensions of ten journalists.Post-acquisition
[edit]
| ||
---|---|---|
Personal
Companies
In popular culture
Related
|
||
Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022; Musk acted as CEO of Twitter until June 2023 when he was succeeded by Linda Yaccarino. In a move that, despite Yaccarino's accession, was widely attributed to Musk,[133][134] Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023,[135] and its domain name changed from twitter.com to x.com on May 17, 2024.[136]
X is one of the top social media platforms and the fifth-most-visited website in the world as of June 2024.[137][138] Users can share posts containing text messages, images, and videos and interact with other users' content through likes and reposts.[139] X offers additional features such as direct messaging, video and audio calling, bookmarks, lists, communities, a chatbot, and the social audio feature Spaces.
Founded in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams as Twitter, it underwent a rebranding in July 2023 after being acquired by Elon Musk in 2022. Now operating as X, the platform closely resembles its predecessor but includes additional features such as long-form texts,[140] account monetization options,[141] audio-video calls,[142] integration with xAI's Grok chatbot,[143] job search,[144] and a verification process accessible to premium users.[145] Several Twitter legacy features were removed from the site after Musk acquired Twitter, including Circles,[146] NFT profile pictures,[147] and pronouns in profiles.[148] Musk aims to transform X into an "everything app", akin to WeChat.[149]
X has faced significant controversy post-rebranding. Issues such as the release of the Twitter Files, suspension of journalists' accounts, and temporary measures like labeling media outlets as "state-affiliated" and restricting their visibility have sparked criticism.[150][151] Despite Musk stepping down as CEO, X continues to struggle with challenges such as viral misinformation,[152] hate speech, and antisemitism controversies.[153][154] In response to allegations, X Corp. has pursued legal action against nonprofit organizations Media Matters and the Center for Countering Digital Hate.[150][155]See also
[edit]- Timeline of Twitter
- History of Facebook
- History of YouTube
- 2020 Twitter account hijacking
- December 2022 Twitter suspensions
- Eoghan Harris Twitter scandal
- Saudi infiltration of Twitter
- Twitter Files
- Twitter joke trial
- Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh
- WikiLeaks-related Twitter court orders
- Twitter Revolution
Notes
[edit]- ^ It is not documented whether the parallax scrolling effect was added with the redesign in April 2014 or subsequently.
References
[edit]- ^ (registration required) Miller, Claire Cain (October 30, 2010). "Why Twitter's C.E.O. Demoted Himself". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved October 31, 2010.
- ^ "Co-founder of Twitter receives key to St. Louis with 140 character proclamation". KSDK. September 19, 2009. Archived from the original on December 28, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
After high school in St. Louis and some time at the University of Missouri–Rolla, Jack headed east to New York University.
- ^ Ev [@ev] (April 13, 2011). "It's true that @Noah never got enough credit for his early role at Twitter. Also, he came up with the name, which was brilliant" (Tweet). Retrieved April 26, 2011 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Buy a vowel? How Twttr became Twitter". CNN Money. November 23, 2010. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
- ^ Sagolla, Dom (January 30, 2009). "How Twitter Was Born". 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
- ^ a b Carlson, Nicholas (April 13, 2011). "How Twitter Was Founded". Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
- ^ jack [@jack] (March 21, 2006). "just setting up my twttr" (Tweet). Retrieved February 4, 2011 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d "Twitter is now owned by Elon Musk — here's a brief history from the app's founding in 2006 to the present". cnbc.com. CNBC. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ Sano, David (February 18, 2009). "Twitter Creator Jack Dorsey Illuminates the Site's Founding Document". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (July 15, 2006). "Odeo Releases Twttr". TechCrunch. AOL. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
- ^ Carlson, Nicholas (April 14, 2011). "The real history of Twitter isn't so short and sweet". NBC News.
- ^ Madrigal, Alexis (April 14, 2011). "Twitter's Fifth Beatle Tells His Side of the Story". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
- ^ Lennon, Andrew. "A Conversation with Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey". The Daily Anchor. Archived from the original on July 27, 2009. Retrieved February 12, 2009.
- ^ Lapowsky, Issie (October 4, 2013). "Ev Williams on Twitter's Early Years". Inc. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
- ^ Dickey, Megan Rose. "The Untold Story Of The Origin Of The Word 'Tweet'". businessinsider.com. Business Insider. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ Cooper, Belle Beth. "The Surprising History of Twitter's Hashtag Origin and 4 Ways to Get the Most out of Them". buffer.com. Buffer. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ Meyers, Courtney Boyd (July 15, 2011). "5 years ago today Twitter launched to the public". The Next Web. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
- ^ Levy, Steven (April 30, 2007). "Twitter: Is Brevity The Next Big Thing?". Newsweek. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
- ^ Terdiman, Daniel (March 10, 2007). "To Twitter or Dodgeball at SXSW?". CNET. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
- ^ Stone, Biz (February 4, 2011). "We Won!". Twitter Blog. Twitter. Archived from the original on February 24, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2008.
- ^ "13th Annual Webby Special Achievement Award Winners". The Webby Awards. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
- ^ Paul, Ian (May 5, 2009). "Jimmy Fallon Wins Top Webby: And the Winners Are..." PC World. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
- ^ "Top Word of 2009: Twitter". Languagemonitor.com. November 29, 2009. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
- ^ Beaumont, Claudine (February 23, 2010). "Twitter Users Send 50 Million Tweets Per Day – Almost 600 Tweets Are Sent Every Second Through the Microblogging Site, According to Its Own Metrics". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ "Twitter Registers 1,500 Per Cent Growth in Users". New Statesman. March 4, 2010. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ Garrett, Sean (June 18, 2010). "Big Goals, Big Game, Big Records". Twitter Blog (blog of Twitter). Archived from the original on February 13, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ "Twitter Blog: #numbers". Blog.twitter.com. March 14, 2011. Archived from the original on March 25, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
- ^ Kazeniac, Andy (February 9, 2009). "Social Networks: Facebook Takes Over Top Spot, Twitter Climbs". Compete.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2009.
- ^ Miller, Claire Cain (June 18, 2010). "Sports Fans Break Records on Twitter". Bits (blog of The New York Times). Archived from the original on January 12, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ Van Grove, Jennifer (June 25, 2010). "Twitter Sets New Record: 3,283 Tweets Per Second". Mashable. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ "Women's World Cup Final breaks Twitter record". ESPN. July 18, 2011. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
- ^ Shiels, Maggie (June 26, 2009). "Web Slows After Jackson's Death". BBC News. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ Krikorian, Raffi (August 16, 2013). "New Tweets per second record, and how!". Twitter Blogs. Archived from the original on August 22, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
- ^ Kanalley, Craig (January 2, 2013). "Tweets-Per-Second Record Set By Japan, Korea On New Year's Day 2013". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
- ^ a b Paul, Kari. "Chaotic and crass: a brief timeline of Elon Musk's history with Twitter". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ Jeong, Sarah. "The History of Twitter's Rules". vice.com. Vice. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g Griggs, Brandon; Kelly, Heather. "23 key moments from Twitter history". cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Press release (January 22, 2010). "Media Advisory M10-012 – NASA Extends the World Wide Web Out into Space" Archived December 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. NASA. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
- ^ Miller, Claire Cain (April 11, 2010). "Twitter Acquires Atebits, Maker of Tweetie". Bits (blog of The New York Times). Archived from the original on December 18, 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ a b Wamsley, Laurel. "Library Of Congress Will No Longer Archive Every Tweet". npr.org. NPR. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
- ^ Stokel-Walker, Chris. "Twitter's potential collapse could wipe out vast records of recent human history". technologyreview.com. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Rayome, Alison DeNisco. "Facebook was the most-downloaded app of the decade". CNET. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
- ^ Praetorius, Dean (May 4, 2011). "Twitter Users Report Twitter.com Has A New Homepage (SCREENSHOTS)". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
- ^ Dunn, John E (April 6, 2011). "Twitter Delays Homepage Revamp After Service Glitch". PCWorld. Archived from the original on May 10, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
- ^ Crum, Chris (April 20, 2011). "New Twitter Homepage Launched". Archived from the original on April 24, 2011. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
- ^ "Twitter: Yours to discover". Fly.twitter.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
- ^ "Twitter 2.0: Everything You Need to Know About the New Changes". Fox News. April 7, 2010. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
- ^ "Twitter partners with Yandex for real-time search". Reuters. February 21, 2012. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
- ^ "Twitter Says It Has 140 Million Users". Mashable. March 21, 2012. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
- ^ "Twitter Now Has More Than 200 Million Monthly Active Users". Mashable. December 18, 2012. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
- ^ "Twitter heads to Motown to be closer to automakers". Reuters. April 4, 2012. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
- ^ "Twitter to create 12 jobs as it scales up Irish operations". Irish Independent. April 4, 2012. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
- ^ Sutter, John D. "Missing cobra sinks fangs into Twitter". cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ "Escaped Bronx Zoo Cobra Joins Twitter". abcnews.go.com. ABC News. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Hayden, Erik. "A Definitive Guide to the Bronx Zoo Cobra Meme". theatlantic.com. The Atlantic. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Rodriguez, Salvador (June 6, 2012). "Twitter flips the bird, adopts new logo". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
- ^ Gilbertson, Scott (June 8, 2012). "Twitter's New Logo Inspires Parodies, CSS Greatness". Wired. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
- ^ Etherington, Darrell. "Twitter Passes 200M Monthly Active Users, A 42% Increase Over 9 Months". techcrunch.com. Tech Crunch. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Kington, Tom. "Pope makes Twitter debut in eight languages". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Smith-Spark, Laura. "Pope Benedict sends first personal tweet". cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Hudson, Laura. "The Pope Sends Out His Very First Tweet". wired.com. Wired. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Souppouris, Aaron. "Pope Benedict XVI joins Twitter as @pontifex, first tweet coming December 12th". theverge.com. The Verge. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Faris, Stephan. "The Pope Tweets with You: Benedict XVI Joins the Twitterverse". world.time.com. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Chang, Jonathan. "'Tweet' Now an Official Word: Oxford English Dictionary". abcnews.go.com. ABC News. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ T. Huang, Gregory (February 5, 2013). "Twitter's Boston Acquisitions: Crashlytics Tops $100M, Bluefin Labs Close Behind". Xconomy. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
- ^ Ulanoff, Lance (April 18, 2013). "Twitter Launches Twitter #music App and Service". Mashable. Mashable. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ "Twitter acquires real-time social data company Trendrr to help it better tap into TV and media". The Next web. August 28, 2013. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
- ^ Isidore, Chris (September 10, 2013). "Twitter makes another acquisition". CNN Money. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ Moore, Heidi (September 12, 2013). "Twitter files for IPO in first stage of stock market launch". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 1, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
- ^ Stuster, J. Dana. "Syrian Electronic Army takes credit for hacking AP Twitter account". foreignpolicy.com. Foreign Policy. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Bishop, Katrina; Kharpal, Arjun. "Global websites hacked by Syrian Electronic Army". cnbc.com. CNBC. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ McCarthy, Tom. "Syrian Electronic Army takes credit for attack on Obama's Twitter account". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Schultz, E.J. (October 5, 2020). "Q&AA: The CMO Fixer: After working for major marketers, Lisa Mann now places CMOs and other executives. She gives her take on what's ailing top brands and what companies are looking for in top execs". Ad Age. 91 (19): 6.
- ^ "Lighting up the world". Archived from the original on March 7, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
- ^ Savov, Vlad (April 8, 2014). "Twitter redesign looks a lot like Facebook". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ "Twitter-like Header Parallax Effect Using Pure CSS / CSS3". CSS Script. May 19, 2015. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
- ^ "Twitter.com gets a refresh". blog.twitter.com. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Ingram, Matthew (October 25, 2015). "What if the Twitter growth everyone is hoping for never comes?". Fortune. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
- ^ Beaver, Laurie; Boland, Margaret (October 28, 2015). "Twitter user growth continues to stall". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
- ^ Beck, Martin (October 27, 2015). "Revenue Is Up, But Twitter Is Still Struggling In Slow Growth Mode". Marketing Land. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
- ^ Truong, Alice (February 10, 2016). "Twitter now has a problem that's way worse than slow user growth". Quartz. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Faber, David; Balakrishnan, Anita (September 23, 2016). "Twitter may soon get formal bid, suitors said to include Salesforce and Google". CNBC. NBCUniversal News Group. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Vielma, Antonio José (September 26, 2016). "Microsoft seen as possible Twitter suitor: Source". CNBC. NBCUniversal News Group. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Rodionova, Zlata (September 27, 2016). "Twitter sale: Disney and Microsoft join Google in list of potential bidders". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Nusca, Andrew (September 27, 2016). "Will Microsoft Buy Twitter?". Fortune. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ a b Lunden, Ingrid; Roof, Katie; Lynley, Matthew; Miller, Ron (September 23, 2016). "Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, Verizon are all eyeing up a Twitter bid". TechCrunch. AOL. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Sherman, Alex; Frier, Sarah (September 26, 2016). "Disney Is Working With an Adviser on Potential Twitter Bid". Bloomberg Markets. Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on May 4, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Roof, Katie; Panzarino, Matthew (September 26, 2016). "Yep, Disney is in talks with bankers about possible Twitter acquisition". TechCrunch. AOL. Archived from the original on May 6, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ "Twitter shares soar almost 20% on takeover talk". BBC News. September 23, 2016. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Sherman, Alex; Palmeri, Christopher; Frier, Sarah (October 18, 2016). "Disney Dropped Twitter Pursuit Partly Over Image". Bloomberg Technology. Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on April 23, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ McCormick, Rich (October 19, 2016). "Twitter's reputation for abuse is turning off potential suitors". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 24, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Price, Rob (October 18, 2016). "Twitter's abuse problem is reportedly part of the reason Disney chose not to buy it". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Archived from the original on April 23, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ Howard, Anne (June 19, 2017). "Twitter Gets a New Look. Does it get it Right?". RPRN Newsmagazine. RPRN News. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
- ^ Pierce, David (June 15, 2017). "Twitter Redesigned Itself to Make the Tweet Supreme Again". Wired. Archived from the original on November 27, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
- ^ Bogan, Ray (May 4, 2018). "Commercial space travelers will soon be able to send a tweet from space". Fox News. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
- ^ Oremus, Will (May 15, 2018). "Twitter Will Start Hiding Tweets That "Detract From the Conversation"". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
- ^ Reisinger, Don. "Twitter Has Suspended 1.2 Million Terrorist Accounts Since 2015". fortune.com. Fortune. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
- ^ Perez, Sarah. "Twitter's doubling of character count from 140 to 280 had little impact on length of tweets". techcrunch.com. Tech Crunch. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
- ^ Pardes, Arielle. "A Brief History of the Ever Expanding Tweet". wired.com. Wired. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
- ^ "Like It or Not, You're Getting Twitter's Redesigned Website Soon". PCMAG. Archived from the original on March 17, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
- ^ "Q2 2020 Letter to Shareholders, July 23, 2020, @TwitterIR" (PDF). Twitter. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ "Full Page Reload". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. July 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ Ghaffary, Shirin; Heilweil, Rebecca. "Facebook doubles down on removing coronavirus conspiracy theories". vox.com. Vox.
- ^ Roth, Yoel; Pickles, Nick (May 11, 2020). "Updating our Approach to Misleading Information". Twitter. Archived from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Paul, Kari. "Twitter targets Covid vaccine misinformation with labels and 'strike' system". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Lorenz, Taylor. "Twitter labeled factual information about covid-19 as misinformation". washingtonpost.com. Washington Post. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Brainard, Jefferey. "RIDING THE TWITTER WAVE". science.org. Science. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ Lybrand, Holmes; Subramaniam, Tara (May 27, 2020). "Fact-checking Trump's recent claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud". CNN. Archived from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Allyn, Bobby (May 28, 2020). "Stung By Twitter, Trump Signs Executive Order To Weaken Social Media Companies". NPR. National Public Radio. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ "Trump signs executive order targeting social media companies". CNN. May 28, 2020. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ Conger, Kate; Isaac, Mike (May 28, 2020). "Defying Trump, Twitter Doubles Down on Labeling Tweets". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ "Twitter 'permanently suspends' Trump's account". BBC News. January 8, 2021. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ^ "Germany and France Oppose Trump's Twitter Exile". Bloomberg.com. January 11, 2021. Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
'The chancellor sees the complete closing down of the account of an elected president as problematic,' Steffen Seibert, her chief spokesman, said at a regular news conference in Berlin. Rights like the freedom of speech 'can be interfered with, but by law and within the framework defined by the legislature – not according to a corporate decision.'
- ^ Westcott B, Jiang S (13 March 2020). "Chinese diplomat promotes conspiracy theory that US military brought coronavirus to Wuhan". CNN. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ Yuwen C, Zhan Q (28 March 2020). "US Pushes Back Against Russian, Chinese, Iranian Coronavirus Disinformation". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ Fernandez, Marisa (28 May 2020). "Twitter fact-checks Chinese official's claims that coronavirus originated in U.S." www.axios.com. Axios. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ Li, Jane (20 January 2021). "China's gift for the Biden inauguration is a conspiracy theory about Covid-19's US origins". Quartz. Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ Davidson, Helen (20 January 2021). "China revives conspiracy theory of US army link to Covid". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 March 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021 – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "Establishing Twitter's presence in Africa". blog.twitter.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
- ^ "Ghana basks in Twitter's surprise choice as Africa HQ". BBC News. April 24, 2021. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
- ^ "Nigeria's Twitter ban: Government orders prosecution of violators". BBC News. June 6, 2021. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ "Nigeria suspends Twitter after the social media platform freezes president's account". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ Ohuocha, Chijioke (June 5, 2021). "Nigerian telecoms firms suspend access to Twitter". Reuters. Archived from the original on June 11, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ Goldsmith, Jill (February 10, 2021). "Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey On Section 230, Transparency, Appeals And Twitter Turning 15". Deadline. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
- ^ Matney, Lucas (January 15, 2021). "Twitter's decentralized future". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ^ Rodriguez, Salvador (May 3, 2021). "Twitter launches Spaces live-audio rooms to all users with more than 600 followers". CNBC. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- ^ Lyons, Kim (May 3, 2021). "Twitter will now let anyone with 600 or more followers host its audio Spaces on mobile". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 10, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- ^ "Twitter launches subscription-based feature "super follows"". Reuters. September 1, 2021. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ^ Robertson, Adi (June 22, 2021). "Twitter is opening applications to test Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 1, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
- ^ Bonifac, Igor (August 11, 2021). "Twitter rolls out redesign with proprietary Chirp font". Engadget. Archived from the original on August 13, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "Twitter partners with Shopify to bring merchants' products to Twitter Shopping". TechCrunch. June 22, 2022. Archived from the original on June 29, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
- ^ Vincent, James (August 23, 2022). "Twitter's former security chief says company lied about bots and safety". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ Stokel-Walker, Chris. "Twitter's rebrand to X is destined to fail, critics say". Fast Company.
- ^ Feiner, Lauren (July 25, 2023). "Musk explains why he's rebranding Twitter to X: It's not just a name change". CNBC. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
- ^ Davis, Wes (July 23, 2023). "Twitter's rebrand to X may actually be happening soon". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 13, 2023. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- ^ Cartwright, Jason (May 15, 2024). "Goodbye Twitter.com, Welcome to X.com". techAU. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
- ^ "Challenge Validation". Similarweb. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ Kerr, Dara (January 31, 2024). "Lawmakers grilled the CEOs of top social media companies in a hearing today". NPR. Archived from the original on June 14, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ Conger, Kate (August 3, 2023). "So What Do We Call Twitter Now Anyway?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
- ^ Aadeetya, S (March 9, 2024). "X Brings 'Articles' That Lets You Post Long-Form Content". News18. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ "Elon Musk announces free premium features for X Accounts with over 2500 verified subscribers". The New Indian Express. March 28, 2024. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ The Hindu Bureau (March 2, 2024). "How to control your new audio and video call privacy settings on X". The Hindu. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ "Grok will be available to X Premium Plus subscribers next week: Elon Musk". The Indian Express. November 23, 2023. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ "X, formerly Twitter, opens job search function to all users". HR Dive. Archived from the original on February 12, 2024. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
- ^ Gerken, Tom (April 4, 2024). "X gives free blue ticks to its most popular users". BBC Home. Archived from the original on May 11, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ Peters, Jay (September 21, 2023). "X is shutting down Circles". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 11, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ Mehta, Ivan (January 10, 2024). "X removes support for NFT profile pictures". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ Manager, Social Media (March 31, 2024). "X Removes Pronoun Display Options on User Profiles". Social Media Today. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ Ortutay, Barbara (May 25, 2023). "Elon Musk wants to build a digital town square. But his debut for DeSantis had a tech failure". AP News. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ^ a b Stempel, Jonathan (March 25, 2024). "Musk's X Corp loses lawsuit against hate speech watchdog". Reuters. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Sengupta, Abhik (March 7, 2022). "Here's What Action Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Others Are Taking During Russia-Ukraine War". News18. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ "Influencers On X Profiting From Fake News On Israel-Gaza War: Report". NDTV.com. February 22, 2019. Archived from the original on June 9, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Frenkel, Sheera; Myers, Steven Lee (November 15, 2023). "Antisemitic and Anti-Muslim Hate Speech Surges Across the Internet". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 3, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Clayton, James (November 18, 2023). "X ad boycott gathers pace amid antisemitism storm". BBC Home. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ "X sues Media Matters over report about ads appearing next to Nazi posts". NBC News. November 21, 2023. Archived from the original on June 2, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.