Twitterwhich now bears the name of has revolutionized online communication. It is not a simple social network, but a real microblogging platform, which allows people from all over the world to interact with each other, to inform themselves and exchange opinions on topics of all kinds: from national and international politics to entertainment, from sport to music, and much more.
That of X, the former Twitter, is a long history, studded with great successes, but in which there has been no shortage of difficulties, resulting mainly from high competition from other platforms. He managed to have a fundamental role in the history of humanity, establishing itself as a means of communication and information where difficulties were present. Just think, for example, of the ‘Arab Spring’ or events of extreme importance and gravitysuch as earthquakes, attacks and riots.
X is still among the most downloaded apps in the world and there continue to be new members who decide to use social media to communicate. Let’s discover the history of Twitter (X), from its foundation until its purchase by Elon Musk and the changes that resulted from the entrepreneur’s new administration.
The birth of Twitter, now known as X
Twitter, which currently goes by the name of It was born from an idea of Jack Dorseywho published his first tweet on March 21 of the same year (just setting up my twttr), and two of his colleagues, Biz Stone and Evan Williams.
Twitter was the brainchild of Jack Dorsey, as a backup plan after the failure of one of the projects he was working on
What led to the development of the new social network was necessity. In the beginning we were working on the Odeo project, designed for sharing podcasts and videos recorded via smartphone, which was never made. To avoid failure, they opted for the creation of a new platform.
The underlying idea was to create a social network, a digital square, on which users could share short messages of maximum 140 characters, therefore generally shorter than an SMS, with your circle of friends. The first name assigned to the platform was Twttr, which however was unpronounceable and difficult to memorize. Dorsey opted for Twitter, tweeting.
The launch was a real success. After an initial period, in which Twitter was used only by the project’s developers and their closest contacts, registrations began to grow. Within a year, users grew exponentially and the social network quickly spread throughout the world.
Twitter becomes a successful social network
2007 is the year of turning point and consecration. Giving new impetus to Twitter it’s the South by Southwest Festival. On the occasion of the event dedicated to the world of cinema and music, the use of the platform triples, also thanks to an interesting initiative: the tweets were shown on big screens who were on site.
In this time Twitter is being perfected. The at sign is inserted before the user’s name, to allow subscribers to quickly find their contacts.
In 2009 Twitter becomes protagonist of the cover of Time and many other magazines and newspapers. What brought it to the attention of the press was the landing of a plane in the Hudson River, the news of which was first spread on the social network invented by Dorsey by a citizen who was on site and who had documented the event with a photo .
Web users are starting to appreciate Twitter more and more as they are able to find updated news on the platform, in real time and disseminated directly by the people involved
Twitter thus becomes the favorite tool for journalists, public figures and politicians. To give greater credibility to the social network, the certified accounts through a blue dot. In 2010, thanks to Timothy Creamer, a NASA astronaut, it was published a tweet directly from spaceprecisely from the International Space Station.
Also in 2010, sponsored tweets were introduced in order to cover the management costs of the platform, which has remained free since the day of its launch. In 2014 Twitter is further improvedwith the implementation of advanced features and analytics tools.
In all these years, Twitter has managed to stand out for its information capacity. Many news were announced directly by the people involved on the platform, anticipating communications from traditional media. Despite this, there was no shortage of economic difficulties, felt especially in 2015.
Over the years, rumors of a possible sale of the platform have become increasingly insistent, until 2022, when it came to a turning point that changed Twitter forever.
Elon Musk buys Twitter and turns it into X
In October 2022, after some second thoughts, Elon Musk buys Twitter for 44 billion dollars, announcing that he plans to Lots of changes for the platform. He fires the platform’s historic managers and a good part of the company’s staff.
They are not missing controversies and concernsespecially those of users and the UN, fearful for the protection of privacy and freedom of expression on the platform.
The controversies and the flight of users do not stop Musk, who shows that he has no intention of taking a step back. He proceeds with his plans, up to the introduction of new features and a change of name of the platform. The blue bird logo, which has become famous throughout the world, is permanently removed: Twitter officially becomes X.
To know more: X (Twitter), what it is, how it works and what can be done