Twitter made its official debut in July 2006. Plans started in 2004 after Apple added podcasts to their platforms. A smaller company named Odeo felt they could not compete with Apple and needed a new direction. Jack Dorsey would be the original head of the platform. He worked alongside former Google employees Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Dorsey would be the creator of the ‘Tweet’. A small post of only 140 characters, (later 280 in 2017). The very first tweet that was ever posted was by him and it said; “just setting up my twttr”. In 2008 Williams took over as CEO. Two years after that, Williams was replaced by chief operator Dick Costolo. Twitter saw its company change hands many times over the years. Though Twitter was popular and had a steady stream of users. Seeing a 1,300 percent increase in 2009. They also helped popularize the @ symbol and the concept of hashtags. Despite the popularity it was failing to have steady revenue. That was until April of 2010 when they released “promoted Tweets”. Custom Tweets companies could use to promote their products. And when users searched for things, a promoted tweet would appear. This helped them become the company they are today. Twitter cemented itself as a mainstream social media platform when celebrities began to use it and achieve over one million followers. With actor Ashton Kutcher being the first person to ever do so. Everyone could see Twitter’s rise in popularity. And it began to help in Presidential elections, with Obama edging out his opponent John McCain in the 2008 election. The platform evolved from a place to share random thoughts and events. But a place to get verified news and information. For example, The Iranian presidential election of 2009, the hashtag #IranElection trended. Covering the aftermath of the election which caused riots that resulted in people being killed. Nowadays any major event from around the world will have Twitter coverage. Over the past seventeen years Twitter has grown beyond anyone’s imaginations. With 217 million daily active users as of late 2021. They have expanded the platform’s capabilities with the addition of Twitter Spaces. A feature that lets users with over 600 followers host audio calls with hundreds of people. In October of 2022 the management of Twitter would be handed over to Elon Musk after he purchased the platform for 44 billion USD. Since he has acquired the platform, a lot has changed. Including getting rid of the character limit of Tweets altogether, users can freely say whatever they want and not be limited by the number of characters they are allowed to use. That is not the only thing he has gotten rid of. He has also gotten rid of celebrity verification. They will have to subscribe to a monthly service to get it back. The last major thing he has done (as of now) is renaming the platform from Twitter to just the letter X. He did this after failing to name PayPal X years ago. Since the name change, “Twitter” has been losing what has made it such a unique and stand out platform.
Twitter has had quite the impact on the world, and social media as a whole. It has given a voice to people all over the world and has even helped make some real change happen. Including the Arab Spring in 2011 to help fight against a dictatorship. And as recent as the Black Lives Matter protests of the 2020’s. On a lighter note it has become a place where people with similar interests, different ones, people from the same universities and different ones, can come together and laugh. People all over the world have a place to share funny, heartwarming, or sad moments.
Sources
https://www.zippia.com/twitter-careers-11916/history/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Twitter
https://www.kpbs.org/news/news/national/2022/11/22/how-twitter-became-one-of-the-worlds-preferred-platforms-for-sharing-ideas
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