Today, X, formerly Twitter, is no longer just about short messages. The platform has evolved from a simple SMS service to a place where news, jokes, videos, long texts, and real-time discussions coexist. The story of this evolution shows how Internet culture is born out of small experiments and how quickly it changes. In this article, TechnoVisor will tell you how this platform became a cult and where it is headed under the new name X.
A story that began with a minimum of words…
And it all started in 2006 with the podcast startup Odeo: Jack Dorsey wrote his first public tweet on March 21 – the legendary “just setting up my twttr”. The idea of instantly sharing short updates with friends proved to be contagious, and the name “twttr” itself referred to five-character SMS codes and the minimalist fashion of the time.
The service was once conceived as a simple way to tell friends “what’s going on” in a few dozen characters. The limitation gave birth to a style – 140 characters (later 280) fostered a culture of brevity, where the extra adjective disappears and the essence comes to the fore. Somewhat unexpectedly, it was the technical details that led to big ideas. When thousands of people began to see the same short messages, a new form of publicity was born, similar to a live dialog. Instead of official press releases, raw notes and messages from the field formed a unique and recognizable tone for the platform.
The logic of collaborative tools grew out of this. The “@” marks turned simple monologues into dialogues, retweets (p.s. retweeting is sharing someone else’s post in your feed) accelerated the acceleration of ideas, and hashtags provided a way to group conversations without moderators. Instead of having strict sections like the old forum, the platform has become an open space. Here, topics emerge by themselves thanks to people’s activity. When something important happens – whether it’s a disaster or a sports final – the feed turns into a shared story: many short messages together form a complete picture of the event.
But the hashtag turned out to be the simple but key trick that organized chaotic messages into comprehensible conversations. When the developer Chris Messina proposed it in August 2007, the idea seemed dubious at the time. But it was precisely because ” # “ effectively grouped updates during real-life events that the hashtag became a permanent fixture on the platform by the end of that year.
Experiments with video and audio
In 2015, Twitter bought Periscope and launched a wave of mobile broadcasts. This was followed by Spaces, clubhouse-style audio rooms that opened to a wider audience in 2021. Together, these formats shifted the focus from text-only to live conversation and real-time.
In general, the media ecosystem around the service has always been turbulent. Do you remember Vine, the six-second video loops that exploded with memes and the careers of new stars? That project was shut down in 2016 because the platform didn’t have time to rebuild its monetization and keep creators in the face of competition.
The Age of Musk. $44 billion that turned Twitter into X
The real turning point came in 2022, when Elon Musk completed the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion, began a large-scale reformatting, and then rebranded it as X in July 2023 – the bird was replaced with a minimalist “X” and the x.com domain began to redirect to the site. The idea is to move towards a super app with video, messages, payments, and a marketplace. Along with the rebranding, the control tools also changed. The initiative that started as Birdwatch is now called Community Notes. These notes allow ordinary users to add context to tweets that may be misleading. A special verification system helps to remain objective. This is, one might say, an attempt to hand over the resolution of controversial issues to the community itself, not just to the platform administrators.
By the way, monetization for creators was another big turnaround. Twitter Blue subscription became X Premium after the rebranding. We launched an advertising revenue sharing program and introduced longer posts and even Articles for Premium+ and verified organizations – up to ~100 thousand characters. In fact, the platform now has a full-fledged opportunity to publish long texts alongside short messages.
It was not without controversy. Changes to verification, new algorithmic visibility settings, and waves of layoffs in the company sparked discussions about the quality of moderation, security, and brand experience. This was followed by increased competition (new similar social networks such as Mastodon, Threads, etc.), which constantly reminds us that we need to win the audience every day. However, the very idea of a short public broadcast where politicians, journalists, and fans clash opinions in real time has not disappeared – it has simply taken on new forms. To get the
Where is everything headed?
If the plans for the “super app” come to fruition, X will cross the social network boundary and enter the space of payments, marketplaces, and long-form video – you know, a bold but risky course. But at the same time, it is this combination of instant short messages and extended formats that gives the platform a chance to remain the main center of public conversations – no matter what its logo is.
And at the end of this article, a simple thought: the power of a platform is always determined by people, not features. The tools change, but the value remains where there is an honest conversation, useful experience, and a willingness to listen to each other. If you stick to this, then any “X” will not lose the meaning of a “tweet”.
8 interesting facts about Twitter (X)
Why 140 characters? The limit was born out of a technical compromise for SMS, where 160 characters minus a place for a name left exactly 140. Later, it became a signature feature of the platform.
SXSW effect. In March 2007, Twitter grew dramatically after its performance at South by Southwest. The service became the most visible at the festival, won a Web Award, and the number of its users grew rapidly.
Mentioning “@” and retweeting emerged as a custom, not as an official feature. Users themselves started using the RT… format and replying with @. Twitter only added the official Retweet button later in November 2009, and this decision caused a lot of discussion.
From 140 to 280. On November 7, 2017, the platform increased the character limit from 140 to 280 (for most languages). This was explained by the need to give users more room to express themselves, as they often crammed thoughts into too short tweets.
“The Whale of Failure. During the early overloads, users saw an illustration of a whale created by artist Yiying Lu, which later became a cult Web 2.0 meme.
Larry is no joke. The blue bird in the logo was officially named Larry, in honor of basketball player Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics. This was confirmed by co-founder Biz Stone.
Going public. On November 7, 2013, Twitter made its debut on the NYSE under the ticker TWTR. The stock finished the first day with a +73% gain and a capitalization of over $25 billion.
The most liked post as of September 2025 is the announcement of Chadwick Boseman’s death (over 6.5 million likes). The most retweeted post was Yusaku Maezawa’s announcement of a cash prize draw (over 5.45 million retweets).
