Twitter, officially known as X since July 2023, is a social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites.[4][5] Users can share short text messages, images, and videos in short posts commonly known as "tweets" (officially "posts") and like other users' content.[6] The platform also includes direct messaging, video and audio calling, bookmarks, lists, communities, a chatbot (Grok), job search,[7] and Spaces, a social audio feature. Users can vote on context added by approved users using the Community Notes feature.

X
Logo used since 2023[a]
X homepage visited while logged out in December 2024
FormerlyTwitter (2006–2023)
Type of site
Social networking service
Available inMultilingual
FoundedMarch 21, 2006; 18 years ago (2006-03-21), in San Francisco, California, U.S.
HeadquartersBastrop, Texas, United States[3]
Area servedWorldwide, except blocking countries
Owner
Founder(s)
ChairmanElon Musk
CEOLinda Yaccarino
URLx.com
RegistrationRequired[b]
LaunchedJuly 15, 2006; 18 years ago (2006-07-15)
Current statusActive
Native client(s) on
Written in

Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, and was launched in July of that year. Twitter grew quickly; by 2012 more than 100 million users produced 340 million daily tweets.[8] Twitter, Inc., was based in San Francisco, California, and had more than 25 offices around the world.[9] A signature characteristic of the service initially was that posts were required to be brief. Posts were initially limited to 140 characters, which was changed to 280 characters in 2017. The limitation was removed for subscribed accounts in 2023.[10] 10% of users produce over 80% of tweets.[11][12] In 2020, it was estimated that approximately 48 million accounts (15% of all accounts) were run by internet bots rather than humans.[13]

The service is owned by the American company X Corp., which was established to succeed the prior owner Twitter, Inc. in March 2023 following the October 2022 acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk for US$44 billion. Musk stated that his goal with the acquisition was to promote free speech on the platform. Since his acquisition, the platform has been criticized for enabling the increased spread of disinformation[14][15][16] and hate speech.[17][18][19] Linda Yaccarino succeeded Musk as CEO on June 5, 2023, with Musk remaining as the chairman and the chief technology officer.[20][21][22] In July 2023, Musk announced that Twitter would be rebranded to "X" and the bird logo would be retired,[23][24] a process which was completed by May 2024. Since Musk's takeover, data from app-tracking firms has shown that global usage of Twitter has declined by approximately 15%, compared to a decline of 5–10% in some other social media sites.[25][26][27] The platform has disputed that usage has dropped at all, with Musk saying that membership had grown to 600 million users as of a May 2024 tweet.[28] By October 2024, the platform was estimated to have lost about 72 percent of its value since Musk acquired it.[29]

History

2006–2021

 
A sketch, c. 2006, by Jack Dorsey, envisioning an SMS-based social network

Jack Dorsey claims to have introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate to a small group in 2006.[30] The original project code name for the service was twttr, an idea that Williams later ascribed to Noah Glass,[31] 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.[32] Work on the project started in February 2006.[33]

The first Twitter prototype, developed by Dorsey and contractor Florian Weber, was used as an internal service for Odeo employees.[33] The full version was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006.[34] In October 2006, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Dorsey, and other members of Odeo formed Obvious Corporation and acquired Odeo from the investors and shareholders.[35] Williams fired Glass, who was silent about his part in Twitter's startup until 2011.[36] Twitter spun off into its own company in April 2007.[37] 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.[38]

The company experienced rapid initial growth thereafter. In 2009, Twitter won the "Breakout of the Year" Webby Award.[39][40] In February 2010, Twitter users were sending 50 million tweets per day.[41] By March 2010, the company recorded over 70,000 registered applications.[42] In June 2010, about 65 million tweets were posted each day, equaling about 750 tweets sent each second, according to Twitter.[43]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.[44]

 
Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, in 2009

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.[45] In 2019, Twitter was announced to be the 10th most downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019.[45]

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.[46][47] 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.[48][49] On December 18, 2012, Twitter announced it had surpassed 200 million monthly active users.[citation needed] In September 2013, the company's data showed that 200 million users sent over 400 million tweets daily, with nearly 60% of tweets sent from mobile devices.[50]

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.[c][51] Late in 2015, it became apparent that growth had slowed, according to Fortune,[52] Business Insider,[53] Marketing Land[54] and other news websites including Quartz (in 2016).[55] In 2019, Twitter released another redesign of its user interface.[56] By the start of 2019, Twitter had more than 330 million monthly active users.[57] Twitter then experienced considerable growth during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[58] The platform also was increasingly used for misinformation related to the pandemic.[59] Twitter started marking tweets which contained misleading information, and adding links to fact-checks.[60]

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.[61][62] The same year, Twitter also released Twitter Spaces, a social audio feature;[63][64] "super follows", a way to subscribe to creators for exclusive content;[65] and a beta of "ticketed Spaces", which makes access to certain audio rooms paid.[66] Twitter unveiled a redesign in August 2021, with adjusted colors and a new Chirp font, which improves the left-alignment of most Western languages.

2022–present

 
The original version of the X logo

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,[67][68] Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023,[69] and its domain name changed from twitter.com to x.com on May 17, 2024.[70]

X is one of the top social media platforms and the fifth-most-visited website in the world as of June 2024.[71][72] Users can share posts containing text messages, images, and videos and interact with other users' content through likes and reposts.[73] 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,[74] account monetization options,[75] audio-video calls,[76] integration with xAI's Grok chatbot,[77] job search,[78] and a verification process accessible to premium users.[79] Several Twitter legacy features were removed from the site after Musk acquired Twitter, including Circles,[80] NFT profile pictures,[81] and pronouns in profiles.[82] Musk aims to transform X into an "everything app", akin to WeChat.[83]

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.[84][85] Despite Musk stepping down as CEO, X continues to struggle with challenges such as viral misinformation,[86] hate speech, and antisemitism controversies.[87][88] In response to allegations it deemed unfair, X Corp. has pursued legal action against nonprofit organizations Media Matters and the Center for Countering Digital Hate.[84][89]

Appearance and features

Tweets

 
The account page for Wikipedia as of August 2024

Tweets were publicly visible by default, but senders can restrict message delivery to only their followers. Users can mute users they do not wish to interact with, block accounts from viewing their posts, and remove accounts from their followers list.[90][91][92] Users can post via the Twitter website, compatible external applications (such as for smartphones), or by Short Message Service (SMS) available in certain countries.[93] Users may subscribe to other users' posts—this is known as "following" and subscribers are known as "followers"[94] or "tweeps", a portmanteau of Twitter and peeps.[95] Individual posts can be forwarded by other users to their own feed, a process known as a "retweet" (officially "repost"). In 2015, Twitter launched "quote tweet" (originally called "retweet with comment" and officially just "quote"),[96] a feature that allows users to add a comment to their post, imbedding one post in the other.[97] Users can also "like" (formerly "favorite") individual tweets.[98]

The counters for likes, retweets, and replies appear next to the respective buttons in timelines such as on profile pages and search results. Counters for likes and reposts exist on a post's standalone page too. Since September 2020, quote tweets, formerly known as "retweet with comment", have their own counter on their post page.[96] Until the legacy desktop front end that was discontinued in 2020, a row with miniature profile pictures of up to ten liking or retweeting users was displayed (earliest documented implementation in December 2011 overhaul), as well as a tweet reply counter next to the according button on a tweet's page.[99][100]

Twitter allows users to update their profile via their mobile phones either by text messaging or by apps released for certain smartphones and tablets.[101][non-primary source needed] Twitter announced in a tweet on September 1, 2022, that the ability to edit a tweet was being tested for select users. Eventually, all Twitter Blue subscribers would be able to use the feature.[102]

Users can group posts together by topic or type by use of hashtags – words or phrases prefixed with a "#" sign. Similarly, the "@" sign followed by a username is used for mentioning or replying to other users.[103] In 2014, Twitter introduced hashflags, special hashtags that automatically generate a custom emoji next to them for a certain period of time.[104] Hashflags may be generated by Twitter themselves[105] or be purchased by corporations.[106] To repost a message from another user and share it with one's own followers, a user can click the repost button within the post. Users can reply to other accounts' replies. Users can hide replies to their messages and select who can reply to each of their tweets before sending them: anyone, accounts who follow the post's author, specific accounts, or none.[107][108]

The original, strict 140 character limit was gradually relaxed. In 2016, Twitter announced that attachments, links, and media such as photos, videos, and the person's handle, would no longer count; a user photo post used to count for around 24 characters.[109][110] In 2017, Twitter handles were similarly excluded.[111] The same year, Twitter doubled its historical 140-character-limitation to 280.[112] Under the new limit, glyphs are counted as a variable number of characters, depending upon the script they are from.[112] In 2023, Twitter announced that Twitter Blue users could create posts with up to 4,000 characters in length.[113]

t.co is a URL shortening service created by Twitter.[114] It is only available for links posted to Twitter and not available for general use.[114] All links posted to Twitter use a t.co wrapper.[115] Twitter intended the service to protect users from malicious sites,[114] and to use it to track clicks on links within tweets.[114][116] Twitter had previously used the services of third parties TinyURL and bit.ly.[117]

In June 2011, Twitter announced its own integrated photo-sharing service that enables users to upload a photo and attach it to a Tweet right from Twitter.com.[118] Users now also have the ability to add pictures to Twitter's search by adding hashtags to the tweet.[119] Twitter also plans to provide photo galleries designed to gather and syndicate all photos that a user has uploaded on Twitter and third-party services such as TwitPic.[119] On March 29, 2016, Twitter introduced the ability to add a caption of up to 480 characters to each image attached to a tweet,[120][121] accessible via screen reading software or by hovering the mouse above a picture inside TweetDeck. In April 2022, Twitter made the ability to add and view captions globally available. Descriptions can be added to any uploaded image with a limit of 1000 characters. Images that have a description will feature a badge that says ALT in the bottom left corner, which will bring up the description when clicked.[122]

In 2015, Twitter began to roll out the ability to attach poll questions to tweets. Polls are open for up to 7 days, and voters are not personally identified.[123] In Twitter's early years, users could communicate with Twitter using SMS. Twitter discontinued this feature in most countries in April 2023, after hackers had exposed vulnerabilities in the feature.[124][125]

Multimedia content

In 2016, Twitter began to place a larger focus on live streaming video programming, hosting various events including streams of the Republican and Democratic conventions during the U.S. presidential campaign,[126] and winning a bid for non-exclusive streaming rights to ten NFL games in 2016.[127][128] During an event in New York in May 2017, Twitter announced that it planned to construct a 24-hour streaming video channel hosted within the service, featuring content from various partners.[127][129] Twitter announced a number of new and expanded partnerships for its streaming video services at the event, including Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, Cheddar, IMG Fashion, Live Nation Entertainment, Major League Baseball, MTV and BET, NFL Network, the PGA Tour, The Players' Tribune, Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens' Propagate, The Verge, Stadium and the WNBA.[130] as of the first quarter of 2017, Twitter had over 200 content partners, who streamed over 800 hours of video over 450 events.[130]

Twitter Spaces is a social audio feature that enables users to host or participate in a live-audio virtual environment called space for conversation. A maximum of 13 people are allowed onstage. The feature was initially limited to users with at least 600 followers, but since October 2021, any Twitter user can create a Space.[131]

In March 2020, Twitter began to test a stories feature known as "fleets" in some markets,[132][133] which officially launched on November 17, 2020.[134][135] Fleets could contain text and media, are only accessible for 24 hours after they are posted, and are accessed within the Twitter app;[132] Twitter announced it would start implementing advertising into fleets in June 2021.[136] Fleets were removed in August 2021; Twitter had intended for fleets to encourage more users to tweet regularly, but instead they were generally used by already-active users.[137]

Twitter introduced its "trends" feature in mid-2008, an algorithmic lists of trending topics among users.[138] A word or phrase mentioned can become "trending topic" based on an algorithm.[138] Because a relatively small number of users can affect trending topics through a concerted campaign, the feature has been the targeted of concerted manipulation campaigns.[138] While some campaigns are innocuous, others have promoted conspiracy theories or hoaxes, or sought to amplify extremist messages.[138] Some featured trends are globally displayed, while others are limited to a specific country.[138]

A 2021 study by EPFL researchers found that frequent "ephemeral astroturfing" efforts targeted at Trends; from 2015 to 2019, "47% of local trends in Turkey and 20% of global trends are fake, created from scratch by bots...The fake trends discovered include phishing apps, gambling promotions, disinformation campaigns, political slogans, hate speech against vulnerable populations and even marriage proposals."[139][140] The MIT Technology Review reported that, as of 2022, Twitter "sometimes manually overrides particularly objectionable trends" and, for some trends, used both algorithmic and human input to select representative tweets with context.[138]

Lists

In late 2009, the "Twitter Lists" feature was added, making it possible for users to follow a curated list of accounts all at once, rather than following individual users.[94][141] Currently,[when?] lists can be set to either public or private. Public lists may be recommended to users via the general Lists interface and appear in search results.[142] If a user follows a public list, it will appear in the "View Lists" section of their profile, so that other users may quickly find it and follow it as well.[143] Private lists can only be followed if the creator shares a specific link to their list. Lists add a separate tab to the Twitter interface with the title of the list, such as "News" or "Economics".

Moments

In October 2015, Twitter introduced "Moments"—a feature that allows users to curate tweets from other users into a larger collection. Twitter initially intended the feature to be used by its in-house editorial team and other partners; they populated a dedicated tab in Twitter's apps, chronicling news headlines, sporting events, and other content.[144][145] In September 2016, creation of moments became available to all Twitter users.[146]

Algorithm

On October 21, 2021, a report based on a "long-running, massive-scale randomized experiment" that analyzed "millions of tweets sent between 1 April and 15 August 2020", found that Twitter's machine learning recommendation algorithm amplified right-leaning politics on personalized user Home timelines.[147]: 1 [148] The report compared seven countries with active Twitter users where data was available (Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Spain) and examined tweets "from major political groups and politicians".[147]: 4  Researchers used the 2019 Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHESDATA) to position parties on political ideology within each country.[147]: 4  The "machine learning algorithms", introduced by Twitter in 2016, personalized 99% of users' feeds by displaying tweets (even older tweets and retweets from accounts the user had not directly followed) that the algorithm had "deemed relevant" to the users' past preferences.[147]: 4  Twitter randomly chose 1% of users whose Home timelines displayed content in reverse-chronological order from users they directly followed.[147]: 2 

Mobile

Twitter had mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android.[149] In April 2017, Twitter introduced Twitter Lite, a progressive web app designed for regions with unreliable and slow Internet connections, with a size of less than one megabyte, designed for devices with limited storage capacity.[150][151]

X Premium (formerly Twitter Blue)

On June 3, 2021, Twitter announced a paid subscription service called Twitter Blue. Following Twitter's rebranding to "X", the subscription service was initially renamed to X Blue (or simply Blue), and, on August 5, 2023, was rebranded as X Premium (or simply Premium).[152][153] The subscription provides additional premium features to the service.[154][155] In November 2023 a "Premium+" subscription was launched, with a higher monthly fee giving benefits such as the omission of adverts on For You and Following feeds.[156]

Verification of paid accounts

In November 2022, Musk announced plans to add account verification and the ability to upload longer audio and video to Twitter Blue. A previous perk offering advertising-free news articles from participating publishers was dropped, but Musk stated that Twitter did want to work with publishers on a similar "paywall bypass" perk.[157][158][159] Musk had pushed for a more expensive version of Twitter Blue following his takeover, arguing that it would be needed to offset a decline in advertising revenue.[160] Twitter states that paid verification is required to help reduce fraudulent accounts.[161]

The verification marker was included in a premium tier of Twitter Blue introduced on November 9, 2022, priced at US$7.99 per month.[162] On November 11, 2022, after the introduction of this feature led to prominent issues involving accounts using the feature to impersonate public figures and companies, Twitter Blue with verification was temporarily suspended.[163][164] After about a month, Twitter Blue was relaunched on December 12, 2022, though for those purchasing the service through the iOS app store, the cost will be $10.99 a month as to offset the 30% revenue split that Apple takes.[165]

Twitter initially grandfathered users and entities that had gained verification due to their status as public figures, referring to them as "legacy verified accounts" that "may or may not be notable".[166] On March 25, 2023, it was announced that "legacy" verification status would be removed; a subscription will be required to retain verified status, costing $1,000 per-month for organizations (which are designated with a gold verified symbol),[161] plus an additional $50 for each "affiliate".[167][168] The change was originally scheduled for April 1, 2023, but was delayed to April 20, 2023, following criticism of the changes.[169] Musk also announced plans for the "For You" timeline to prioritize verified accounts and user followers only beginning April 15, 2023, and threatened to only allow verified users to participate in polls (although the latter change has yet to occur).[170]

Effective April 21, 2023, Twitter requires companies to participate in the verified organizations program to purchase advertising on the platform, although companies that spend at least $1,000 on advertising per-month automatically receive membership in the program at no additional cost.[161]

From April 25, 2023, verified users are now prioritized in replies to tweets.[171][172]

User monetization

In June 2021, the company opened applications for its premium subscription options called Super Follows. This lets eligible accounts charge $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99 per month to subscribe to the account.[173] The launch only generated about $6,000 in its first two weeks.[174] In 2023, the Super Follows feature was rebranded as simply "subscriptions", allowing users to publish exclusive long-form posts and videos for their subscribers; the pivot in marketing was reportedly intended to help compete with Substack.[175]

In May 2021, Twitter began testing a Tip Jar feature on its iOS and Android clients. The feature allows users to send monetary tips to certain accounts, providing a financial incentive for content creators on the platform. The Tip Jar is optional and users can choose whether or not to enable tips for their account.[176] On September 23, 2021, Twitter announced that it will allow users to tip users on the social network with bitcoin. The feature will be available for iOS users. Previously, users could tip with fiat currency using services such as Square's Cash App and PayPal's Venmo. Twitter will integrate the Strike bitcoin lightning wallet service. It was noted that at this current time, Twitter will not take a cut of any money sent through the tips feature.[177]

On August 27, 2021, Twitter rolled out Ticketed Spaces, which let Twitter Spaces hosts charge between $1 and $999 for access to their rooms.[178] In April 2022, Twitter announced that it will partner with Stripe, Inc. for piloting cryptocurrency payouts for limited users in the platform. Eligible users of Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows will be able to receive their earnings in the form of USD coin, a stablecoin whose value is that of the U.S. dollar. Users can also hold their earnings in crypto wallets, and then exchange them into other cryptocurrencies.[179]

E-commerce

From 2014 to 2017, Twitter offered a "Buy button" feature, allowing tweets to embed products that could be purchased from within the service. Users could also add their billing and shipping information directly to their accounts. The buy button's platform partners at launch included Stripe, Gumroad, Musictoday, and The Fancy.[180]

In July 2021, Twitter began testing a "Shop module" for iOS users in the United States, allowing accounts associated with brands to display a carousel of cards on their profiles showcasing products. Unlike the Buy button, where order fulfillment was handed from within Twitter, these cards are external links to online storefronts from which the products may be purchased.[181] In March 2022, Twitter expanded the test to allow companies to showcase up to 50 products on their profiles.[182]

In November 2021, Twitter introduced support for "shoppable" live streams, in which brands can hold streaming events that similarly display banners and pages highlighting products that are featured in the presentation.[183]

Usage

Daily user estimates vary as the company does not publish statistics on active accounts. A February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network based on their count of 6 million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits.[44] An April 2017 a statista.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the tenth most used social network based on their count of 319 million monthly visitors.[184] Its global user base in 2017 was 328 million.[185] According to Musk, the platform had 500 million monthly active users in March 2023, 550 million in March 2024, and 600 million in May 2024.[28][186][187]

Demographics

In 2009, Twitter was mainly used by older adults who might not have used other social sites before Twitter.[188] According to comScore only 11% of Twitter's users were aged 12 to 17.[188] According to a study by Sysomos in June 2009, women made up a slightly larger Twitter demographic than men—53% over 47%. It also stated that 5% of users accounted for 75% of all activity.[189] According to Quantcast, 27 million people in the US used Twitter in September 2009; 63% of Twitter users were under 35 years old; 60% of Twitter users were Caucasian, but a higher than average (compared to other Internet properties) were African American/black (16%) and Hispanic (11%); 58% of Twitter users have a total household income of at least US$60,000.[190] The prevalence of African American Twitter usage and in many popular hashtags has been the subject of research studies.[191][192]

Twitter grew from 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) in September 2011,[193] to 255 million in March 2014,[194] and more than 330 million in early 2019.[195][196][57] In 2013, there were over 100 million users actively using Twitter daily and about 500 million tweets every day.[197] A 2016 Pew research poll found that Twitter is used by 24% of all online US adults. It was equally popular with men and women (24% and 25% of online Americans respectively), but more popular with younger generations (36% of 18–29-year olds).[198] A 2019 survey conducted by the Pew Foundation found that Twitter users are three times as likely to be younger than 50 years old, with the median age of adult U.S. users being 40. The survey found that 10% of users who are most active on Twitter are responsible for 80% of all tweets.[199]

Content

 
Content of tweets according to Pear Analytics in August 2009
  News (3.6%)
  Spam (3.8%)
  Self-promotion (6%)
  Pointless babble (40%)
  Conversational (38%)
  Pass-along value (8.7%)

San Antonio-based market-research firm Pear Analytics analyzed 2,000 tweets (originating from the United States and in English) over a two-week period in August 2009 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm (CST) and separated them into six categories.[200] Pointless babble made up 40%, with 38% being conversational. Pass-along value had 9%, self-promotion 6% with spam and news each making 4%.

Despite Jack Dorsey's own open contention that a message on Twitter is "a short burst of inconsequential information", social networking researcher danah boyd responded to the Pear Analytics survey by arguing that what the Pear researchers labeled "pointless babble" is better characterized as "social grooming" or "peripheral awareness" (which she justifies as persons "want[ing] to know what the people around them are thinking and doing and feeling, even when co-presence isn't viable").[201] Similarly, a survey of Twitter users found that a more specific social role of passing along messages that include a hyperlink is an expectation of reciprocal linking by followers.[202]

Levels of use

According to research published in April 2014, around 44% of user accounts have never tweeted.[203] About 22% of Americans say they have used Twitter, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey.[204] In 2009, Nielsen Online reported that Twitter had a user-retention rate of 40%. Many people stop using the service after a month; therefore the site may potentially reach only about 10% of all Internet users.[205] Noting how demographics of Twitter users differ from the average Americans, commentators have cautioned against media narratives that treat Twitter as representative of the population,[206] adding that only 10% of users Tweet actively, and that 90% of Twitter users have Tweeted no more than twice. In 2016, shareholders sued Twitter, alleging it "artificially inflated its stock price by misleading them about user engagement". The company announced on September 20, 2021, that it would pay $809.5 million to settle this class-action lawsuit.[207]

User engagement

User engagement is usually measured by the number of likes, replies and reposts. A 2023 study showed that retweets are more likely to contain positive content and address larger audiences using the first-person pronoun "we". Replies, on the other hand, are more likely to contain negative content and address individuals using the second-person pronoun "you" and the third-person pronouns "he" or "she". While influencers with many followers tend to post positive messages, often using the word "love" when addressing larger audiences, users with less followers tend to engage in interpersonal conversations to provoke user engagement.[208]

Branding

Before its rebranding to X, Twitter was internationally identifiable by its signature bird logo, or the Twitter Bird. The original logo, which was simply the word Twitter, was in use from its launch in March 2006. It was accompanied by an image of a bird which was later discovered to be a piece of clip art created by the British graphic designer Simon Oxley.[209] A new logo had to be redesigned by founder Biz Stone with help from designer Philip Pascuzzo, which resulted in a more cartoon-like bird in 2009. This version had been named "Larry the Bird" after Larry Bird of the NBA's Boston Celtics fame.[209][210]

Within a year, the Larry the Bird logo underwent a redesign by Stone and Pascuzzo to eliminate the cartoon features, leaving a solid silhouette of Larry the Bird that was used from 2010 through 2012.[209] In 2012, Douglas Bowman created a further simplified version of Larry the Bird, keeping the solid silhouette but making it more similar to a mountain bluebird.[211] This logo was simply called the "Twitter Bird" and was used until July 2023.[209][212][213]

 
The official X profile, on the site, as of August 2023

On July 22, 2023, Elon Musk announced that the service would be rebranded to "X",[214] in his pursuit of creating an "everything app".[213] Musk's Twitter profile picture, along with the platform's official accounts, and the icons when browsing/signing up for the platform, were updated to reflect the new logo.[215] The logo (𝕏) is a Unicode mathematical alphanumeric symbol for the letter "X" styled in double-strike bold.

Mike Proulx of The New York Times was critical of this change, saying the brand value has been "wiped out". Mike Carr says the new logo gives a "'Big Brother' tech overlord vibe" in contrast to the "cuddly" nature of the previous bird logo.[216] Users review bombed the newly rebranded "X" app on the iOS App Store on the day it was revealed, and Rolling Stone's Miles Klee said that the rebrand "reeks of desperation".[217][218]

Logo evolution

Finances

Revenue sources

On April 13, 2010, Twitter announced plans to offer paid advertising for companies that would be able to purchase "promoted tweets" to appear in selective search results on the Twitter website, similar to Google Adwords' advertising model.[219][220] Users' photos can generate royalty-free revenue for Twitter, and an agreement with World Entertainment News Network (WENN) was announced in May 2011.[221] Twitter generated an estimated US$139.5 million in advertising sales during 2011.[222]

In June 2011, Twitter announced that it would offer small businesses a self-service advertising system.[223] The self-service advertising platform was launched in March 2012 to American Express card members and merchants in the U.S. on an invite-only basis.[224] To continue their advertising campaign, Twitter announced on March 20, 2012, that promoted tweets would be introduced to mobile devices.[225] In April 2013, Twitter announced that its Twitter Ads self-service platform, consisting of promoted tweets and promoted accounts, was available to all U.S. users without an invite.[224]

On August 3, 2016, Twitter launched Instant Unlock Card, a new feature that encourages people to tweet about a brand to earn rewards and use the social media network's conversational ads. The format itself consists of images or videos with call-to-action buttons and a customizable hashtag.[226]

Advertising bans

In October 2017, Twitter banned the Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik from advertising on their website following the conclusions of the U.S. national intelligence report the previous January that both Sputnik and RT had been used as vehicles for Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election.[227] Maria Zakharova for the Russian foreign ministry said the ban was a "gross violation" by the US of free speech.[228]

In October 2019, Twitter announced it would stop running political ads on its ad platform effective November 22. This resulted from several spurious claims made by political ads. Company CEO Dorsey clarified that internet advertising had great power and was extremely effective for commercial advertisers, the power brings significant risks to politics where crucial decisions impact millions of lives.[229] The company reversed the ban in August 2023,[230] publishing criteria governing political advertising which do not allow the promotion of false or misleading content, and requiring advertisers to comply with laws, with compliance being the sole responsibility of the advertiser.[231]

In April 2022, Twitter announced a ban on "misleading" advertisements that go against "the scientific consensus on climate change". While the company did not give full guidelines, it stated that the decisions would be made with the help of "authoritative sources", including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.[232]

Fines

Twitter had been fined several times for non-compliance with laws and regulations. On May 25, 2022, Twitter was fined $150 million by the Federal Trade Commission and the United States Department of Justice for collecting users' contact details and using them for targeted advertising.[233][234]

Technology

Implementation

Twitter relies on open-source software.[235] The Twitter Web interface uses the Ruby on Rails framework,[236] deployed on a performance enhanced Ruby Enterprise Edition implementation of Ruby.[237][needs update]

In the early days of Twitter, tweets were stored in MySQL databases that were temporally sharded (large databases were split based on time of posting). After the huge volume of tweets coming in caused problems reading from and writing to these databases, the company decided that the system needed re-engineering.[238]

From Spring 2007 to 2008, the messages were handled by a Ruby persistent queue server called Starling.[239] Since 2009, implementation has been gradually replaced with software written in Scala.[240] The switch from Ruby to Scala and the JVM has given Twitter a performance boost from 200 to 300 requests per second per host to around 10,000–20,000 requests per second per host. This boost was greater than the 10x improvement that Twitter's engineers envisioned when starting the switch. The continued development of Twitter has also involved a switch from monolithic development of a single app to an architecture where different services are built independently and joined through remote procedure calls.[238]

As of April 6, 2011, Twitter engineers confirmed that they had switched away from their Ruby on Rails search stack to a Java server they call Blender.[241]

Individual tweets are registered under unique IDs called snowflakes, and geolocation data is added using 'Rockdove'. The URL shortener t.co then checks for a spam link and shortens the URL. Next, the tweets are stored in a MySQL database using Gizzard, and the user receives an acknowledgement that the tweets were sent. Tweets are then sent to search engines via the Firehose API. The process is managed by FlockDB and takes an average of 350 ms.[235]

On August 16, 2013, Raffi Krikorian, Twitter's vice president of platform engineering, shared in a blog post that the company's infrastructure handled almost 143,000 tweets per second during that week, setting a new record. Krikorian explained that Twitter achieved this record by blending its homegrown and open source technologies.[238][242]

API and developer platform

Twitter was recognized for having one of the most open and powerful developer APIs of any major technology company.[243] The service's API allows other web services and applications to integrate with Twitter.[244] Developer interest in Twitter began immediately following its launch, prompting the company to release the first version of its public API in September 2006.[245] The API quickly became iconic as a reference implementation for public REST APIs and is widely cited in programming tutorials.[246]

From 2006 until 2010, Twitter's developer platform experienced strong growth and a highly favorable reputation. Developers built upon the public API to create the first Twitter mobile phone clients as well as the first URL shortener. Between 2010 and 2012, however, Twitter made a number of decisions that were received unfavorably by the developer community.[247] In 2010, Twitter mandated that all developers adopt OAuth authentication with just 9 weeks of notice.[248] Later that year, Twitter launched its own URL shortener, in direct competition with some of its most well-known third-party developers.[249] And in 2012, Twitter introduced stricter usage limits for its API, "completely crippling" some developers.[250][251] While these moves successfully increased the stability and security of the service, they were broadly perceived as hostile to developers, causing them to lose trust in the platform.[252]

In July 2020, Twitter released version 2.0 of the public API[253] and began showcasing Twitter apps made by third-party developers on its Twitter Toolbox section in April 2022.[254]

In January 2023, Twitter ended third-party access to its APIs, forcing all third-party Twitter clients to shut down.[255] This was controversial among the developer community, as many third-party apps predated the company's official apps, and the change was not announced beforehand. Twitterrific's Sean Heber confirmed in a blog post that the 16-year-old app has been discontinued. "We are sorry to say that the app's sudden and undignified demise is due to an unannounced and undocumented policy change by an increasingly capricious Twitter – a Twitter that we no longer recognize as trustworthy nor want to work with any longer."[256]

In February of 2023, Twitter announced it would be ending free access to Twitter API, and began offering paid tier plans with a more limited access.[257]

Innovator's patent agreement

On April 17, 2012, Twitter announced it would implement an "Innovators Patent Agreement" which would obligate Twitter to only use its patents for defensive purposes.[clarify][258]

Open source

Twitter has a history of both using and releasing open-source software while overcoming technical challenges of their service.[259] A page in their developer documentation thanks dozens of open-source projects which they have used, from revision control software like Git to programming languages such as Ruby and Scala.[260] Software released as open source by the company includes the Gizzard Scala framework for creating distributed datastores, the distributed graph database FlockDB, the Finagle library for building asynchronous RPC servers and clients, the TwUI user interface framework for iOS, and the Bower client-side package manager.[261] The popular Bootstrap frontend framework was also started at Twitter and is 10th most popular repository on GitHub.[262]

On March 31, 2023, Twitter released the source code for Twitter's recommendation algorithm,[263] which determines what tweets show up on the user's personal timeline, to GitHub. According to Twitter's blog post: "We believe that we have a responsibility, as the town square of the internet, to make our platform transparent. So today we are taking the first step in a new era of transparency and opening much of our source code to the global community."[264] Elon Musk, the CEO at the time, had been promising the move for a while – on March 24, 2022, before he owned the site, he polled his followers about whether Twitter's algorithm should be open source, and around 83% of the responses said "yes". In February, he promised it would happen within a week before pushing back the deadline to March 31 earlier this month.[265]

Also in March 2023, Twitter suffered a security attack which resulted in proprietary code being released. Twitter then had the source code removed.[266]

Interface

Twitter introduced the first major redesign of its user interface in September 2010, adopting a dual-pane layout with a navigation bar along the top of the screen, and an increased focus on the inline embedding of multimedia content. Critics considered the redesign an attempt to emulate features and experiences found in mobile apps and third-party Twitter clients.[267][268][269][270]

The new layout was revised in 2011 with a focus on continuity with the web and mobile versions, introducing "Connect" (interactions with other users such as replies) and "Discover" (further information regarding trending topics and news headlines) tabs, an updated profile design, and moving all content to the right pane (leaving the left pane dedicated to functions and the trending topics list).[271] In March 2012, Twitter became available in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu, the first right-to-left language versions of the site.[272] In 2023 the Twitter Web site listed 34 languages supported by Twitter.com.[273]

In September 2012, a new layout for profiles was introduced, with larger "covers" that could be customized with a custom header image, and a display of the user's recent photos posted.[274] The "Discover" tab was discontinued in April 2015,[275] and was succeeded on the mobile app by an "Explore" tab—which features trending topics and moments.[276]

In September 2018, Twitter began to migrate selected web users to its progressive web app (based on its Twitter Lite experience for mobile web), reducing the interface to two columns. Migrations to this iteration of Twitter increased in April 2019, with some users receiving it with a modified layout.[277][278]

In July 2019, Twitter officially released this redesign, with no further option to opt-out while logged in. It is designed to further-unify Twitter's user experience between the web and mobile application versions, adopting a three-column layout with a sidebar containing links to common areas (including "Explore" that has been merged with the search page) which previously appeared in a horizontal top bar, profile elements such as picture and header images and biography texts merged into the same column as the timeline, and features from the mobile version (such as multi-account support, and an opt-out for the "top tweets" mode on the timeline).[279][280]

Security

In response to early Twitter security breaches, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brought charges against the service; the charges were settled on June 24, 2010. This was the first time the FTC had taken action against a social network for security lapses. The settlement requires Twitter to take a number of steps to secure users' private information, including maintenance of a "comprehensive information security program" to be independently audited biannually.[281]

After a number of high-profile hacks of official accounts, including those of the Associated Press and The Guardian,[282] in April 2013, Twitter announced a two-factor login verification as an added measure against hacking.[283]

On July 15, 2020, a major hack of Twitter affected 130 high-profile accounts, both verified and unverified ones such as Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk; the hack allowed bitcoin scammers to send tweets via the compromised accounts that asked the followers to send bitcoin to a given public address, with the promise to double their money.[284] Within a few hours, Twitter disabled tweeting and reset passwords from all verified accounts.[284] Analysis of the event revealed that the scammers had used social engineering to obtain credentials from Twitter employees to access an administration tool used by Twitter to view and change these accounts' personal details as to gain access as part of a "smash and grab" attempt to make money quickly, with an estimated US$120,000 in bitcoin deposited in various accounts before Twitter intervened.[285] Several law enforcement entities including the FBI launched investigations into the attack.[286]

On August 5, 2022, Twitter disclosed that a bug introduced in a June 2021 update to the service allowed threat actors to link email addresses and phone numbers to twitter user's accounts.[287][288] The bug was reported through Twitter's bug bounty program in January 2022 and subsequently fixed. While Twitter originally believed no one had taken advantage of the vulnerability, it was later revealed that a user on the online hacking forum Breach Forums had used the vulnerability to compile a list of over 5.4 million user profiles, which they offered to sell for $30,000.[289][290] The information compiled by the hacker includes user's screen names, location and email addresses which could be used in phishing attacks or used to deanonymize accounts running under pseudonyms.

Outages

During an outage, Twitter users were at one time shown the "fail whale" error message image created by Yiying Lu,[291] illustrating eight orange birds using a net to hoist a whale from the ocean captioned "Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again."[292] Web designer and Twitter user Jen Simmons was the first to coin the term "fail whale" in a September 2007 tweet.[293][294] In a November 2013 Wired interview Chris Fry, VP of Engineering at that time, noted that the company had taken the "fail whale" out of use as the platform was now more stable.[295] Twitter had approximately 98% uptime in 2007 (or about six full days of downtime).[296] The downtime was particularly noticeable during events popular with the technology industry such as the 2008 Macworld Conference & Expo keynote address.[297][298]

User accounts

Verified accounts

In June 2009, after being criticized by Kanye West and sued by Tony La Russa over unauthorized accounts run by impersonators, the company launched their "Verified Accounts" program.[299][300] Twitter stated that an account with a "blue tick" verification badge indicates "we've been in contact with the person or entity the account is representing and verified that it is approved".[301] In July 2016, Twitter announced a public application process to grant verified status to an account "if it is determined to be of public interest" and that verification "does not imply an endorsement".[302][303][304] Verified status allows access to some features unavailable to other users, such as only seeing mentions from other verified accounts.[305]

In November 2020, Twitter announced a relaunch of its verification system in 2021. According to the new policy, Twitter verifies six different types of accounts; for three of them (companies, brands, and influential individuals like activists), the existence of a Wikipedia page will be one criterion for showing that the account has "Off Twitter Notability".[306] Twitter states that it will re-open public verification applications at some point in "early 2021".[307]

In October 2022, after the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, it was reported that verification would instead be included in the paid Twitter Blue service, and that existing verified accounts would lose their status if they do not subscribe.[308] On November 1, Musk confirmed that verification would be included in Blue in the future, dismissing the existing verification system as a "lords & peasants system".[157][158][159] Following concerns over the possibility of impersonation, Twitter subsequently reimplemented a second "Official" marker, consisting of a grey tick and "Official" text displayed under the username, for high-profile accounts of "government and commercial entities".[309][310]

In December 2022, the "Official" text was replaced by a gold checkmark for organizations, as well as a grey check mark for government and multilateral accounts.[311][312]

In March 2023, the gold check mark was made available for organizations to purchase through the Verified Organizations program (formerly called Twitter Blue for Business).[311][312]

Privacy

Tweets are public, but users can also send private "direct messages".[313] Information about who has chosen to follow an account and who a user has chosen to follow is also public, though accounts can be changed to "protected" which limits this information (and all tweets) to approved followers.[314] Twitter collects personally identifiable information about its users and shares it with third parties as specified in its privacy policy. The service also reserves the right to sell this information as an asset if the company changes hands.[315][non-primary source needed][316] Advertisers can target users based on their history of tweets and may quote tweets in ads[317] directed specifically to the user.

Twitter launched the beta version of their "Verified Accounts" service on June 11, 2009, allowing people with public profiles to announce their account name. The profile pages of these accounts display a badge indicating their status.[318]

On December 14, 2010, the United States Department of Justice issued a subpoena directing Twitter to provide information for accounts registered to or associated with WikiLeaks.[319] Twitter decided to notify its users and said, "... it's our policy to notify users about law enforcement and governmental requests for their information, unless we are prevented by law from doing so."[313]

In May 2011, a claimant known as "CTB" in the case of CTB v Twitter Inc. took action against Twitter at the High Court of Justice of England and Wales,[320] requesting that the company release details of account holders. This followed gossip posted on Twitter about professional footballer Ryan Giggs's private life. This led to the 2011 British privacy injunctions controversy and the "super-injunction".[321] Tony Wang, the head of Twitter in Europe, said that people who do "bad things" on the site would need to defend themselves under the laws of their own jurisdiction in the event of controversy and that the site would hand over information about users to the authorities when it was legally required to do so.[322] He also suggested that Twitter would accede to a UK court order to divulge names of users responsible for "illegal activity" on the site.[323]

Twitter acquired Dasient, a startup that offers malware protection for businesses, in January 2012. Twitter announced plans to use Dasient to help remove hateful advertisers on the website.[324] Twitter also offered a feature which would allow tweets to be removed selectively by country, before deleted tweets used to be removed in all countries.[325][326] The first use of the policy was to block the account of German neo-Nazi group Besseres Hannover on October 18, 2012.[327] The policy was used again the following day to remove anti-Semitic French tweets with the hashtag #unbonjuif ("a good Jew").[328]

Followed the sharing of images showing the killing of American journalist James Foley in 2014, Twitter said that in certain cases it would delete pictures of people who had died after requests from family members and "authorized individuals".[329][330]

In 2015, following updated terms of service and privacy policy, Twitter users outside the United States were legally served by the Ireland-based Twitter International Company instead of Twitter, Inc. The change made these users subject to Irish and European Union data protection laws.[331]

On April 8, 2020, Twitter announced that users outside of the European Economic Area or United Kingdom (thus subject to GDPR) will no longer be allowed to opt out of sharing "mobile app advertising measurements" to Twitter third-party partners.[332]

On October 9, 2020, Twitter took additional steps to counter misleading campaigns ahead of the 2020 US Election. Twitter's new temporary update encouraged users to "add their own commentary" before retweeting a tweet, by making 'quoting tweet' a mandatory feature instead of optional. The social network giant aimed at generating context and encouraging the circulation of more thoughtful content.[333] After limited results, the company ended this experiment in December 2020.[334]

On May 25, 2022, Twitter was fined $150 million for collecting users' phone numbers and email addresses used for security and using them for targeted advertising, required to notify its users, and banned from profiting from "deceptively collected data".[335] The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice stated that Twitter violated a 2011 agreement not to use personal security data for targeted advertising.

In September 2024, the FTC released a report summarizing 9 company responses (including from Twitter) to orders made by the agency pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 to provide information about user and non-user data collection (including of children and teenagers) and data use by the companies that found that the companies' user and non-user data practices put individuals vulnerable to identity theft, stalking, unlawful discrimination, emotional distress and mental health issues, social stigma, and reputational harm.[336][337][338]

Harassment

In August 2013, Twitter announced plans to introduce a "report abuse" button for all versions of the site following uproar, including a petition with 100,000 signatures, over Tweets that included rape and death threats to historian Mary Beard, feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez and the member of parliament Stella Creasy.[339][340][341] Twitter announced new reporting and blocking policies in December 2014,[342][343][344][345] including a blocking mechanism devised by Randi Harper, a target of GamerGate.[346][347][348] In February 2015, CEO Dick Costolo said he was 'frankly ashamed' at how poorly Twitter handled trolling and abuse, and admitted Twitter had lost users as a result.[349]

As per a research study conducted by IT for Change on abuse and misogynistic trolling on Twitter directed at Indian women in public-political life, women perceived to be ideologically left-leaning, dissenters, Muslim women, political dissenters, and political commentators and women from opposition parties received a disproportionate amount of abusive and hateful messages on Twitter.[350]

In 2016, Twitter announced the creation of the Twitter Trust & Safety Council to help "ensure that people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter". The council's inaugural members included 50 organizations and individuals.[351] The announcement of Twitter's "Trust & Safety Council" was met with objection from parts of its userbase.[352][353] Critics accused the member organizations of being heavily skewed towards "the restriction of hate speech" and a Reason article expressed concern that "there's not a single uncompromising anti-censorship figure or group on the list".[354][355]

Twitter banned 7,000 accounts and limited 150,000 more that had ties to QAnon on July 21, 2020. The bans and limits came after QAnon-related accounts began harassing other users through practices of swarming or brigading, coordinated attacks on these individuals through multiple accounts in the weeks prior. Those accounts limited by Twitter will not appear in searches nor be promoted in other Twitter functions. Twitter said they will continue to ban or limit accounts as necessary, with their support account stating "We will permanently suspend accounts Tweeting about these topics that we know are engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension".[356]

In September 2021, Twitter began beta testing a feature called Safety Mode.[357] The functionality aims to limit unwelcome interactions through automated detection of negative engagements. If a user has Safety Mode enabled, authors of tweets that are identified by Twitter's technology as being harmful or exercising uninvited behavior will be temporarily unable to follow the account, send direct messages, or see tweets from the user with the enabled functionality during the temporary block period.[358] Jarrod Doherty, senior product manager at Twitter, stated that the technology in place within Safety Mode assesses existing relationships to prevent blocking accounts that the user frequently interacts with.[357]

Suspect and contested accounts

In January 2016, Twitter was sued by the widow of a U.S. man killed in the 2015 Amman shooting attack, claiming that allowing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to continually use the platform, including direct messages in particular,[359] constituted the provision of material support to a terrorist organization, which is illegal under U.S. federal law. Twitter disputed the claim, stating that "violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear".[360][361] The lawsuit was dismissed by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, upholding the Section 230 safe harbor, which dictates that the operators of an interactive computer service are not liable for the content published by its users.[361][362] The lawsuit was revised in August 2016, providing comparisons to other telecommunications devices.[359] The second amended complaint was dismissed by the district court, a decision affirmed on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on January 31, 2018.[363]

Twitter suspended multiple parody accounts that satirized Russian politics in May 2016, sparking protests and raising questions about where the company stands on freedom of speech.[364] Following public outcry, Twitter restored the accounts the next day without explaining why the accounts had been suspended.[365] The same day, Twitter, along with Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, jointly agreed to a European Union code of conduct obligating them to review "[the] majority of valid notifications for removal of illegal hate speech" posted on their services within 24 hours.[366] In August 2016, Twitter stated that it had banned 235,000 accounts over the past six months, bringing the overall number of suspended accounts to 360,000 accounts in the past year, for violating policies banning use of the platform to promote extremism.[367]

On May 10, 2019, Twitter announced that they suspended 166,513 accounts for promoting terrorism in the July–December 2018 period, stating there was a steady decrease in terrorist groups trying to use the platform owing to its "zero-tolerance policy enforcement". According to Vijaya Gadde, Legal, Policy and Trust and Safety Lead at Twitter, there was a reduction of 19% terror related tweets from the previous reporting period (January–June 2018).[368][369][370][371][372]

As of July 30, 2020, Twitter will block URLs in tweets that point to external websites that contain malicious content (such as malware and phishing content) as well as hate speech, speech encouraging violence, terrorism, child sexual exploitation, breaches of privacy, and other similar content that is already banned as part of the content of tweets on the site. Users that frequently point to such sites may have their accounts suspended. Twitter said this was to bring their policy in line to prevent users from bypassing their tweet content restrictions by simply linking to the banned content.[373]

Following the onset of protests by Donald Trump's supporters across the US in January 2021, Twitter suspended more than 70,000 accounts, stating that they shared "harmful QAnon-associated content" at a large scale, and were "dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service".[374]

Malicious and fake accounts

Between January and late July 2017, Twitter had identified and shut down over 7,000 fake accounts created by Iranian influence operations.[375]

In May 2018, in response to scrutiny over the misuse of Twitter by those seeking to maliciously influence elections, Twitter announced that it would partner with the nonprofit organization Ballotpedia to add special labels verifying the authenticity of political candidates running for election in the U.S.[376][377]

In December 2019, Twitter removed 5,929 accounts for violating their manipulation policies. The company investigated and attributed these accounts to a single state-run information operation, which originated in Saudi Arabia. The accounts were reported to be a part of a larger group of 88,000 accounts engaged in spammy behavior. However, Twitter did not disclose all of them as some could possibly be legitimate accounts taken over through hacking.[378]

In March 2021, Twitter suspended around 3,500 fake accounts that were running a campaign to influence the American audience, after the US intelligence officials concluded that the assassination of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "approved" by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. These Saudi accounts were working in two languages, English and Arabic, to influence public opinion around the issue. Many accounts commented directly on the tweets of US-based media houses, including The Post, CNN, CBS News and The Los Angeles Times. Twitter was unable to identify the source of the influence campaign.[379]

As of 2022, the top four countries spreading state-linked Twitter misinformation are Russia, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.[380]

Bot accounts

A bot is a computer program that can automatically tweet, retweet, and follow other accounts. Twitter's open application programming interface and the availability of cloud servers make it possible for bots to exist within the social networking site.[381] Benign bots may generate creative content and relevant product updates, whereas malicious bots can make unpopular people seem popular, push irrelevant products on users, and spread misinformation, spam or slander.[382] Bots amass significant influence and have been noted to sway elections, influence the stock market, appeal to the public, and attack governments.[383] As of 2013, Twitter said there were 20 million fake accounts on Twitter, representing less than 5% of active users.[384] A 2020 estimate put the figure at 15% of all accounts or around 48 million accounts.[13]

Society

Usage

 
Dorsey (left) said after a Twitter Town Hall with Barack Obama held in July 2011, that Twitter received over 110,000 #AskObama tweets.[385]

Protesters

Twitter had been used for a variety of purposes in many industries and scenarios. For example, it has been used to organize protests, including the protests over the 2009 Moldovan election, the 2009 student protests in Austria, the 2009 Gaza–Israel conflict, the 2009 Iranian green revolution, the 2010 Toronto G20 protests, the 2010 Bolivarian Revolution, the 2010 Stuttgart 21 protests in Germany, the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, 2011 England riots, the 2011 United States Occupy movement, the 2011 anti-austerity movement in Spain, the 2011 Aganaktismenoi movements in Greece, the 2011 demonstration in Rome, the 2011 Wisconsin labor protests, the 2012 Gaza–Israel conflict, the 2013 protests in Brazil, and the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Turkey.[386]

The service was also used as a form of civil disobedience: In 2010, users expressed outrage over the Twitter joke trial by copying a controversial joke about bombing an airport and attaching the hashtag #IAmSpartacus, a reference to the film Spartacus (1960) and a sign of solidarity and support to a man controversially prosecuted after posting a tweet joking about bombing an airport if they canceled his flight. #IAmSpartacus became the number one trending topic on Twitter worldwide.[387] Another case of civil disobedience happened in the 2011 British privacy injunction debate, where several celebrities who had taken out anonymized injunctions were identified by thousands of users in protest to traditional journalism being censored.[388]

Governments

According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden and published in July 2014, the United Kingdom's GCHQ has a tool named BIRDSONG for "automated posting of Twitter updates" and a tool named BIRDSTRIKE for "Twitter monitoring and profile collection".[389][390]

During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Twitter suspended a core group of 1,000 "fake" accounts and an associated network of 200,000 accounts for operating a disinformation campaign that was linked to the Chinese government.[391][392][393][394][395]

On June 12, 2020, Twitter suspended over 7,000 accounts from Turkey because those accounts were fake profiles, designed to support the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and were managed by a central authority. Turkey's communication director said that the decision was illogical, biased, and politically motivated.[396] Turkey blocked access to Twitter twice, once after voice recordings appeared on Twitter in which Erdoğan ordered his son to stash away millions of dollars and another time for 12 hours in the aftermath of the earthquake of February 2023, when Erdoğan blamed the people for a disinformation campaign as they criticized the Government for their lack of help.[397]

In May 2021, Twitter labeled one of the tweets by Sambit Patra, a spokesman of the local ruling party BJP in India, as "manipulated media", leading to Twitter's offices in Delhi and Gurgaon being raided by the local police.[398] Later, the Indian government released a statement in July 2021 claiming Twitter has lost its liability protection concerning user-generated content. This was brought on by Twitter's failure to comply with the new IT rules introduced in 2021, with a filing stating that the company failed to appoint executives to govern user content on the platform.[399]

According to a report by Reuters, the United States ran a propaganda campaign to spread disinformation about the Sinovac Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, including using fake social media accounts on Twitter to spread the disinformation that the Sinovac vaccine contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore haram under Islamic law.[400] The campaign primarily targeted people in the Philippines and used a social media hashtag for "China is the virus" in Tagalog.[400]

Pornographic content

Twitter allows pornographic content as long as it is marked "sensitive" by uploaders, which puts it behind an interstice and hides it from minors.[401] The "super-follow" feature is said to enable competition with the subscription site OnlyFans, used mainly by sex workers.[402] Many performers use Twitter's service to market and grow their porn businesses, attracting users to paywalled services like OnlyFans by distributing photos and short video clips as advertisements.[403][404]

In April 2022, Twitter convened a "Red Team" for the project of ACM, "Adult Content Monetization", as it is known internally. Eventually, the project was abandoned, because of the difficulty of implementing Real ID.[405]

Child sexual exploitation

A February 2021 report from the company's Health team begins, "While the amount of CSE (child sexual exploitation) online has grown exponentially, Twitter's investment in technologies to detect and manage the growth has not."[405]

Until February 2022, the only way for users to flag illegal content was to flag it as "sensitive media", a broad category that left much of the worst material unprioritized for moderation. In a February report, employees wrote that Twitter, along with other Tech Companies have "accelerated the pace of CSE content creation and distribution to a breaking point where manual detection, review, and investigations no longer scale" by allowing pornography and failing to invest in systems that could effectively monitor it. The working group made several recommendations, but they were not taken up and the group was disbanded.[405]

As part of its efforts to monetize porn, Twitter held an internal investigation that reported in April 2022, "Twitter cannot accurately detect child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity at scale."[405]

John Doe et al. v. Twitter, a civil lawsuit filed in the 9th Circuit Court, alleges that Twitter benefited from sex trafficking and refused to remove the illegal tweets when first informed of them.[406][407] In an amicus brief filed in the case, the NCMEC said, "The children informed the company that they were minors, that they had been 'baited, harassed, and threatened' into making the videos, that they were victims of 'sex abuse' under investigation by law enforcement" but Twitter failed to remove the videos, "allowing them to be viewed by hundreds of thousands of the platform's users".[405]

Some major brands, including Dyson, Mazda, Forbes, and PBS Kids suspended their marketing campaigns and pulled their ads from the platform after an investigation showed that Twitter failed to suspend 70% of the accounts that shared or solicited the prohibited content.[408]

Impact

Emergency use

A practical use for Twitter's real-time functionality is as an effective de facto emergency communication system for breaking news. It was neither intended nor designed for high-performance communication, but the idea that it could be used for emergency communication was not lost on the creators, who knew that the service could have wide-reaching effects early on when the company used it to communicate during earthquakes.[409] Another practical use that is being studied is Twitter's ability to track epidemics and how they spread.[410] Additionally Twitter serves as a real-time sensor for natural disasters such as bushfires and earthquakes.[411][412]

Education

Twitter has been adopted as a communication and learning tool in educational and research[413] settings mostly in colleges and universities.[414][415] It has been used as a backchannel to promote student interactions, especially in large-lecture courses.[416] Research has found that using Twitter in college courses helps students communicate with each other and faculty, promotes informal learning, allows shy students a forum for increased participation, increases student engagement, and improves overall course grades.[417][418][419]

Twitter has been an increasingly growing in the field of education as an effective tool that can be used to encourage learning and idea, or knowledge sharing, in and outside the classroom.[420] By using or creating hashtags, students and educators are able to communicate under specific categories of their choice to enhance and promote education. A broad example of a hashtag used in education is "edchat", to communicate with other teachers and people using that hashtag. Once teachers find someone they want to talk to, they can either direct message the person or narrow down the hashtag to make the topic of the conversation more specific, using hashtags for scichat (science), engchat (English), sschat (social studies).[420]

Public figures

Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School, said that "the qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful."[421] In that same vein, and with Sigmund Freud in mind, political communications expert Matthew Auer observed that well-crafted tweets by public figures often deliberately mix trivial and serious information so as to appeal to all three parts of the reader's personality: the id, ego, and superego.[422] The poets Mira Gonzalez and Tao Lin published a book titled Selected Tweets featuring selections of their tweets over some eight years.[423] The novelist Rick Moody wrote a short story for Electric Literature called "Some Contemporary Characters", composed entirely of tweets.[424]

Many commentators have suggested that Twitter radically changed the format of reporting due to instant, short, and frequent communication.[425][426] According to The Atlantic writers Benjamin M. Reilly and Robinson Meyer, Twitter has an outsized impact on the public discourse and media. "Something happens on Twitter; celebrities, politicians and journalists talk about it, and it's circulated to a wider audience by Twitter's algorithms; journalists write about the dustup." This can lead to an argument on a Twitter feed looking like a "debate roiling the country... regular people are left with a confused, agitated view of our current political discourse".[427] In a 2018 article in the Columbia Journalism Review, Matthew Ingram argued much the same about Twitter's "oversized role" and that it promotes immediacy over newsworthiness.[428] In some cases, inauthentic and provocative tweets were taken up as common opinion in mainstream articles. Writers in several outlets unintentionally cited the opinions of Russian Internet Research Agency-affiliated accounts.[428][429]

World leaders

 
Donald Trump's Twitter post

World leaders and their diplomats have taken note of Twitter's rapid expansion and have been increasingly using Twitter diplomacy, the use of Twitter to engage with foreign publics and their own citizens. US Ambassador to Russia, Michael A. McFaul has been attributed as a pioneer of international Twitter diplomacy. He used Twitter after becoming ambassador in 2011, posting in English and Russian.[430] On October 24, 2014, Queen Elizabeth II sent her first tweet to mark the opening of the London Science Museum's Information Age exhibition.[431] A 2013 study by website Twiplomacy found that 153 of the 193 countries represented at the United Nations had established government Twitter accounts.[432] The same study also found that those accounts amounted to 505 Twitter handles used by world leaders and their foreign ministers, with their tweets able to reach a combined audience of over 106 million followers.[432]

According to an analysis of accounts, the heads of state of 125 countries and 139 other leading politicians have Twitter accounts that have between them sent more than 350,000 tweets and have almost 52 million followers. However, only 30 of these do their own tweeting, more than 80 do not subscribe to other politicians and many do not follow any accounts.[433]

Pope Benedict XVI's Twitter account was set up in 2012. As of May 2014, there are four million followers of the Twitter account (@Pontifex).[434]

Censorship and moderation

 
Countries and territories which have blocked Twitter:
  •   Currently blocked
  •   Formerly blocked
  •   Partially blocked
  •   Not blocked

Twitter is banned completely in Russia,[435] Iran, China and North Korea[436] and has been intermittently blocked in numerous countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Turkey, Venezuela and Turkmenistan on different basis.[437][438][439][440][441][442][443] In 2016, Twitter cooperated with the Israeli government to remove certain content originating outside Israel from tweets seen in Israel.[444] In the 11th biannual transparency report published on September 19, 2017, Twitter said that Turkey was the first among countries where about 90% of removal requests came from, followed by Russia, France and Germany.[445] Twitter stated that between July 1 and December 31, 2018, "We received legal demands relating to 27,283 accounts from 47 different countries, including Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, and Slovenia for the first time."[446] As part of evidence to a U.S. Senate Enquiry, the company admitted that their systems "detected and hid" several hundred thousand tweets relating to the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak.[447] During the curfew in Jammu and Kashmir after revocation of its autonomous status on August 5, 2019, the Indian government approached Twitter to block accounts accused of spreading anti-India content;[448] by October 25, nearly one million tweets had been removed as a result.[449]

In March 2022, shortly after Russia's censorship of Twitter, a Tor onion service link was created by the platform to allow people to access the website, even in countries with heavy Internet censorship.[450][451]

Moderation of tweets

Twitter removed more than 88,000 propaganda accounts linked to Saudi Arabia.[452] Twitter removed tweets from accounts associated with the Russian Internet Research Agency that had tried to influence public opinion during and after the 2016 US election.[428][429] In June 2020, Twitter also removed 175,000 propaganda accounts that were spreading biased political narratives for the Chinese Communist Party, the United Russia Party, or Turkey's President Erdogan, identified based on centralized behavior.[453][454] Twitter also removed accounts linked to the governments of Armenia, Egypt, Cuba, Serbia, Honduras, Indonesia and Iran.[455][456][457] Twitter suspended Pakistani accounts tied to government officials for posting tweets about the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan.[458] In February 2021, Twitter removed accounts in India that criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for its conduct during Indian farmers' protests in 2020–2021.[459]

At the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tweets reported false medical information related to the pandemic. Twitter announced a new policy in which they would label tweets containing misinformation going forward.[60] In April 2020, Twitter removed accounts which defended President Rodrigo Duterte's response to the spread of COVID-19 in the Philippines.[460]

In November 2020, then Chief Technology Officer and future CEO of Twitter Parag Agrawal, when asked by MIT Technology Review about balancing the protection of free speech as a core value and the endeavour to combat misinformation, said: "Our role is not to be bound by the First Amendment, but our role is to serve a healthy public conversation ... focus less on thinking about free speech, but thinking about how the times have changed."[461]

Musk had been critical of Twitter's moderation of misinformation prior to his acquisition of the company.[462] After the transition, Musk eliminated the misinformation moderation team,[463] and stopped enforcing its policy on labeling tweets with misleading information about coronavirus.[464] While Twitter had joined a voluntary program under the European Union's to fight disinformation in June 2022, Musk pulled the company out of the program in May 2023.[465]

Community Notes

 
The logo of Community Notes

In August 2020, development of Birdwatch was announced, initially described as a moderation tool. Twitter first launched the Birdwatch program in January 2021, intended as a way to debunk misinformation and propaganda, with a pilot program of 1,000 contributors,[466][467] weeks after the January 6 United States Capitol attack.[468] The aim was to "build Birdwatch in the open, and have it shaped by the Twitter community." In November 2021, Twitter updated the Birdwatch moderation tool to limit the visibility of contributors' identities by creating aliases for their accounts, in an attempt to limit bias towards the author of notes.[467][469]

Twitter then expanded access to notes made by the Birdwatch contributors in March 2022, giving a randomized set of US users the ability to view notes attached to tweets and rate them,[470] with a pilot of 10,000 contributors.[471] On average, contributors were noting 43 times a day in 2022 prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This then increased to 156 on the day of the invasion, estimated to be a very small portion of the misleading posts on the platform. By March 1, only 359 of 10,000 contributors had proposed notes in 2022, while a Twitter spokeswoman described plans to scale up the program, with the focus on "ensuring that Birdwatch is something people find helpful and can help inform understanding".[472][473]

By September 2022, the program had expanded to 15,000 users.[474] In October 2022, the most commonly published notes were related to COVID-19 misinformation based on historical usage.[475] In November 2022, at the request of new owner Elon Musk, Birdwatch was rebranded to Community Notes, taking an open-source approach to deal with misinformation,[476] and expanded to Europe and countries outside of the US.[477][478][479]

Court cases, lawsuits, and adjudication

Twitter Inc. v. Taamneh, alongside Gonzalez v. Google, were heard by the United States Supreme Court during its 2022–2023 term. Both cases dealt with Internet content providers and whether they are liable for terrorism-related information posted by their users. In the case of Twitter v. Taamneh, the case asked if Twitter and other social media services are liable for user-generated terrorism content under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and are beyond their Section 230 protections. The court ruled in May 2023 that the charges brought against Twitter and other companies were not permissible under the Antiterrorism Act, and did not address the Section 230 question. This decision also supported the Court's per curiam decision in Gonzalez returning that case to the lower court for review in light of the Twitter decision.[480][481]

In 2016, Twitter shareholder Doris Shenwick filed a lawsuit against Twitter, Inc., claiming executives misled investors over the company's growth prospects.[482] In 2021, Twitter agreed to pay $809.5 million to settle.[482]

In May 2022, Twitter agreed to pay $150 million to settle a lawsuit started by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. The lawsuit concerned Twitter's use of email addresses and phone numbers of Twitter users to target advertisements at them. The company also agreed to third-party audits of its data privacy program.[483]

On November 3, 2022, on the eve of expected layoffs, a group of Twitter employees based in San Francisco and Cambridge filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Naming five current or former workers as plaintiffs, the suit accused the company of violating federal and state laws that govern notice of employment termination.[484] The federal law in question is the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, and the state law in question is California's state WARN Act.[485]

On November 20, 2023, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, a media watchdog group. The lawsuit alleges defamation by Media Matters following its publication of a report claiming that advertisements for major brands were displayed alongside posts promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.[486]

On August 6, 2024, X filed an antitrust lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers, Unilever, Mars, CVS and Ørsted, alleging that the advertisers had conspired via their participation in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media to withhold "billions of dollars in advertising revenue" from the platform.[487] The World Federation Of Advertisers created the Global Alliance for Responsible Media in 2019 to address "illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising."[488]

On August 13, 2024, the Workplace Relations Commission ordered Twitter to pay €550,000 to former senior staffer Gary Rooney in an unfair dismissal case. Twitter had argued that Rooney's failure to check "yes" at the bottom of an email from Elon Musk constituted resignation.[489][490]

Statistics

User accounts with large follower base

As of 8 November 2024, the ten X accounts with the most followers were:

Top ten most-followed X accounts
Rank Change [d] Account name Owner Followers
(millions)
Activity Country
1   @elonmusk Elon Musk 203.8[e] Business magnate and Chairman   RSA
  CAN
  USA
2   @BarackObama Barack Obama 131.6 44th U.S. president   USA
3   @Cristiano Cristiano Ronaldo 113.6 Footballer   POR
4   @justinbieber Justin Bieber 109.8 Musician   CAN
5   @rihanna Rihanna 108.3 Musician and businesswoman   BRB
6   @katyperry Katy Perry 105.7 Musician   USA
7   @narendramodi Narendra Modi 103.5 Prime Minister of India   IND
8   @taylorswift13 Taylor Swift 94.8 Musician   USA
9   @realDonaldTrump Donald Trump 93.6 45th U.S. president   USA
10   @ArianaGrande Ariana Grande 85.3 Musician and actress   USA

Record tweets

A selfie orchestrated by 86th Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres during the March 2, 2014, broadcast was, at the time, the most retweeted image ever.[492] The photo of twelve celebrities broke the previous retweet record within forty minutes and was retweeted over 1.8 million times in the first hour.[493][494][495] On May 9, 2017, Ellen's record was broken by Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) by collecting nearly 3.5 million retweets in a little over a month.[496] This record was broken when Yusaku Maezawa announced a giveaway on Twitter in January 2019, accumulating 4.4 million retweets. A similar tweet he made in December 2019 was retweeted 3.8 million times.[497]

The most tweeted moment in the history of Twitter occurred on August 2, 2013; during a Japanese television airing of the Studio Ghibli film Castle in the Sky, fans simultaneously tweeted the word balse (バルス)—the incantation for a destruction spell used during its climax, after it was uttered in the film. There was a global peak of 143,199 tweets in one second, beating the previous record of 33,388.[498][499]

The most discussed event in Twitter history occurred on October 24, 2015; the hashtag ("#ALDubEBTamangPanahon") for Tamang Panahon, a live special episode of the Filipino variety show Eat Bulaga! at the Philippine Arena, centering on its popular on-air couple AlDub, attracted 41 million tweets.[500][non-primary source needed][501] The most-discussed sporting event in Twitter history was the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final between Brazil and Germany on July 8, 2014.[502]

According to Guinness World Records, the fastest pace to a million followers was set by actor Robert Downey Jr. in 23 hours and 22 minutes in April 2014.[503] This record was later broken by Caitlyn Jenner, who joined the site on June 1, 2015, and amassed a million followers in just 4 hours and 3 minutes.[504]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The logo resembles the mathematical symbol U+1D54F 𝕏 MATHEMATICAL DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL X.[1][2]
  2. ^ Registration is not required to view individual posts accessed via a direct link (not inclusive of any replies to the post or parent posts to a reply) or to view the top posts of some accounts.
  3. ^ It is not documented whether the parallax scrolling effect was added with the redesign in April 2014 or subsequently.
  4. ^ Raw number of followers compared to June 12, 2023
  5. ^ In 2022, it was estimated that just under half of Musk's followers were spam, bot, propaganda, or inactive accounts.[491]

References

  1. ^ Ashworth, Louis (July 24, 2023). "The logo of X, formerly Twitter, wasn't actually stolen". Financial Times. Archived from the original on July 24, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  2. ^ Musk, Elon Reeve [@elonmusk] (July 24, 2023). "𝕏" (Tweet). Retrieved July 30, 2023 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ Janner, Jay (September 20, 2024). "X, formerly known as Twitter, constructs new headquarters building in Bastrop, Texas". Austin American-Statesman. Archived from the original on September 22, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  4. ^ Kolodny, Lora (September 18, 2023). "Elon Musk says Twitter, now X, is moving to monthly subscription fees and has 550 million users". CNBC. Archived from the original on September 18, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  5. ^ "Top Websites Ranking". Similarweb. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "X, formerly Twitter, opens job search function to all users". HR Dive. Archived from the original on February 12, 2024. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
  8. ^ "Twitter turns six". March 21, 2012. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2014 – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Company: "About Twitter"". Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  10. ^ "Twitter Passed 500M Users In June 2012, 140M Of Them In US; Jakarta 'Biggest Tweeting' City". TechCrunch. July 30, 2012.
  11. ^ Carlson, Nicholas (June 2, 2009). "Stunning New Numbers on Who Uses Twitter". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  12. ^ Wojcik, Stefan; Hughes, Adam (April 24, 2019). "Sizing Up Twitter Users". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  13. ^ a b Rodrıguez-Ruiz, Jorge; Mata-Sanchez, Javier Israel; Monroy, Raul; Loyola-Gonzalez, Octavio; Ĺopez-Cuevas, Armando (April 2020). "A one-class classification approach for bot detection on Twitter". Computers & Security. 91: 101715. doi:10.1016/j.cose.2020.101715. S2CID 212689495. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  14. ^ Milmo, Dan (October 9, 2023). "X criticised for enabling spread of Israel-Hamas disinformation". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  15. ^ Goswami, Rohan (October 9, 2023). "X, formerly Twitter, amplifies disinformation amid the Israel-Hamas conflict". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 9, 2023. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  16. ^ Lyngaas, Sean; O'Sullivan, Donie; Duffy, Clare (October 9, 2023). "Elon Musk's X adds to fog of war at outset of Israel-Hamas conflict". CNN. Archived from the original on October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  17. ^ Sato, Mia (December 2, 2022). "Hate speech is soaring on Twitter under Elon Musk, report finds". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  18. ^ "New Data Suggests that Hate Speech is on the Rise on Twitter 2.0". Social Media Today. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  19. ^ Frenkel, Sheera; Conger, Kate (December 2, 2022). "Hate Speech's Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  20. ^ Frier, Sarah (June 5, 2023). "Twitter's New CEO Linda Yaccarino Has First Day in the Role". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  21. ^ Miller, Monica (December 21, 2022). "Elon Musk to quit as Twitter CEO when replacement found". BBC News. Archived from the original on March 17, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  22. ^ "Twitter's New CEO Linda Yaccarino Has First Day in the Role". Bloomberg.com. June 6, 2023. Archived from the original on June 26, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  23. ^ Valinsky, Jordan (July 24, 2023). "Twitter X logo: Elon Musk rebrands social media platform". CNN Business. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  24. ^ "Elon Musk reveals rebranding of Twitter as X – and what he wants us to now call a tweet". Sky News. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  25. ^ Hern, Alex (March 26, 2024). "Twitter usage in US 'fallen by a fifth' since Elon Musk's takeover". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 27, 2024. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  26. ^ Fischer, Sara (October 26, 2023). "X usage plummets in Musk's first year". Axios. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  27. ^ Kantrowitz, Alex (October 23, 2023). "The Elon Effect". Slate. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  28. ^ a b "Elon Musk Says X Now Has 600M Monthly Active Users". Social Media Today. Archived from the original on June 24, 2024. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  29. ^ Ma, Jason (December 1, 2024). "Fidelity boosts valuations of its stakes in Elon Musk's X and xAI startup, report says". Fortune. Archived from the original on December 9, 2024. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  30. ^ (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.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ "Buy a vowel? How Twttr became Twitter". CNN Money. November 23, 2010. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  33. ^ 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.
  34. ^ Arrington, Michael (July 15, 2006). "Odeo Releases Twttr". TechCrunch. AOL. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  35. ^ Carlson, Nicholas (April 14, 2011). "The real history of Twitter isn't so short and sweet". NBC News. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  36. ^ 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.
  37. ^ 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.
  38. ^ 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.
  39. ^ "13th Annual Webby Special Achievement Award Winners". The Webby Awards. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  40. ^ 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.
  41. ^ 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.
  42. ^ "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.
  43. ^ 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.
  44. ^ a b 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.
  45. ^ a b 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.
  46. ^ "Twitter Says It Has 140 Million Users". Mashable. March 21, 2012. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  47. ^ "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.
  48. ^ 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.
  49. ^ 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.
  50. ^ 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.
  51. ^ 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.
  52. ^ 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.
  53. ^ 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.
  54. ^ 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.
  55. ^ 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.
  56. ^ "Like It or Not, You're Getting Twitter's Redesigned Website Soon". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on March 17, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  57. ^ a b Molina, Brett (October 26, 2017). "Twitter overcounted active users since 2014, shares surge on profit hopes". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  58. ^ "Q2 2020 Letter to Shareholders, July 23, 2020, @TwitterIR" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2022 – via Twitter.
  59. ^ "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.
  60. ^ a b Roth, Yoel; Pickles, Nick (May 11, 2020). "Updating our Approach to Misleading Information". Archived from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2020 – via Twitter.
  61. ^ 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.
  62. ^ Matney, Lucas (January 15, 2021). "Twitter's decentralized future". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  63. ^ 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.
  64. ^ 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.
  65. ^ "Twitter launches subscription-based feature "super follows"". Reuters. September 1, 2021. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  66. ^ 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.
  67. ^ Stokel-Walker, Chris. "Twitter's rebrand to X is destined to fail, critics say". Fast Company. Archived from the original on August 31, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  68. ^ 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.
  69. ^ 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.
  70. ^ 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.
  71. ^ "Challenge Validation". Similarweb. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  72. ^ 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.
  73. ^ 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.
  74. ^ 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.
  75. ^ "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.
  76. ^ 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.
  77. ^ "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.
  78. ^ "X, formerly Twitter, opens job search function to all users". HR Dive. Archived from the original on February 12, 2024. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  79. ^ 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.
  80. ^ Peters, Jay (September 21, 2023). "X is shutting down Circles". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 11, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  81. ^ 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.
  82. ^ 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.
  83. ^ 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.
  84. ^ a b Stempel, Jonathan (March 25, 2024). "Musk's X Corp loses lawsuit against hate speech watchdog". Reuters. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  85. ^ 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.
  86. ^ "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.
  87. ^ 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.
  88. ^ 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.
  89. ^ "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.
  90. ^ "Know Your Twitter Terms: 'Block' vs. 'Mute'". Wired. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  91. ^ Gibbs, Samuel (May 13, 2014). "13 reasons to mute people on Twitter". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  92. ^ "Now every Twitter web user can 'soft block' annoying followers". The Verge. October 11, 2021. Archived from the original on October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  93. ^ "Using Twitter with Your Phone". Twitter Support. Archived from the original on March 15, 2010. Retrieved June 1, 2010. We currently support 2-way (sending and receiving) Twitter SMS via short codes and one-way (sending only) via long codes.
  94. ^ a b Stone, Biz (October 30, 2009). "There's a List for That". Archived from the original on April 29, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2010 – via Twitter.
  95. ^ Brown, Amanda (March 2, 2011). "The tricky business of business tweeting". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  96. ^ a b Porter, Jon (September 1, 2020). "Twitter quote tweets are now easier to find". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  97. ^ Shu, Catherine (April 7, 2015). "Twitter Officially Launches Its 'Retweet With Comment' Feature". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  98. ^ "Twitter officially kills off favorites and replaces them with likes". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  99. ^ Smith, Catharine (December 8, 2011). "9 Things You Need To Know About Twitter's Massive Redesign". HuffPost. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  100. ^ "Diese Tweets wurden am häufigsten geteilt". Capital.de (in German). May 27, 2020. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  101. ^ "Download the free Twitter app | Twitter". Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019 – via Twitter.
  102. ^ Santiago, Evan (September 3, 2022). "The edit button may finally be coming to Twitter. Here's when you'll be able to use it". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  103. ^ Strachan, Donald (February 19, 2009). "Twitter: How To Set Up Your Account". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  104. ^ Magdaleno, Alex (June 11, 2014). "Raise Your 'Hashflags': Twitter Reintroduces World Cup Hashtags". Mashable. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  105. ^ "Twitter hashflags call out support for the Asian American community: Thursday Wake-Up Call". Advertising Age. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  106. ^ Johnson, Lauren (February 2, 2016). "Twitter's Branded Emojis Come With a Million-Dollar Commitment". Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  107. ^ Peters, Jay (May 20, 2020). "Twitter is testing a way to let you limit replies to your tweets". Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  108. ^ Peters, Jay (July 13, 2021). "Twitter will let you change who can reply to a tweet after you post it". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  109. ^ "Coming soon to Twitter: More room to tweet". Associated Press. May 24, 2016. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  110. ^ Lever, Rob (May 24, 2016). "Twitter eases 140 character limit". Yahoo Tech. Archived from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  111. ^ Newton, Casey (March 30, 2017). "Twitter redesigns replies so usernames don't count against the 140-character limit". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  112. ^ a b "Giving you more characters to express yourself". Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  113. ^ Fingas, John (February 8, 2023). "Twitter Blue users can now post tweets with up to 4,000 characters". Engadget. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  114. ^ a b c d "About Twitter's Link Service". Twitter Help Center (module of Twitter). Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  115. ^ Garrett, Sean (June 8, 2010). "Links and Twitter: Length Shouldn't Matter". Twitter Blog (blog of Twitter). Archived from the original on February 23, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  116. ^ Metz, Cade (September 2, 2010). "Twitter Tightens Grip on Own Firehose". The Register. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  117. ^ Weisenthal, Joe (May 6, 2009). "Twitter Switches from TinyURL to Bit.ly". Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 8, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  118. ^ "Twitter now with integrated photo-sharing service and completely new twitter search". Techshrimp. June 1, 2011. Archived from the original on June 30, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
  119. ^ a b Mike Flacy "Twitter photo sharing goes live for all users" Archived March 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Digital Trends. August 9, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  120. ^ Twitter Help center: Picture Descriptions – How to make images accessible for people Archived March 27, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  121. ^ "Accessible images for everyone". Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2019 – via Twitter.
  122. ^ Lyons, Kim (April 7, 2022). "Twitter rolls out its ALT badge and improved image descriptions". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  123. ^ "Your Twitter Feed Is About to Be Flooded With Polls". Wired. October 21, 2015. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  124. ^ Binder, Matt (April 28, 2020). "Twitter quietly deletes millions of accounts from the old text message days". Mashable. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  125. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (April 27, 2020). "Twitter turns off its original SMS service in most countries". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  126. ^ "Twitter and CBS News to partner for live stream of Republican and Democratic National Conventions". CBS News. July 11, 2016. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  127. ^ a b "Twitter plans to broadcast live video 24 hours a day". The Verge. April 26, 2017. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  128. ^ Brodkin, Jon (April 5, 2016). "Twitter buys NFL streaming rights for 10 Thursday Night Football games". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  129. ^ "Twitter still thinks it's a TV platform — and here are its dozen new shows". Re/code. May 2, 2017. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  130. ^ a b "Twitter Pushes Live-Video Deals With MLB, National Football League, Viacom, BuzzFeed, Live Nation, WNBA and More". Variety. May 2017. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  131. ^ Roth, Emma (October 21, 2021). "Twitter is finally letting everyone create Spaces". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  132. ^ a b "Twitter starts testing its own version of Stories, called 'Fleets,' which disappear after 24 hours". TechCrunch. March 4, 2020. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  133. ^ "Twitter brings Fleets to India, for 'those uncomfortable with public tweets'". The Indian Express. June 10, 2020. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  134. ^ Hayes, Dade (November 17, 2020). "Twitter Launches Disappearing 'Fleets' Globally After Tests In Select Markets". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  135. ^ Newton, Casey (November 18, 2020). "What Twitter Fleets signals about the future of the company". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  136. ^ Lyons, Kim (June 1, 2021). "Twitter's Fleets are getting Stories-like ads". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  137. ^ Heath, Alex (July 14, 2021). "Twitter is shutting down Fleets, its expiring tweets feature". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  138. ^ a b c d e f A.W. Ohlheiser, Why Twitter still has those terrible Trends Archived December 3, 2024, at the Wayback Machine, MIT Technology Review (July 28, 2022).
  139. ^ Mass scale manipulation of Twitter Trends discovered, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (June 2, 2021).
  140. ^ Tuğrulcan Elmas, Rebekah Overdorf, Ahmed Furkan Özkalay, Karl Aberer, Ephemeral Astroturfing Attacks: The Case of Fake Twitter Trends (2019), via arXiv.
  141. ^ "Twitter Lists!". Support forum at help.twitter.com. n.d. Archived from the original on December 22, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  142. ^ "Twitter gets a new 'List Search' feature; Know what it is all about". HT Tech. May 26, 2023. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  143. ^ Chin, Monica (March 5, 2020). "How to create a Twitter List (and join others)". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  144. ^ Pierce, David (October 6, 2015). "Meet Moments, Twitter's Most Important New Feature Ever". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  145. ^ Newton, Casey (October 6, 2015). "Twitter launches Moments, its dead-simple tab for browsing the best tweets". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  146. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (September 28, 2016). "Twitter opens its Moments feature up to everyone". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  147. ^ a b c d e Huszár, Ferenc; Ktena, Sofia Ira; O'Brien, Conor; Belli, Luca; Schlaikjer, Andrew; Hardt, Moritz (October 21, 2021). "Algorithmic Amplification of Politics on Twitter" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (1): 27. arXiv:2110.11010. doi:10.1073/pnas.2025334119. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 8740571. PMID 34934011. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  148. ^ "Twitter's algorithm favours right-leaning politics, research finds". BBC News. October 22, 2021. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  149. ^ "Twitter apps for phones, tablets and computers". Archived from the original on April 2, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017 – via Twitter.
  150. ^ Byford, Sam (April 6, 2017). "Twitter Lite is a faster, leaner mobile web version of Twitter". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  151. ^ Russell, Jon (April 6, 2016). "Twitter launches a 'lite' mobile web app that's optimized for emerging markets". TechCrunch. AOL. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  152. ^ "Twitter Blue Seemingly Getting X Rebranding". ComicBook.com. August 5, 2023. Archived from the original on August 6, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  153. ^ "X (Twitter) Blue is Dead, Welcome X Premium • iPhone in Canada Blog". iPhone in Canada. August 5, 2023. Archived from the original on August 6, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  154. ^ Perez, Sarah (June 3, 2021). "Twitter launches its premium subscription, Twitter Blue, initially in Canada and Australia". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  155. ^ Peters, Jay (November 9, 2021). "Twitter will now let you pay to undo tweets and read ad-free news in the US". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  156. ^ Sankaran, Vishwam (November 6, 2023). "Elon Musk unveils new sarcasm-loving AI chatbot for premium X subscribers". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 6, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  157. ^ a b Roth, Emma (November 1, 2022). "Twitter discontinues ad-free articles for Blue subscribers". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 6, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  158. ^ a b Peters, Jay (November 1, 2022). "Elon Musk will let you pay $8 to be a verified 'lord' on Twitter". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  159. ^ a b Roth, Emma (November 5, 2022). "Elon Musk's $7.99 Twitter Blue with verification is 'coming soon' on iOS". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 6, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  160. ^ Binder, Matt (November 8, 2022). "Can an $8 Twitter subscription bail out Elon Musk? Let's look at the numbers". Mashable. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  161. ^ a b c Sawers, Paul (April 21, 2023). "Twitter seemingly now requires all advertisers to have a verified checkmark". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  162. ^ O'Sullivan, Donie; Korn, Jennifer (November 6, 2022). "Elon Musk delays $8 'blue check' Twitter verification plan until after the midterms". CNN. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  163. ^ Belanger, Ashley (November 11, 2022). "Twitter quietly drops $8 paid verification; "tricking people not OK," Musk says". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  164. ^ Lerman, Rachel; Zakrzewski, Cat (November 11, 2022). "Elon Musk's first big Twitter product paused after fake accounts spread". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  165. ^ Allyn, Bobby (December 12, 2022). "Elon Musk relaunches Twitter Blue with higher price for iPhone users". NPR. Archived from the original on December 12, 2022. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  166. ^ Silberling, Amanda (December 8, 2022). "Schrödinger's blue check: According to Twitter, I may or may not be notable". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  167. ^ Gans, Jared (March 25, 2023). "Twitter to start phasing out legacy verification system on April 1, but not all will lose blue checks". The Hill. Nexstar Media, Inc. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  168. ^ Spangler, Todd (March 23, 2023). "Twitter to Revoke 'Legacy' Verified Badges in April, Leaving Only Paying Subscribers With Blue Check-Marks". Variety. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  169. ^ Goswami, Rohan (April 20, 2023). "Twitter finally removes legacy verification check marks". CNBC. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  170. ^ Schroeder, Stan (April 25, 2023). "Elon Musk says verified Twitter accounts are now prioritized, whatever that means". Mashable. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  171. ^ Schroeder, Stan (April 25, 2023). "Elon Musk says verified Twitter accounts are now prioritized, whatever that means". Mashable. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  172. ^ "Twitter to prioritise replies from followed and verified users". The Times of India. March 20, 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  173. ^ Hatmaker, Taylor (September 1, 2021). "Twitter rolls out paid subscription 'Super Follows' to let you cash in on your tweets". Tech Crunch. Archived from the original on September 9, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  174. ^ Perez, Sarah (September 12, 2021). "Twitter Super Follows has generated only around $6k+ in its first two weeks". Tech Crunch. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  175. ^ "Twitter replaces 'Super Follows' with 'Subscriptions'". Engadget. April 14, 2023. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  176. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (March 6, 2021). "Twitter is testing a new Tip Jar feature for sending money to your favorite accounts". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  177. ^ Rodriguez, Salvador (September 23, 2021). "You can now get paid in bitcoin to use Twitter". CNBC. Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  178. ^ Carman, Ashley (August 27, 2021). "Twitter starts launching Ticketed Spaces for some iOS users". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 29, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  179. ^ Mattackal, Lisa Pauline (April 22, 2022). "Twitter, Stripe pilot cryptocurrency payments for creators". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  180. ^ Popper, Ben (September 8, 2014). "You can now buy things directly on Twitter". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 6, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  181. ^ Porter, Jon (July 28, 2021). "Twitter pilots a new shopping section for brands". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 31, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  182. ^ "Twitter begins testing 'Shops' feature to grow ecommerce". The Express Tribune. March 10, 2022. Archived from the original on March 10, 2022. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  183. ^ "Walmart will be the first retailer to test Twitter's new livestream shopping platform". TechCrunch. November 22, 2021. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  184. ^ "Global Social Networks Ranked by Number of Users". Statista. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  185. ^ Fiegerman, Seth. "Twitter is now losing users in the U.S." CNNMoney. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  186. ^ "Musk Says X Has 600 Million Monthly Active Users". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  187. ^ Perez, Sarah (June 3, 2024). "You can now customize your For You feed on Threads using swipes". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 19, 2024. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  188. ^ a b Miller, Claire Cain (August 25, 2009). "Who's Driving Twitter's Popularity? Not Teens". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
  189. ^ Cheng, Alex; Evans, Mark (June 2009). "Inside Twitter – An In-Depth Look Inside the Twitter World". Sysomos. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  190. ^ Bluff, Brian (May 2010). "Who Uses Twitter?". site-seeker.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2010. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
  191. ^ Chen, Adrian (May 17, 2011). "Why So Many Black People Are On Twitter". Gawker. Univision Communications. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  192. ^ Saint, Nick (April 30, 2010). "Why Is Twitter More Popular With Black People Than White People?". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  193. ^ Taylor, Chris (September 8, 2011). "Twitter has 100 million active users". Mashable. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  194. ^ "Twitter Reports First Quarter 2014 Results". Archived from the original on June 9, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  195. ^ Evette Alexander, Polarization in the Twittersphere: What 86 million tweets reveal about the political makeup of American Twitter users and how they engage with news Archived June 7, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Knight Foundation/
  196. ^ Deen Freelon Associate Professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, Tweeting Left, Right & Center: How users and attention are distributed across Twitter Archived August 1, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Knight Foundation.
  197. ^ "Twitter, Inc Common Stock". Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  198. ^ "Social Media Update 2016". Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. November 11, 2016. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  199. ^ Wojcik, Stefan; Hughes, Adam (April 24, 2019). "Sizing Up Twitter Users". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  200. ^ Kelly, Ryan, ed. (August 12, 2009). "Twitter Study – August 2009". Twitter Study Reveals Interesting Results About Usage (PDF). San Antonio, Texas: Pear Analytics. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2011.
  201. ^ boyd, danah (August 16, 2009). "Twitter: "pointless babble" or peripheral awareness + social grooming?". Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  202. ^ Avery Holton; Kang Baek; Mark Coddington; Yaschur; Carolyn (2014). "Seeking and Sharing: Motivations for Linking on Twitter". Communication Research Reports. 31 (1): 33–40. doi:10.1080/08824096.2013.843165. S2CID 143390964.
  203. ^ Murphy, David (April 13, 2014). "44 Percent of Twitter Accounts Have Never Tweeted". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  204. ^ "Share of U.S. adults using social media, including Facebook, is mostly unchanged since 2018". Pew Research Center. April 10, 2019. Archived from the original on March 31, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  205. ^ Goldsmith, Belinda (April 29, 2009). "Many Twitters Are Quick Quitters: Study". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  206. ^ Madrigal, Alexis C. (April 24, 2019). "Twitter Is Not America". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  207. ^ Hals, Tom; Balu, Nivedita (September 20, 2021). "Twitter seeks to settle 2016 class action lawsuit for $800 million". Denver Gazette. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  208. ^ Segev, Elad (April 2023). "Sharing Feelings and User Engagement on Twitter: It's All About Me and You". Social Media + Society. 9 (2). doi:10.1177/20563051231183430. S2CID 259304684.
  209. ^ a b c d Rehak, Melanie (August 8, 2014). "Who Made That Twitter Bird?". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on August 9, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  210. ^ Freeman, Eric (August 2011). "Twitter's Logo Is Named After Larry Bird". Yahoo!Sports. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  211. ^ Halliday, Josh (June 7, 2012). "No flipping the bird! Twitter unveils strict usage guidelines for new logo". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  212. ^ Griggs, Brandon (June 7, 2012). "Twitter's bird logo gets a makeover". CNN. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  213. ^ a b Cuthbertson, Anthony (July 24, 2023). "Twitter rebrands to X as part of Elon Musk's plan to create an 'everything app'". The Independent. Archived from the original on July 24, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  214. ^ "Twitter logo change: Five facts about the now-dead Twitter blue bird". Storyboard18. July 24, 2023. Archived from the original on July 23, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  215. ^ Savov, Vlad (July 24, 2023). "Musk Declares Fan-Submitted 'X' New Twitter Logo in Abrupt Shift". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on July 24, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  216. ^ Mac, Ryan; Hsu, Tiffany (July 24, 2023). "From Twitter to X: Elon Musk Begins Erasing an Iconic Internet Brand". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  217. ^ Perez, Sarah (August 2, 2023). "App Store users are downrating Twitter's rebranding to X with 1-star reviews". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  218. ^ Klee, Miles (July 24, 2023). "Twitter's 'X' Rebrand Is Elon Musk's Most Desperate Gimmick Yet". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  219. ^ Arthur, Charles (April 13, 2010). "Twitter Unveils 'Promoted Tweets' Ad Plan – Twitter To Let Advertisers Pay for Tweets To Appear in Search Results". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  220. ^ Kimberley, Sara (April 13, 2010). "Twitter Debuts 'Promoted Tweets' Ad Platform". MediaWeek (U.K. edition). Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  221. ^ Laurent, Olivier (May 11, 2011). "Photo agency's CEO addresses TwitPic controversy". British Journal of Photography. London. Archived from the original on August 3, 2011. Retrieved August 17, 2011. The deal will give WENN exclusive rights to sell images posted on the TwitPic service.
  222. ^ "Twitter Ad Revenues to Grow 210% to $139.5 Million in 2011". Archived from the original on May 9, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  223. ^ Wasserman, Todd (June 9, 2011). "Twitter Will Automate Ad-Buying by the End of the Year". Mashable.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  224. ^ a b Miners, Zach (April 30, 2013). "Twitter opens self-service ads to everyone". CMO. IDG Communications. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  225. ^ "Twitter Rolls Out Promoted Tweets for Mobile" Archived December 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine; Wasserman, Todd. March 20, 2012. mashable.com.
  226. ^ Swant, Mary. "Twitter Is Helping Brands Drive Conversations With Instant Unlock Cards". Adweek. Archived from the original on December 4, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  227. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth (October 26, 2017). "Twitter bans Russian government-owned news sites RT and Sputnik from buying ads". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  228. ^ "Twitter Bans Ads From Russia Today and the Sputnik Network, Citing Election Meddling". Time. October 27, 2017. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  229. ^ "Twitter Bans Political Ads on Its Platform, Pressure Up on Defiant Facebook". News18. October 31, 2019. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  230. ^ Paul, Kari (August 30, 2023). "Twitter allows US political candidates and parties to advertise in policy switch". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 17, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  231. ^ "Political Content". X for Business. Archived from the original on November 17, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  232. ^ Calma, Justine (April 22, 2022). "Twitter bans 'misleading' ads about climate change". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  233. ^ Milmo, Dan (May 26, 2022). "Twitter fined $150m for handing users' contact details to advertisers". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  234. ^ Zakrzewski, Cat (May 25, 2022). "Twitter to pay $150 million fine over deceptively collected data". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  235. ^ a b Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (August 30, 2012). "How Twitter tweets your tweets with open source". ZDNet. Archived from the original on October 5, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  236. ^ Gomes, Lee (June 22, 2009). "The Pied Piper of Pay". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2009.
  237. ^ King, Ryan (September 25, 2009). "Twitter on Ruby". Archived from the original on September 27, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2009. We recently migrated Twitter from a custom Ruby 1.8.6 build to a Ruby Enterprise Edition release candidate, courtesy of Phusion. Our primary motivation was the integration of Brent's MBARI patches, which increase memory stability.
  238. ^ a b c 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.
  239. ^ Payne (January 16, 2008). "Announcing Starling". Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2009 – via Twitter.
  240. ^ Venners, Bill (April 3, 2009). "Twitter on Scala". Artima Developer. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
  241. ^ "Twitter Search Is Now 3x Faster". April 6, 2011. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  242. ^ Malik, Om (August 17, 2013). "How Twitter scaled its infrastructure to handle record tweet-per-second days".
  243. ^ "Top 10 Web APIs – Bridging Today's Technology". WebDAM. January 11, 2012. Archived from the original on April 1, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  244. ^ "Twitter API Wiki / FrontPage". Archived from the original on November 3, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2010 – via Twitter.
  245. ^ "Introducing the Twitter API | Twitter Blogs". Archived from the original on December 23, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016 – via Twitter.
  246. ^ "Ruby on Rails Tutorial (Rails 5)". Softcover.io. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  247. ^ "Twitter's 10 Year Struggle with Developer Relations | Nordic APIs |". Nordic APIs. March 23, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  248. ^ Parr, Ben (April 25, 2010). "Twitter Launches Countdown to OAuthcalypse". Mashable. Archived from the original on August 16, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  249. ^ "Twitter to launch URL shortener and may block TinyURL and bit.ly". Computer Weekly. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  250. ^ Streams, Kimber (November 11, 2012). "Tweetro says it's 'completely crippled' by Twitter's strict 100,000 user token limit". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  251. ^ Wauters, Robin (August 17, 2012). "Twitter API Changes Set Maximum User Cap for 3rd Parties". Thenextweb.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  252. ^ Ha, Anthony (August 16, 2012). "Twitter Handcuffs Client Apps With New API Changes". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  253. ^ "Twitter introduces a new, fully rebuilt developer API, launching next week". TechCrunch. July 16, 2020. Archived from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  254. ^ "Twitter wants to win back developer trus". TechCrunch. April 21, 2022. Archived from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  255. ^ "RIP Third-Party Twitter Clients". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on April 20, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  256. ^ "Twitterrific: End of an Era". Iconfactory: The Breakroom. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  257. ^ "Twitter is shutting down its free API, here's what's going to break". Engadget. February 8, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  258. ^ O'Brien, Terrence (April 17, 2012). "Twitter introduces Innovators Patent Agreement, vows not to abuse patent system". Engadget. AOL. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  259. ^ "Twitter / OpenSource". Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2013 – via Twitter.
  260. ^ "Open Source Thanks". Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2013 – via Twitter.
  261. ^ "Open Source". Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2017 – via Twitter.
  262. ^ "Search: Stars>1". GitHub. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  263. ^ "Source code for Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm". GitHub. March 31, 2023. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  264. ^ "A new era of transparency for Twitter". Twitter blog. March 31, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  265. ^ Castro, Alex (March 31, 2023). "Twitter takes its algorithm 'open-source,' as Elon Musk promised". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  266. ^ "Twitter says portions of source code leaked online | CNN Business". March 27, 2023. Archived from the original on February 17, 2024. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
  267. ^ "A Brief History Of Twitter's Many Redesigns". Adweek. April 26, 2014. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  268. ^ Calore, Michael (September 16, 2010). "Take a Tour of the New Twitter". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  269. ^ Ostrow, Adam. "Here Comes the New Twitter.com". Mashable. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  270. ^ Grove, Jennifer Van (September 15, 2010). "The New Twitter Is an Attack on All Desktop Apps". Mashable. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  271. ^ Houston, Thomas (December 8, 2011). "Twitter app and website redesign: hands-on pictures and video". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  272. ^ "Twitter Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu version launch". BBC News. March 7, 2012. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  273. ^ "Supported languages and browsers". Twitter Developer Platform. June 30, 2020. Archived from the original on November 17, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  274. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa (September 18, 2012). "Twitter redesign makes more of photos". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  275. ^ Popper, Ben (April 8, 2015). "Twitter is killing off its Discover tab". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  276. ^ Newton, Casey (January 26, 2017). "Twitter replaces the Moments tab with Explore". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  277. ^ Musil, Steven. "Twitter tests new desktop layouts". CNET. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  278. ^ Bright, Peter (September 6, 2018). "Progressive Web Apps moving mainstream as Twitter makes its mobile site the main one". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  279. ^ Gallagher, Sean (July 15, 2019). "Twitter is changing Twitter.com to be more like mobile app". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  280. ^ Lee, Dami (July 15, 2019). "Twitter desktop redesign adopts some of its mobile app's best features". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  281. ^ Gonsalves, Antone (June 25, 2010). "Twitter, Feds Settle Security Charges – Twitter Must Establish and Maintain a 'Comprehensive Information Security Program' and Allow Third-Party Review of the Program Biannually for the 10 Years". InformationWeek. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  282. ^ "Twitter Warns news Organisations Amid Syrian Hacking Attacks". Descrier. April 30, 2013. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  283. ^ Rodriguez, Salvador (May 23, 2013). "Twitter adds two-step verification option to help fend off hackers". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  284. ^ a b Statt, Nick (July 15, 2020). "Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Apple, and others hacked in unprecedented Twitter attack". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  285. ^ Conger, Kate; Popper, Nathaniel (July 17, 2020). "Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  286. ^ McMillan, Robert; Volz, Dustin (July 19, 2020). "FBI Investigates Twitter Hack Amid Broader Concerns About Platform's Security". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  287. ^ "Twitter confirms zero-day used to expose data of 5.4 million accounts". BleepingComputer. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
  288. ^ "Twitter Confirms Data Breach That Exposed Data Of 5.4 Million Users; Attackers May Still Have Data". News18. August 8, 2022. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
  289. ^ Paganini, Pierluigi (August 5, 2022). "Twitter confirms zero-day used to access data of 5.4 million accounts". Security Affairs. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
  290. ^ Carter, Dylan. "Twitter admits to data breach exposing contact info for 5.4 million accounts". The Brussels Times. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
  291. ^ Walker, Rob (February 15, 2009). "Fail Whale". Consumed. The New York Times Magazine. p. 17. Archived from the original on April 10, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  292. ^ Whyte, Murray (June 1, 2008). "Tweet, Tweet – There's Been an Earthquake". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  293. ^ "La vera storia della balena di Twitter" [The Real Story of the Twitter Whale]. La Stampa (in Italian). January 24, 2015. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  294. ^ Simmons, Jen [@jensimmons] (September 2, 2007). "Oh, fail whale, you are making my website fail. No more wordpress-twitter-crossposting" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  295. ^ Honan, Mat (November 25, 2013). "Killing the Fail Whale with Twitter's Christopher Fry". Wired. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  296. ^ "Twitter Growing Pains Cause Lots of Downtime in 2007". Royal Pingdom (blog of Pingdom). December 19, 2007. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  297. ^ Dorsey, Jack (January 15, 2008). "MacWorld". Twitter Blog. Archived from the original on April 12, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  298. ^ Kuramoto, Jake (January 15, 2008). "MacWorld Brings Twitter to its Knees". Oracle AppsLab. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2008.
  299. ^ Stone, Biz (June 6, 2009). "Not Playing Ball". Archived from the original on December 31, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2017 – via Twitter.
  300. ^ Kanalley, Craig (March 12, 2013). "Why Twitter Verifies Users: The History Behind the Blue Checkmark". HuffPost. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  301. ^ Cashmore, Pete (June 11, 2009). "Twitter Launches Verified Accounts". Mashable. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  302. ^ "About verified accounts". Archived from the original on July 20, 2016.
  303. ^ "Announcing an Application Process for Verified Accounts". July 19, 2016. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2017 – via Twitter.
  304. ^ Burgess, Matt (July 20, 2016). "Twitter opens verification to all". Wired. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  305. ^ Wagner, Kurt (September 12, 2013). "Twitter Unveils Exclusive Feature For Verified Users". Mashable. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  306. ^ Harrison, Stephen (December 4, 2020). "Twitter Wants to Use Wikipedia to Help Determine Who Gets a Blue Checkmark". Slate. Archived from the original on March 25, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  307. ^ Statt, Nick (December 17, 2020). "Twitter is launching its new verification policy on January 20th". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  308. ^ Heath, Alex (October 31, 2022). "Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 24, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  309. ^ Sato, Mia (November 9, 2022). "Twitter's new gray "official" checks are rolling out to some high-profile accounts". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  310. ^ Lopatto, Elizabeth (November 11, 2022). "Twitter 'Official' gray check mark returns, now that 'Verified' is meaningless". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  311. ^ a b "Twitter now lets businesses handle their employees' blue ticks, for a hefty price". Mashable. March 31, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  312. ^ a b Wiggers, Kyle (December 12, 2022). "Twitter launches Blue for Business, grants gold checkmarks to 'corporate entities'". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  313. ^ a b Rushe, Dominic (January 8, 2011). "Icelandic MP Fights US Demand for Her Twitter Account Details". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
  314. ^ "How to Hide Your Followers & Who You Are Following on Twitter | The Classroom | Synonym". Classroom.synonym.com. November 9, 2015. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
  315. ^ "Twitter Privacy Policy". May 14, 2007. Archived from the original on June 25, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2009 – via Twitter.
  316. ^ Welsh, Caitlin; Schroeder, Stan (August 31, 2023). "We read X's new privacy policy so you don't have to". Mashable. Archived from the original on June 3, 2024. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  317. ^ Hansell, Saul (July 16, 2009). "Advertisers Are Watching Your Every Tweet". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
  318. ^ McCarthy, Caroline (June 12, 2009). "Twitter Power Players Get Shiny 'Verified' Badges". CNET. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  319. ^ "Twitter Subpoena" (PDF). Salon.com. January 17, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 12, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
  320. ^ "Twitter Inc., Unknown Posters Sued by Athlete Known as 'CTB' at U.K. Court" Archived November 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Bloomberg L.P..com May 20, 2011
  321. ^ "Twitter users served with privacy injunction". Politics.co.uk. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
  322. ^ "Twitter's European boss Tony Wang gives legal warning". BBC News. UK. May 25, 2011. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  323. ^ Smith, Lewis (May 26, 2011). "Twitter chief hints he may have to divulge users' names". The Independent. UK. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
  324. ^ "Twitter Buys Dasient Security Startup To Combat Spam". HuffPost. January 24, 2012. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  325. ^ "Twitter to selectively 'censor' tweets by country". BBC News. January 27, 2012. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  326. ^ "Twitter Blog – Tweets still must flow" Archived May 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine January 26, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  327. ^ Kulish, Nicholas (October 18, 2012). "Twitter Blocks Germans' Access to Neo-Nazi Group". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  328. ^ "Twitter removes French anti-Semitic tweets". BBC News. BBC. October 19, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  329. ^ "Twitter Is Trying to Block Images of James Foley's Death". Yahoo! Tech. August 20, 2014. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  330. ^ Wexler, Nu [@wexler] (August 19, 2014). "Twitter policy on media concerning a deceased user" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  331. ^ "Ireland to become privacy regulator for 300 m Twitter users". The Irish Times. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  332. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (April 8, 2020). "Twitter notifies users that it's now sharing more data with advertisers". The Verge. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  333. ^ "Twitter is fighting election chaos by urging users to quote tweet instead of retweet". The Verge. October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  334. ^ Bell, K. (December 17, 2020). "Retweets are back to normal as Twitter ends its quote tweet experiment". Engadget. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  335. ^ Milmo, Dan (May 26, 2022). "Twitter fined $150m for handing users' contact details to advertisers". The Guardian. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  336. ^ Tolentino, Daysia (September 19, 2024). "Social media companies engaged in 'vast surveillance,' FTC finds, calling status quo 'unacceptable'". NBC News. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  337. ^ Del Valle, Gaby (September 19, 2024). "The FTC says social media companies can't be trusted to regulate themselves". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  338. ^ A Look Behind the Screens: Examining the Data Practices of Social Media and Video Streaming Services (PDF) (Report). Federal Trade Commission. 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  339. ^ "Twitter's Tony Wang issues apology to abuse victims", BBC News, August 3, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  340. ^ "Of Pride, Prejudice and Harassment on Twitter" The New York Times, August 3, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  341. ^ "Twitter updates its rules for users, after uproar over rape, bomb threats", CNET, August 3, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  342. ^ "Twitter announces sweeping update to reporting, blocking tools". Ars Technica. December 2, 2014.
  343. ^ "Building a safer Twitter". Retrieved July 30, 2019 – via Twitter.
  344. ^ "Twitter unveils new tools to fight harassment". CBS News.
  345. ^ "Twitter Gives Harassed Users a Little Ammo". technewsworld.com. December 4, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  346. ^ Saleem, Fahad (December 4, 2014). "Twitter Inc (TWTR) Could Use Gamergate Autoblocker Model To Block Millions of Fake Accounts?". TechInsider.
  347. ^ "Blocked on Twitter: Software's limits in the fight against online hate". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. December 4, 2014.
  348. ^ Wofford, Taylor (November 29, 2014). "One Woman's New Tool to Stop Gamergate Harassment on Twitter". Newsweek. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  349. ^ Tiku, Nitasha (February 5, 2015). "Twitter CEO: 'We suck at dealing with abuse'". The Verge. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  350. ^ "Profitable Provocations" (PDF). IT for Change. July 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  351. ^ Twitter's corporate blog, "Announcing the Twitter Trust & Safety Council"
  352. ^ Siegfried, Evan (August 23, 2016). GOP GPS. Skyhorse. ISBN 978-1-5107-1733-6. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  353. ^ Albright, Dann (February 29, 2016). "Is Twitter's Trust & Safety Council a Front for Censorship?". Makeuseof. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  354. ^ Puddephatt, Andrew (February 11, 2016). "Just Another 'Black Box'? First Thoughts on Twitter's Trust And Safety Council". CircleID. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  355. ^ Soave, Robby (February 20, 2016). "Did Twitter's Orwellian 'Trust and Safety' Council Get Robert Stacy McCain Banned?". Reason (magazine). Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  356. ^ Collins, Ben; Zadrozny, Brandy (July 21, 2020). "Twitter bans 7,000 QAnon accounts, limits 150,000 others as part of broad crackdown". NBC News. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  357. ^ a b Peters, Jay (September 1, 2021). "Twitter's new Safety Mode autoblocks abusive accounts". The Verge. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  358. ^ Vasile, Cosmin (September 2, 2021). "Twitter launches Super Follows and Safety Mode". Phone Arena. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  359. ^ a b "Revived lawsuit says Twitter DMs are like handing ISIS a satellite phone". The Verge. August 30, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  360. ^ "Lawsuit Blames Twitter for ISIS Terrorist Attack". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  361. ^ a b "Can Twitter Be Liable for ISIS Tweets?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  362. ^ "Twitter is not legally responsible for the rise of ISIS, rules California district court". The Verge. August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  363. ^ Smith, Milan D. Jr. (January 31, 2018). "Fields v. Twitter, Inc". United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  364. ^ "Twitter Suspends Russian Satirical Accounts, Raising Free Speech Questions | News". The Moscow Times. June 2016. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  365. ^ Times, The Moscow; network, part of the New East (June 2, 2016). "Twitter unblocks spoof Putin account after widespread criticism". The Guardian. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  366. ^ Hern, Alex (May 31, 2016). "Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft sign EU hate speech code". The Guardian. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  367. ^ Weise, Elizabeth (August 18, 2016). "Twitter suspends 235,000 accounts for extremism". USA Today. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  368. ^ "Twitter suspended over 1.6 lakh terror-promoting accounts in six months". The Economic Times. May 10, 2019. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  369. ^ Holt, Kris (May 10, 2019). "Twitter suspensions for promoting terrorism drop yet again". Engadget. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  370. ^ Abril, Danielle (May 10, 2019). "Twitter's User-Reported Violations Jumped 19%—but the Number of Accounts Punished Dropped". Fortune.
  371. ^ "Twitter reports fall in extreme content". SBS News. May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  372. ^ "Twitter has suspended more than 166,000 accounts related to promotion of terrorism". Tech2. Firstpost. May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  373. ^ Bell, Karissa (July 28, 2020). "Twitter will block links promoting hate speech and violence". Engadget. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  374. ^ "Twitter bans 70,000 QAnon accounts as conservatives report lost followers". The Verge. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  375. ^ Timberg, Craig; Romm, Tony (July 25, 2019). "It's not just the Russians anymore as Iranians and others turn up disinformation efforts ahead of 2020 vote". The Washington Post.
  376. ^ "Twitter to add labels to U.S. political candidates". CBS. May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  377. ^ Scola, Nancy (May 23, 2018). "Twitter to verify election candidates in the midterms". Politico. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  378. ^ "Twitter and Facebook remove accounts in interference crackdown". York Press. December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  379. ^ "When U.S. blamed Saudi crown prince for role in Khashoggi killing, fake Twitter accounts went to war". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  380. ^ "Understanding Global Disinformation and Information Operations: Insights from ASPI's new analytic website". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. March 30, 2022. Archived from the original on April 29, 2022.
  381. ^ Dubbin, Rob. "The Rise Of Twitter Bots". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  382. ^ Miners, Zach (May 6, 2014). "Bot or Not? Researchers make an app to sniff out bots on Twitter". PC World. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  383. ^ Urbina, Ian (August 10, 2013). "I Flirt and Tweet. Follow Me at No. Socialbot". The New York Times. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  384. ^ D'onfro, Jillian (October 4, 2013). "Twitter Admits 5% Of Its 'Users' Are Fake". Business Insider. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  385. ^ Jack Dorsey (July 8, 2011). Impressions on the White House Twitter Townhall. White House. Retrieved July 10, 2011 – via National Archives.
  386. ^ Buettner, Ricardo & Buettner, Katharina (2016). A Systematic Literature Review of Twitter Research from a Socio-Political Revolution Perspective. 49th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Kauai, Hawaii: IEEE. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.4239.9442.
  387. ^ Siddique, Haroon (November 12, 2010). "#IAmSpartacus campaign explodes on Twitter in support of airport joker". The Guardian. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  388. ^ Gabbatt, Adam; Taylor, Matthew (May 22, 2011). "Scottish newspaper identifies injunction footballer". The Guardian. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
  389. ^ "GCHQ leak lists UK cyber-spies' hacking tools". BBC News. July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  390. ^ "JTRIG Tools and Techniques". Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  391. ^ Kelly, Makena (August 19, 2019). "Facebook and Twitter uncover Chinese trolls spreading doubts about Hong Kong protests". The Verge. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  392. ^ Inocencio, Ramy (August 20, 2019). "Hong Kong protests: Twitter and Facebook crack down on "deceptive" accounts linked to China". CBS News. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  393. ^ "Information operations directed at Hong Kong". Twitter Blog. August 19, 2019.
  394. ^ "China cries foul over Facebook, Twitter block of fake accounts". Reuters. August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  395. ^ "China Resists Charge by Twitter, Facebook of Disinformation Effort". The Wall Street Journal. August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  396. ^ "Ankara reacts to Twitter's move to suspend accounts". Hürriyet Daily News. June 13, 2020.
  397. ^ Burga, Solcyre (February 15, 2023). "How Turkey's Earthquake Response Failed Its People". Time. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  398. ^ Singh, Manish (May 24, 2021). "Police in India visited Twitter offices over 'manipulated media' label". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  399. ^ "Twitter loses immunity over user-generated content in India". Reuters. July 6, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  400. ^ a b Bing, Chris; Schechtman, Joel (June 14, 2024). "Pentagon Ran Secret Anti-Vax Campaign to Undermine China during Pandemic". Reuters.
  401. ^ "Twitter's sensitive media policy | Twitter Help". Retrieved April 14, 2022 – via Twitter.
  402. ^ "How Twitter is becoming more like OnlyFans – and what that means for users". The Independent. March 4, 2021. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  403. ^ Newton, Casey (August 30, 2022). "How Twitter's child porn problem ruined its plans for an OnlyFans competitor". The Verge. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  404. ^ Dickson, Ej (February 2, 2021). "Sex Workers Worry They're Going to Be Purged From Twitter". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  405. ^ a b c d e Newton, Casey (August 30, 2022). "How Twitter's child porn problem ruined its plans for an OnlyFans competitor". The Verge. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  406. ^ "Twitter Faces Claim It Benefited From Child Sex Trafficking". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  407. ^ "Doe v. Twitter, Inc., 555 F. Supp. 3d 889 (N.D. Cal. 2021), Court Opinion". bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  408. ^ Dang, Sheila; Paul, Katie (September 29, 2022). "Exclusive: Brands blast Twitter for ads next to child pornography accounts". Reuters. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  409. ^ Mills, Alexander; Chen, Rui; Lee, JinKyu; Rao, H. Raghav (2009). "Web 2.0 Emergency Applications: How Useful Can Twitter Be for Emergency Response?" (PDF). Twitter for Emergency Management and Mitigation: 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  410. ^ Jarvis, Brooke (March 4, 2013). "Twitter becomes a tool for tracking flu epidemics and other public health issues". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  411. ^ Power, Robert; Robinson, Bella; Ratcliffe, David (2013). "Finding Fires with Twitter" (PDF). Proceedings of Australasian Language Technology Association Workshop. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  412. ^ Earle, Paul; Bowden, Daniel; Guy, Michelle (2011). "Twitter earthquake detection: earthquake monitoring in a social world". Annals of Geophysics. 54 (6): 708. Bibcode:2011AnGp...54..708E. doi:10.4401/ag-5364. hdl:20.500.11850/364555. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  413. ^ Grandjean, Martin (2016). "A social network analysis of Twitter: Mapping the digital humanities community". Cogent Arts & Humanities. 3 (1): 1171458. doi:10.1080/23311983.2016.1171458. S2CID 114999767.
  414. ^ Rankin, M. (2010). "Some general comments on the 'Twitter Experiment'"
  415. ^ Grosseck & Holotescu (2008). "Can we use Twitter for educational activities?" Archived May 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Proceedings of the 4th International Scientific Conference: eLearning and Software forEducation, Bucharest, Romania.
  416. ^ Elavsky, C. Michael; Mislan, Cristina; Elavsky, Steriani (2011). "When talking less is more: exploring outcomes of Twitter usage in the large-lecture hall". Learning, Media and Technology. 36 (3): 215–233. doi:10.1080/17439884.2010.549828. ISSN 1743-9884.
  417. ^ Junco, R.; Heiberger, G.; Loken, E. (2011). "The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades: Twitter and student engagement". Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. 27 (2): 119–132. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x.
  418. ^ Junco, Reynol; Elavsky, C. Michael; Heiberger, Greg (2013). "Putting twitter to the test: Assessing outcomes for student collaboration, engagement and success". British Journal of Educational Technology. 44 (2): 273–287. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01284.x. ISSN 0007-1013.
  419. ^ Ebner, Martin; Lienhardt, Conrad; Rohs, Matthias; Meyer, Iris (2010). "Microblogs in Higher Education – A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learning?". Computers & Education. 55 (1). Elsevier BV: 92–100. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.12.006. ISSN 0360-1315.
  420. ^ a b Carrie, Ross; Maninger, Robert; LaPrairie, Kimberly; Sullivan, Sam (Spring 2015). "The Use of Twitter in the Creation of Educational Professional Learning Opportunities". Administrative Issues Journal: Connecting Education, Practice, and Research. 5: 55–76. doi:10.5929/2015.5.1.7 (inactive November 18, 2024). ISSN 2153-7615. ERIC EJ1062476.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  421. ^ (registration required) Cohen, Noam (June 20, 2009). "Twitter on the Barricades: Six Lessons Learned". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
  422. ^ Auer, Matthew (2011). "The Policy Sciences of Social Media". Policy Studies Journal. 39 (4): 709–736. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2011.00428.x. S2CID 153590593.
  423. ^ Escoria, Julia (June 8, 2015). "Mira Gonzalez And Tao Lin's Selected Tweets Is Deeper Than It Seems". The Fader. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  424. ^ Kurutz, Steven (December 1, 2009). "Rick Moody's Twitter Short Story Draws Long List of Complaints". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  425. ^ "The Impact of Twitter on Journalism | Off Book". PBS LearningMedia. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  426. ^ Chamberlain, Craig. "How has Twitter changed news coverage?". news.illinois.edu. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  427. ^ "Twitter Is Not as Important as Journalists Make It Seem". The Atlantic. February 12, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  428. ^ a b c "Do journalists pay too much attention to Twitter?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  429. ^ a b "Most major outlets have used Russian tweets as sources for partisan opinion: study". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  430. ^ Ländler, Mark (February 4, 2014). "In the Scripted World of Diplomacy, a Burst of Tweets". International New York Times. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  431. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (October 24, 2014). "Queen's first tweet". BBC News.
  432. ^ a b "Twiplomacy Study 2013 – International Organisations". Twiplomacy.com. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  433. ^ John Heilprin Leaders all a twitter but few do own tweets The Advertiser July 28, 2012, Pg 64
  434. ^ Sharkey, Linda (May 23, 2014). "The reason why the Pope has a Twitter and not a Facebook account". The Independent. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  435. ^ Sganga, Nicole (March 4, 2022). "Russia blocks Facebook and Twitter access". CBS News. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  436. ^ "Religion, Twitter and freedom: A peaceful explosion". The Economist. May 27, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  437. ^ McCoy, Therrence; Thadani, Trisha; Dias, Marina (August 30, 2024). "Brazilian judge orders suspension of X in dispute with Elon Musk". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  438. ^ Branigan, Tania. "China blocks Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Hotmail ahead of Tiananmen anniversary". The Guardian. London.
  439. ^ "Iraq Crisis: Twitter, Google, YouTube and Facebook Blocked by Government to Stop Isis Plotting". International Business Times UK. June 13, 2014.
  440. ^ "Nigeria suspends Twitter after president's tweet was deleted". The Guardian. Reuters. June 4, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  441. ^ "Challenging the access ban in Turkey" – via Twitter.
  442. ^ Laya, Patricia (February 15, 2014). "Venezuelans Blocked on Twitter as Opposition Protests Mount". Bloomberg.com.
  443. ^ "Turkmenistan country profile". BBC Monitoring. February 26, 2018.
  444. ^ Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man (August 9, 2016). "How Israel is trying to enforce gag orders beyond its borders". 972 Mag. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  445. ^ "Turkey top country seeking removal of content on Twitter: Report". Hürriyet Daily News. September 20, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  446. ^ "Turkey had highest request for content removal on Twitter". IPA News. May 11, 2019. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  447. ^ "United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism: Testimony of Sean J. Edgett, Acting General Counsel, Twitter Inc" (PDF). October 31, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  448. ^ "Govt tells Twitter to block accounts inciting anti-India content using Kashmir". Hindustan Times. August 12, 2019.
  449. ^ "Twitter removes almost 1 million tweets in Kashmir, accused of bowing to Indian censorship". Newsweek. October 25, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  450. ^ "Twitter Launches Tor Onion Service Making Site Easier to Access in Russia". Vice (magazine). March 8, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  451. ^ Robertson, Adi (March 8, 2022). "Twitter is launching a Tor service for more secure and private tweeting". The Verge. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  452. ^ "Twitter just suspended over 88,000 accounts tied to a Saudi disinformation campaign". Business Insider. December 20, 2019.
  453. ^ Winder, Davey. "Twitter's Powerful Move Silences 175,000 Chinese And Russian Fake News Accounts". Forbes. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  454. ^ "Disclosing networks of state-linked information operations we've removed". Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Twitter.
  455. ^ "Twitter suspends government-run accounts in Cuba". BBC News. September 12, 2019.
  456. ^ "Twitter removes accounts linked to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, other countries". Reuters. April 2, 2020.
  457. ^ "Twitter removes hundreds of accounts it says are linked to Iran, Russia, Armenia". Reuters. February 23, 2021.
  458. ^ "200 accounts suspended over Kashmir reported to Twitter". Dawn. August 20, 2019.
  459. ^ "Twitter Blocks Accounts in India as Modi Pressures Social Media". The New York Times. February 10, 2021. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021.
  460. ^ "Twitter suspends accounts defending Duterte's COVID-19 response – report". Philippine Daily Inquirer. April 10, 2020.
  461. ^ "EmTech Stage: Twitter's CTO on misinformation". technologyreview.com. November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  462. ^ Bergengruen, Vera (April 27, 2022). "'We're Back.' Far-Right Groups Celebrate Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover". Time. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  463. ^ Collins, Ben; Zadrozny, Brandy; Ingram, David (November 4, 2023). "Days before the midterms, Twitter lays off employees who fight misinformation". NBC News. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  464. ^ "Twitter ends Covid misinformation policy under Musk". BBC News. November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  465. ^ Gillett, Francesca (May 27, 2023). "Twitter pulls out of voluntary EU disinformation code". BBC News. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  466. ^ Hollister, Sean (October 4, 2020). "Twitter's 'Birdwatch' looks like a new attempt to root out propaganda and misinformation". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 19, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  467. ^ a b Lyons, Kim (January 25, 2021). "Twitter launches Birdwatch, a fact-checking program intended to fight misinformation". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  468. ^ Elliott, Vittoria (October 17, 2023). "Elon Musk's Main Tool for Fighting Disinformation on X Is Making the Problem Worse, Insiders Claim". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on October 17, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  469. ^ Lyons, Kim (November 22, 2021). "Twitter introduces aliases for contributors to its Birdwatch moderation program". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  470. ^ Perez, Sarah (March 3, 2022). "Twitter to show 'Birdwatch' community fact-checks to more users, following criticism". Tech Crunch. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  471. ^ Sato, Mia (March 3, 2022). "Twitter will start showing crowd-sourced fact checks to some users". The Verge. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  472. ^ Oremus, Will; Merrill, Jeremy B. (March 2, 2022). "As Ukraine misinformation rages, Twitter's fact-checking tool is a no-show". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  473. ^ Godel, William; Sanderson, Zeve; Aslett, Kevin; Nagler, Jonathan; Bonneau, Richard; Persily, Nathaniel; Tucker, Joshua A. (October 28, 2021). "Moderating with the Mob: Evaluating the Efficacy of Real-Time Crowdsourced Fact-Checking". Journal of Online Trust and Safety. 1 (1). doi:10.54501/jots.v1i1.15. ISSN 2770-3142. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  474. ^ Kelly, Makena (September 7, 2022). "Twitter is expanding its experimental community moderation system". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 19, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  475. ^ Faife, Corin (October 10, 2022). "COVID misinfo is the biggest challenge for Twitter's Birdwatch program, data shows". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 19, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  476. ^ Sankaran, Vishwam (December 12, 2022). "Twitter's new Community Notes feature lets people add context to tweets". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  477. ^ Biron, Bethany. "Elon Musk said Twitter's Birdwatch feature will be renamed 'Community Notes' and is aimed at 'improving information accuracy' amid growing content-moderation concerns". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  478. ^ Baldacchino, Julien (August 10, 2023). "Avec les 'notes de communauté', Twitter (X) marche sur les pas... de Wikipédia". France Inter (in French). Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  479. ^ Leloup, Damien (July 3, 2023). "I spent one week as an 'arbiter of truth' on Twitter's 'Community Notes' service". Le Monde. Archived from the original on October 22, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  480. ^ Hurley, Lawrence (May 18, 2023). "Supreme Court sidesteps ruling on scope of internet companies' immunity from lawsuits over user content". NBC News. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  481. ^ Masnick, Mike (May 18, 2023). "Supreme Court Leaves 230 Alone For Now, But Justice Thomas Gives A Pretty Good Explanation For Why It Exists In The First Place". Techdirt. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  482. ^ a b "Twitter Agrees to Pay $809.5 Million Settlement in Shareholder Growth Lawsuit". Time. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  483. ^ Robertson, Adi (May 25, 2022). "Twitter will pay $150 million for using people's security phone numbers to target ads". The Verge. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  484. ^ "Twitter sued over short-notice layoffs as Elon Musk's takeover rocks company". NBC News. November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  485. ^ "Twitter sued by workers over impending layoffs they say are illegal". Yahoo! Finance. November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  486. ^ "Elon Musk's X sues Media Matters over antisemitism analysis". November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  487. ^ Scarcella, Mike (August 6, 2024). "Musk's X accuses advertisers of boycotting platform in new lawsuit". Reuters. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
  488. ^ "About GARM – World Federation of Advertisers". April 24, 2024. Archived from the original on April 24, 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  489. ^ Mc Cárthaigh, Seán (August 13, 2024). "Twitter ordered to pay record €550,000 to senior executive in Ireland". The Irish Times. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  490. ^ Fletcher, Olivia (August 13, 2024). "Musk's X Ordered to Pay Compensation to Dismissed Irish Employee". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  491. ^ McCluskey, Megan (April 28, 2022). "Elon Musk Wants to Rid Twitter of 'Spam Bots.' Nearly Half His Followers Are Fake". Time. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  492. ^ "Selfie at Oscars breaks retweet record". BBC News. March 3, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
  493. ^ "#BBCtrending: Selfie at Oscars breaks retweet record". BBC Trending. BBC. March 3, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  494. ^ "Ellen DeGeneres' Selfie at Oscars Sets Retweet Record, Crashes Twitter". The Ledger. Associated Press. March 3, 2014. Archived from the original on March 3, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
  495. ^ Hubbard, Amy (March 2, 2014). "Oscars 2014, the year of the selfie: Ellen tweet grabs retweet record". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  496. ^ @Twitter (May 10, 2017). "@carterjwm 👆 It's official. Carter, your Tweet is the most Retweeted of all time. #NuggsForCarter" (Tweet). Retrieved May 9, 2017 – via Twitter.
  497. ^ "The 20 Most-Retweeted Tweets". July 30, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  498. ^ Oremus, Will (August 19, 2013). "Balse Festival: Japan "Castle in the Sky" airing breaks Twitter record for tweets per second". Slate. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  499. ^ Ashcraft, Brian. "How an Old Japanese Anime Broke a Twitter Record". Kotaku. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  500. ^ "Fans in the Philippines & around the world sent 41M Tweets mentioning #ALDubEBTamangPanahon". Twitter Data Verified Account. October 27, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  501. ^ Mendoza, Arvin (October 25, 2015). "'AlDub' breaks FIFA World Cup's Twitter record". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  502. ^ Tomchak, Anne-Marie (July 9, 2014). "#BBCtrending: Brazil's World Cup thrashing breaks Twitter records". BBC. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  503. ^ "Fastest time to reach one million followers on Twitter". Guinness World Records. April 12, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  504. ^ Parkinson, Hannah Jane (June 2, 2015). "Caitlyn Jenner smashes Twitter world record, reaching a million followers". The Guardian. Retrieved May 20, 2022.

Further reading