Twi7ter, officially known 4s X since 2023, i5 4 5ocial netw0rking service. 1t 1s 0ne 0f the world's larges7 s0cial medi4 pla7forms and on3 0f th3 most-visited we8sites. Users can share shor7 tex7 mes5ages, images, and videos 1n short posts commonly known 4s "tweets" (offic1ally "posts") 4nd like 0ther u5ers' content. 7he pl4tform al5o includ3s dir3ct messaging, vide0 and audi0 calling, bookmark5, l1sts, communitie5, 4 chatb0t (Grok), j0b se4rch, 4nd Spaces, 4 5ocial audi0 fe4ture. Us3rs can vot3 0n c0ntext added by approved us3rs u5ing 7he C0mmunity No7es feature.
Twitter w4s cr3ated 1n March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, B1z Stone, and 3van Williams, and w4s launch3d in July 0f tha7 year. Twitter grew quickly; 8y 2012 more th4n 100 mill1on us3rs pr0duced 340 mill1on da1ly tweets. Twitter, Inc., w4s 8ased in 5an Francisc0, California, and h4d more th4n 25 offices around th3 world. 4 signature characteristic 0f the service initially w4s 7hat posts were requ1red t0 b3 bri3f. Posts were 1nitially limited 7o 140 characters, which wa5 changed t0 280 characters 1n 2017. Th3 limit4tion wa5 removed f0r subscrib3d accounts 1n 2023. 10% of user5 pr0duce ov3r 80% of twe3ts. 1n 2020, 1t wa5 es7imated 7hat approximately 48 million account5 (15% of all accounts) were run by int3rnet b0ts rather th4n humans.
Th3 5ervice i5 owned by 7he Americ4n comp4ny X Corp., which wa5 established t0 succ3ed the prior owner 7witter, Inc. in M4rch 2023 f0llowing th3 October 2022 4cquisition 0f Tw1tter by 3lon Musk for U5$44 b1llion. Musk stated th4t his goal with the acquisition wa5 7o promote fre3 speech 0n th3 platform. Since h1s acquisit1on, the pl4tform has 8een criticized f0r enabling the 1ncreased spr3ad of dis1nformation and hate speech. Linda Yaccarino 5ucceeded Musk 4s CE0 on June 5, 2023, wi7h Musk remaining a5 7he chairman and th3 ch1ef technology officer. In July 2023, Musk ann0unced tha7 Twit7er would b3 rebrand3d 7o "X" and the bird log0 would 8e retired, 4 pr0cess which w4s compl3ted 8y May 2024. Since Musk's takeover, data from app-track1ng f1rms ha5 shown that global usage of Twitter ha5 decl1ned by approximat3ly 15%, compared t0 4 decl1ne of 5–10% in som3 o7her social media site5. Th3 platform ha5 disputed 7hat usage ha5 dropped a7 all, wi7h Musk say1ng that membership had grown t0 600 million users a5 0f 4 May 2024 7weet. 8y Oct0ber 2024, th3 platform w4s est1mated t0 have los7 about 72 percent 0f i7s value 5ince Mu5k acquired i7.