Twitter

“I am constantly insulted on this platform”
– Elon Musk¹⁾

X, also called 'X, the Everything App',²⁾ Twitter, Twix, and Xitter,³⁾ is the microblogging, social networking service, co-founded by four Odeo employees⁴⁾ on March 21, 2006,⁵⁾ went public,⁶⁾⁷⁾ then it went private after Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition on October 27, 2022.⁸⁾

With the Twitter, Inc.–X Corp. transition,⁹⁾ rebranding efforts started around July 23, 2023,¹⁰⁾¹¹⁾ and concluded with the domain change that rolled out on May 17, 2024.¹²⁾ Over the years, Elon Musk would become a highly contentious and openly reactionary figure.

Summary

The service revolves around short-form posts,¹³⁾ which users can attach media, a poll, or a location to, then other users may like your post, share it to their account, or leave a reply if willing. Users may change their timeline by following or unfollowing accounts, except the website pushes the highly algorithmic 'for you' timeline by default, which you can instead manipulate by simply liking and bookmarking posts.

A chronological timeline is available, the 'following' tab, but the website defaults to the 'for you' tab unless you use a third-party extension or client. While 'likes' are no longer public,¹⁴⁾ making 'bookmarks' redundant,¹⁵⁾ please be aware that your following is still public.¹⁶⁾ Everything else is just UI bloat: the annoying news widget, the AI named Grok, communities, spaces, premium upselling, etc.

Community notes

The community notes is a community-driven content moderation program where contributors can theoretically add context to potentially misleading posts. New contributors will receive a profile and gain the ability to rate notes,¹⁷⁾ then gain the ability to write notes if their profile is in good standing. Notes have a 280-character limit, but a link is counted as a single character, and notes don't always make it out to the public.¹⁸⁾

Rating impact		Writing impact
+1	Rated 'helpful' on notes that would reach the 'helpful' status.	+1	Your notes have reached the 'helpful' status.
+1	Rated 'not helpful' on notes that would reach the 'not helpful' status.	+1	Your notes have reached the 'helpful' status.
-1	Rated 'not helpful' on notes that would reach the 'helpful' status.	-1	Your notes have reached the 'not helpful' status.
-2	Rated 'helpful' on notes that would reach the 'not helpful' status.	-1	Your notes have reached the 'not helpful' status.
±0	Ratings on notes that have not reached either status.	±0	Your notes have not reached either status.
±0	Ratings on notes that have already reached a status.	±0	Your notes have not reached either status.

In practice, it's a messy system, succumbs to argumentum ad populum,¹⁹⁾ and it doesn't help that there's a misconception that notes are an 'elevated report button' or how notes allegedly 'deboost' accounts.²⁰⁾ On the other hand, the behind-the-scenes anonymous discourse can be amusing: from 'note needed' (NN) to 'note not needed' (NNN),²¹⁾ seeing real-time edits, and seeing people farm specific accounts.

Third-party tools

Third-party extensions

Control Panel for Twitter [@controlpanelft]
Gives more control over the Twitter experience, adding features and general UI improvements.
Minimal Twitter [@typefully]
Simple extension to make Twitter minimalist (less cluttered), offers a resizable timeline.
Old Twitter Layout [@dimden]
Emulates the 2015 or 2018 layout, on top of a bunch of other features. Manual install for Firefox.²²⁾
Shadowban Scanner [@keita_roboin]
A tool that scans posts and profiles to see if their outreach is limited. For the paranoid.

Third-party services

For question-and-answer services, see Personal Q&A.

Privatter [@privatter] - An off-site blogging service with a handful of privacy features, including password-protected posts and restricting posts to only be viewable by followers.
Skeb [@skeb_jp] - It's an artist 'commission' service²³⁾ that uses a lot of wasei-eigo terminology, so please read the client guidelines and be very specific with your paid drawing request.
TwitLonger [@twitlonger] - An off-site blogging service which has allowed people to write longer posts since 2008. Due to the recent API changes, it hasn't returned yet.

Criticisms

Highly detrimental platform

The platform is rather misanthropic(human-hating) and stress-inducing, causing people to become reluctant to use it or quit, which isn't helped by the character limit making it easy for people to misinterpret posts. A malicious person could easily instigate fights with complete strangers because it's just so open.²⁴⁾ Despite all of this, the platform oddly persists, even with the whole post-acquisition uptick in blatant reactionary drivel.²⁵⁾²⁶⁾

Bias and manipulation

For most of its history, the platform has been a Western propaganda outlet, starting with Jack Dorsey's initial visit to Occupied Iraq²⁷⁾ and the Iranian Twitter Revolution.²⁸⁾²⁹⁾ After the FEI fearmongering, Twitter hired a former PsyOp officer,³⁰⁾³¹⁾ increased FBI communications per Twitter Files,³²⁾³³⁾ and hired many former FBI and Atlantic Council personnel³⁴⁾ to help curate propaganda.³⁵⁾

Their worst offense was the unbalanced 'state-affiliated media' label³⁶⁾ where they consulted the pro-defense ASPI,³⁷⁾ a think tank with a clear agenda³⁸⁾³⁹⁾⁴⁰⁾ to be hostile towards Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Venezuela, etc.⁴¹⁾ With the 2022 acquisition, most of these operations were torn down,⁴²⁾⁴³⁾⁴⁴⁾⁴⁵⁾ a temporary reprieve,⁴⁶⁾ until we realize that Elon Musk is a reactionary stooge working for the government.⁴⁷⁾

Major API changes

On January 12, 2023, the platform changed its API, breaking third-party clients in the process,⁴⁸⁾ and began enforcing “long-standing API rules”⁴⁹⁾ by clamping down on third-party clients,⁵⁰⁾ as the company was in a noticeably tight spot.⁵¹⁾⁵²⁾⁵³⁾⁵⁴⁾ The platform tried to end free API access,⁵⁵⁾⁵⁶⁾ but the backlash caused them to cede a limited form of free API access.⁵⁷⁾⁵⁸⁾ Oddly enough, Reddit followed suit.

Notes

Please keep the following points in mind when dealing with the platform:
1. The platform is not anonymous. This is a basic lesson of the internet, but don't announce or post about your illicit activities on the platform or its app, unless you know what you're doing.
2. The platform does not always reflect reality. It's infested with bots who intend to manipulate public opinion, but crypto nerds and the politically obsessed are kinda rare to find.
3. The platform is poorly coded. Personally, I really dislike when people obsess over follower counts and start getting paranoid about the algorithm or how they are allegedly shadowbanned.
Under the original administration, a verified badge (blue checkmark) application required you to have three news articles written on you in the past six months from 'verified' news outlets.⁵⁹⁾
The former 2010–2023 mascot of Twitter was called Larry the Bird,⁶⁰⁾ named after Larry Bird.
Despite their long history of selling user data,⁶¹⁾⁶²⁾ accounts must have a phone number, so users who wish to circumvent this must use a burner phone⁶³⁾ or borrow someone else's phone number.
Some hashtags will have a paid custom emoji next to it. These were called 'hashflags' which first debut for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2014 FIFA World Cup, then stuck around ever since.⁶⁴⁾ With the acquisition, the 'hashflags' were officially rebranded to 'hashmojis' instead.⁶⁵⁾
In the past, Twitter would suppress trends after some time to keep the news fresh, approximately three days, but activists and bots would start gaming the system by making typos of the original tag trend.
By 2019, the platform became a home for cryptocurrency discussion,⁶⁶⁾ and it seeped into the company.
- During the NFT craze, Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet for $2.9 million. It's worthless.⁶⁷⁾⁶⁸⁾
- In an October 2022 report, it was reported that 13% of Twitter was NSFW content, supposedly next to cryptocurrency, but the report curiously did not provide an estimate for this.⁶⁹⁾
- Binance reportedly gave $500 million to Elon Musk,⁷⁰⁾ which makes up 1.13% of their $44 billion.
You can always mute people if you don't want to give them the satisfaction of being blocked. :V
If you applied for the gold checkmark, intended for businesses and verified organizations,⁷¹⁾ please be aware that your application may be denied and they will not refund your $1,000.
With the Japanese community, “FF-gai kara shitsureishimasu” (FF外から失礼します), or “FF-gai” (FF外) for short, is an overly polite preface for “neither of us follow each other, so pardon my intrusion.”

External links

Twitter (X) - The front page of Twitter.
- @X, @Support, @XEng, @API - A handful of official accounts to keep an eye on.
- X Developers - The official forum for API development.
Nitter - The alternative, privacy-focused front-end. It was sadly discontinued around 2024.⁷²⁾⁷³⁾
- X Cancelled (xcancel.com) - One of the few working forks of Nitter.
Twitter Shadowban Test and Shadow Bird - A tool for the extremely paranoid.

status badges

¹⁾

"I am constantly insulted on this platform" (December 28, 2024). Twitter.

²⁾

The nickname, 'X, the Everything App', is a comically formal nickname that is said in a sarcastic or mocking tone. It calls back to Elon Musk's earlier attempts at generating hype for shareholders with a vague plan to turn the platform into an everything app, but everyone else just views it as a ridiculous term.

³⁾

The nickname 'Xitter' is supposedly pronounced 'Shitter', but the joke doesn't exactly land if you're aware of how other languages interpret the letter 'X', resulting in readings like 'Chitter', 'Kitter', 'Sitter', 'Zitter', etc.

⁴⁾

It should be noted that Blogger co-founder Evan Williams was one of Twitter's co-founders, so keep in mind that Odeo, Obvious Corporation, Twitter, and Medium didn't come out of nowhere.

⁵⁾

"just setting up my twttr" (March 21, 2006). Twitter.

⁶⁾

"A Conversation With Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey" (February 12, 2009). The Daily Anchor.

⁷⁾

"How Twitter Will Change as a Private Company" (October 28, 2022). The New York Times.

⁸⁾

"Musk Closes $44 Billion Twitter Deal, Ending Monthslong Saga" (October 27, 2022). Bloomberg.

⁹⁾

"Twitter, Inc. is now X Corp." (April 11, 2023). TechCrunch.

¹⁰⁾

"It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square." (July 23, 2023). Twitter.

¹¹⁾

"Twitter’s Rebrand Is A Cautionary Lesson For Marketers. Here’s Why" (July 30, 2023). Forbes.

¹²⁾

"Twitter now directs to X.com in the latest step in Musk's rebrand of the platform" (May 17, 2024). Business Insider.

¹³⁾

"Giving you more characters to express yourself" (September 26, 2017). Twitter.

¹⁴⁾

In the past, Twitter had public 'likes' (favorites) and made the idiotic decision to put 'likes' of the accounts you follow onto the timeline around August 17, 2014, which was an issue if you happen to follow adult content and knew that some of your followers were adverse to said content. This was eventually made private after it became an unnecessary source of scandalous drama on June 11, 2024.

¹⁵⁾

At one point, the 'bookmarks' had a reputation of being an unofficial 'private like', rather than a collection of posts you saved and intend to return to later, though they have recently added subscription-only folders.

¹⁶⁾

You could 'technically' follow accounts privately by adding them to a private list (though it obviously won't work if the account goes private) and possibly pin this list so it acts as a secret private timeline. However, this is honestly a bit much and I'd advise being honest, make another account, or use a Nitter instance.

¹⁷⁾

If you've rated community notes in the past, those technically don't count towards your 'profile' until you've been accepted into the program and set up a profile with a randomly generated alias. Besides, all those ratings would technically fall under 'ratings after a status was reached' which wouldn't impact your 'rating impact'.

¹⁸⁾

A lot of community notes are stuck in the 'pending' phase as its rating system is very fickle, relying on some vague degree of polarization to avoid ideological biases, but not too much or else it just ends up in limbo. As a result, notes will either: go public after 12 hours, long after the damage had been done, or never.

¹⁹⁾

Despite its attempts to avoid bias, your profile can easily get 'restricted' when you challenge or disagree with the 'popular' consensus, especially when it comes to war where 'manufactured consent' is rampant.

²⁰⁾

The notes simply 'discourage' the further dissemination of 'misinformation', but some users have managed to misconstrue this to further paranoia about 'algorithms' or 'shadow banning' on the spaghetti code website.

²¹⁾

For some reason, Twitter users will go “Erm, this image was X years ago!!” when it's a common practice to attach illustrative images or stock photos to news stories. You could easily argue “The post does not say, at any point, that the image is from the current 'on the ground' situation.”, but some indoctrinated dumbass will go “Erm, it's propaganda!!” and you'd be in the wrong.

²²⁾

"seems like oldtwitter on firefox is gone forever, mozilla team just disabled the extension and provided completely unreasonable terms that are impossible to fix i hate firefox and mozilla so much its unreal" (April 26, 2024). Twitter.

²³⁾

As a warning, Skeb's definition of a 'commission' is just a 'drawing request' with an offering. You must be detailed with the request, since you're not allowed to contact the artist (e.g. changes, details, estimate, reasons for denying, etc.) or else the service will ban and blacklist you.

²⁴⁾

A number of social networking services limit their search engine to find tagged posts, pages, or users, but Twitter's search engine grabs almost anything, making it easy for trolls to fish for their next target.

²⁵⁾

"Report: Tweets with racial slurs soar since Musk takeover" (November 10, 2022). Associated Press.

²⁶⁾

"How Elon Musk uses his X social media platform to amplify right-wing views" (August 13, 2024). PBS.

²⁷⁾

"Booting Up Baghdad: Tech Execs Take a Tour in Iraq" (July 20, 2009). Wired.

²⁸⁾

"Evaluating Iran's Twitter Revolution" (June 18, 2010). The Atlantic.

²⁹⁾

"The Truth About The Alt-Right: A Destruction by Facts and Logic" (July 6, 2020). Medium.

³⁰⁾

"Twitter’s ‘head of editorial’ for Middle East is officer in British Army’s information warfare unit" (September 30, 2019). The Independent.