X (formerly Twitter) is an American microblogging and social networking platform where registered users can share short messages in short posts (tweets), as well as liking posts and repost (retweet), as well as read and respond to other user's public posts.
Structure
Posts Short posts—often called as tweets—are publicly visible by default, but senders can restrict message delivery to only their followers. Users can also mute users they do not wish to interact with, block accounts from viewing their tweets and remove accounts from their followers list. Users can post via the X website, and may also subscribe other users known as "following" and subscribers are known as "followers" Individual posts can be forwarded by other users to their own feed, a process known as a repost─often called as a retweet. In 2015, Twitter launched "quote tweet" (originally called "retweet with comment"), a feature that allows users to add a comment to their retweets/reposts, nesting one post in the other. Users can also "like" (formerly "favorite") individual posts. The counters for likes, reposts, and replies appear next to the respective buttons in news feeds, called 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 post, formerly known as "quote tweets" and "retweet with comment" , have an own counter on their posts page. Until the legacy desktop front end that was discontinued in 2020, a row with miniature profile pictures of up to ten liking or reposting users was displayed (earliest documented implementation in December 2011 overhaul), as well as a reply counter next to the according button on a post's page. X allows users to update their profile via their mobile phone either by text messaging or by apps released for certain smartphones and tablets. X has been compared to a web-based Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client. In a 2009 Time magazine essay, technology author Steven Johnson described the basic mechanics of Twitter as "remarkably simple":
As a social network, Twitter revolves around the principle of followers. When you choose to follow another user, that user's posts appear in reverse chronological order on your main Twitter page. If you follow 20 people, you'll see a mix of tweets scrolling down the page: breakfast-cereal updates, interesting new links, music recommendations, even musings on the future of education. According to research published in April 2014, around 44% of user accounts have never tweeted. The first tweet was created by Jack Dorsey, one of Twitter's co-founders, at 12:50 pm PST on March 21, 2006, and reads "just setting up my twttr". In 2009, the first tweet was sent from space. US astronauts Nicola Stott and Jeff Williams took part in a live 'tweetup' from the International Space Station with around 35 members of the public at the NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In March 2021, Jack Dorsey listed his first tweet for sale. The tweet was sold for $2.5 million, it was sold to a Malaysian businessman, Sina Estavi. Along with the metadata of the original post, the buyer was to receive a certificate that was digitally signed and verified by Dorsey.
Content
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. 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"). 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.
Formats
Hashtags, usernames, retweets and replies
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. In 2014, in anticipation for the FIFA World Cup, Twitter introduced hashflags, special hashtags that automatically generate a custom emoji next to them for a certain period of time, following the success of a similar campaign during the 2010 World Cup. Hashflags may be generated by Twitter themselves (such as to raise awareness for social issues) or be purchased by corporations (such as to promote products and events). To repost a message from another user and share it with one's own followers, a user can click the repost (formerly retweet) button within the post. Users can reply to other accounts' replies, Since November 2019, users can hide replies to their messages. Since May 2020, users can select who can reply each of their tweets before sending them: anyone, accounts who follow the poster, specific accounts, and none. This ability was upgraded in July 2021 to make the feature retroactively applicable to tweets after they have been sent out.
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