Latest news with #Twttr
News18
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
People Share Their Favourite Tweets On 19th Birthday: How Twitter Became Pop Culture Icon
Folks on Twitter came together to share their favourite tweets on app's 19th birthday. Egg display pictures, 140 characters, and celebrities who spoke like the common janta. 'Aapna kya lena dena," Salman Khan told us in 2010 on Twitter. The screenshot of that out-of-context tweet by Khan is still used as a meme to this date. Twitter, in every essence, was a pathbreaking social media microblogging website. It shrunk the world and brought the quirky (read: weird) minds under the wings. The young folks quickly realised the power of anonymity and began exhibiting their alter ego on a website not frequented by their Facebook relatives. The blue check mark was a flex that the credit card couldn't purchase. It was a liberating experience. The restrictive nature of words made users think hard and backspace to eternity. The message, even if it catered to 3 people living in different corners of the world, had to be effective. The validation from the strangers meant the world. Retweets mattered, sure, but they were only a byproduct. Twitter knew of Osama Bin Laden's execution before the world did. Before Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, Twitter was the real source of news. The wings of the Blue Bird may have been clipped, and the iconic name shelved. The 'X' we all know today is only two years old, when Elon Musk walked into the HQ with a sink and gave the app a new identity. The OG Twitter, however, turned 19 years old in July 2025. Founded by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, the app has experienced several iterations over the past two decades. But what has stayed intact are the 'tweets" that defined the platform, and people have now gathered to share their favourite takes and interactions on the site to relive the good ol' days. Bird Is Born Twitter, founded on March 21, 2006, was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams as an internal project at Odeo, a podcasting company facing obsolescence after Apple iTunes embraced podcasts in 2005. Dorsey, an Odeo engineer, proposed a platform for users to share SMS-like messages, birthing Twttr, later renamed Twitter. The introduction of hashtags by Chris Messina in 2007 became a cornerstone of its real-time, global communication, uniting people from casual chatter to major events. Twitter's concise tweets, retweets, and hashtags reshaped how governments, brands, celebrities, and individuals connect, leaving a lasting cultural impact. Nostalgia Time Pop Base, celebrating Twitter's 19th birthday, asked netizens to share their favourite tweets. It was only a matter of time that the good folks delivered. We have put together our favourite responses: — Denis B. Huppert 🇫🇷 (@dennisbhooper) July 17, 2025 you just had to be there — babeganoush 🍉 (@lilGoody2shoes) July 17, 2025 😂 — westerosies (@westerosies) July 17, 2025 — Samuuu | ▲ (@miiyashei) July 18, 2025 I cannot think of this without going into hysterics — Aelfred The Great (@aelfred_D) July 17, 2025 Hashtags In August 2007, Twitter user Chris Messina introduced hashtags with #barcamp on August 23, a feature that gained popularity and was officially adopted by Twitter in 2008 to tag and group related posts. The hashtag symbol, originally used to label channels on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) in 1988, became a key tool for content discovery on the platform. This innovation transformed how users connect and engage with global conversations. X Users on X have no real restrictions on character limit. The modern version of Twitter has an integrated AI chatbot (Grok), also owned by Musk. Posts on X enable the users to earn revenue through engagement and subscriptions. One can even upload an entire movie on the platform if they had free will. The feature of community notes help readers call out fake news. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
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First Post
15-07-2025
- Business
- First Post
History Today: How a side project in 2006 became Twitter and eventually X
On this day in 2006, Twitter was launched as a side project that allowed users to send short status updates to groups of friends by texting a single number. Over the next decade, it grew to over 300 million users. It eventually became one of the world's leading social media platforms. Twitter's journey took a new turn after Elon Musk bought the company in October 2022 read more Twitter had a big role in influencing politics and culture in the early 21st century. Reuters/File Photo On July 15, 2006, Twitter (now called X) became available to the public. Over the next ten years, the platform grew to have more than 300 million users. The online microblogging site was launched by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Also on this day in 1997, Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. As part of Firstpost Explainers' History Today series, here's a look at what happened on July 15: STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Twitter was launched On this day in 2006, Twitter, now called X, was launched as Odeo's side project that let users send short status updates to groups of friends by texting a single number. In the years that followed, Twttr became Twitter, and the simple idea of 'microblogging' quickly gained popularity. It went on to become one of the top social media platforms in the world. The online microblogging site was launched by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Reuters/File Photo Notably, Jack Dorsey came up with the idea of letting people send personal updates through SMS to groups. Six months after the launch, Twttr became Twitter. When it was made public, its creators added a 140-character limit to messages, which matched the standard length of a text message at the time. This was later changed to 280 characters. By 2013, the New York Times reported that Twitter had more than 2,000 staff members and over 200 million active users. In November that year, the company went public with a value of just over $31 billion. Twitter had a big role in influencing politics and culture in the early 21st century. In April 2022, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed plans for Twitter to merge with one of Elon Musk's companies, X Holdings. After Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, he began the process of merging it with X and changing its brand. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022. Reuters/File Photo The merger with X Corp. was completed in April 2023. In a court document filed in California in early April 2023, it was stated that Twitter, as a company, 'no longer exists.' Gianni Versace was killed On this day in 1997, world-famous Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot and killed by Andrew Cunanan outside his mansion in Miami. Versace was hit twice in the head, and Cunanan ran away from the scene. Notably, Cunanan had no past criminal record before he began a string of killings in Minneapolis in the spring of 1997. With the FBI already searching for him, Cunanan travelled to Miami Beach. On July 11, a fast-food worker recognised him, but police got there too late. Four days later, he shot Versace dead outside his South Beach home. World-famous Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot in 1997. AFP/File Photo Both Cunanan and Versace were openly gay and moved in similar social groups, but police found no proof they had ever met. Versace's murder led to a major manhunt for Cunanan, who was known for changing his look in every photo. On July 23, the search ended just 40 blocks from Versace's mansion, on a houseboat that Cunanan had broken into. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There, police found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. The weapon matched the one used in two other killings. He did not leave a note. This Day, That Year 1916: The Boeing Company, first named Pacific Aero Products Co., was set up in Seattle. 1971: Former US President Richard Nixon said he would visit communist China the next year. This was a major shift in US-China ties. 1996: American news channel MSNBC was launched by Microsoft and NBC, part of General Electric. 2020: George Floyd's family filed a case against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers charged in his death, saying the officers violated his rights and that the city had allowed a culture of force, racism and lack of accountability in its police force.
