Twitter facts for kids
Logo used since July 2023
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X homepage visited while logged out in August 2025
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Type of site
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Social networking service |
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| Available in | Multilingual |
| Founded | March 21, 2006, in San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Headquarters | Bastrop, Texas, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide, except blocking countries |
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| Founder(s) |
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| Chairman | Elon Musk |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | July 15, 2006 |
| Current status | Active |
| Native client(s) on | |
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Content license
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Proprietary |
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X, formerly known as Twitter until 2023, is a popular American online service. It lets people share short messages, pictures, and videos. These messages are called "posts" (they used to be called "tweets"). X is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world.
Users can also "like" other people's content. The platform offers direct messaging, video and audio calls, and special features like "Spaces" for live audio chats. There's also a chatbot called Grok and a job search tool. Users can add helpful notes to posts using the Community Notes feature.
Twitter was started in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. It officially launched in July 2006. The service grew very quickly. By 2012, over 100 million users were sending 340 million posts every day.
A key feature of the service was that posts had to be short. They were first limited to 140 characters. This limit changed to 280 characters in 2017. For people with paid subscriptions, the limit was removed in 2023.
The company is owned by X Corp.. This company took over from Twitter, Inc. in March 2023. This happened after Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 for about US$44 billion. Musk said he wanted to support free speech on the platform. Linda Yaccarino became the CEO on June 5, 2023, with Musk staying as chairman. In July 2023, Musk announced that Twitter would change its name to "X" and stop using the bird logo. This change was finished by May 2024.
In March 2025, X Corp. was bought by xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company. Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO in July 2025.
Contents
How X Started and Grew
Early Days: 2006–2021
Jack Dorsey first thought of the idea for a service where people could send short messages to a small group using SMS (text messages) in 2006. The first name for the project was twttr. This name was inspired by Flickr and the short length of SMS codes. The team later bought the domain twitter.com and changed the name to Twitter.
The first test version of Twitter was used by employees of a company called Odeo. The full version was made public on July 15, 2006. In October 2006, the founders and others from Odeo formed a new company, Obvious Corporation, and bought Odeo. Twitter then became its own company in April 2007.
Twitter became very popular during the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference. During this event, the number of posts sent each day jumped from 20,000 to 60,000. The company continued to grow quickly. By February 2010, users were sending 50 million posts daily. In June 2010, about 65 million posts were sent each day.
From September to October 2010, Twitter launched "New Twitter," a completely new version of its website. This update allowed users to see pictures and videos directly on Twitter without leaving the site. It also changed the look of the website. In 2019, Twitter was one of the top 10 most downloaded mobile apps of the decade.
On March 21, 2012, Twitter announced it had 140 million users. These users were sending 340 million posts every day. On June 5, 2012, Twitter changed its logo to just the bird symbol, removing the text. By December 2012, Twitter had over 200 million active users each month. In September 2013, about 60% of posts were sent from mobile phones.
In April 2014, Twitter updated its design again. It looked more like Facebook, with a profile picture and bio on the left side. By early 2019, Twitter had more than 330 million monthly active users. The platform saw a lot of growth during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Twitter started marking posts that had misleading information during this time.
In 2021, Twitter began working on "Spaces," a feature for live audio conversations. They also introduced "super follows," which let users pay to get exclusive content from creators. Twitter updated its design again in August 2021, with new colors and a font called Chirp.
Recent Changes: Since 2022
In October 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter. He wanted to make the platform a place for more free speech. After he took over, the platform faced some criticism.
Linda Yaccarino became the CEO on June 5, 2023. Musk remained as the chairman. In July 2023, Musk announced that Twitter would be renamed "X" and the bird logo would be removed. This change was completed by May 2024.
In March 2025, X Corp. was bought by xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company. This deal valued X at $33 billion. In July 2025, Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO.
What X Looks Like and What It Does
Posts
Posts on X are usually public, meaning anyone can see them. However, users can choose to make their account "protected." This means only people they approve can see their posts. Users can also send private "direct messages." You can post from the X website or mobile apps.
When you "follow" another user, you see their posts in your feed. People who follow you are called "followers." You can share someone else's post with your followers by "reposting" it (formerly "retweeting"). In 2015, X added a "quote post" feature. This lets you add your own comment when you repost someone else's content. You can also "like" individual posts.
X uses hashtags to group posts by topic. A hashtag is a word or phrase with a "#" sign in front of it, like #science. The "@" sign followed by a username is used to mention or reply to other users.
The original limit for posts was 140 characters. In 2016, X stopped counting attachments and links towards this limit. In 2017, the limit was increased to 280 characters. Since 2023, users with an X Premium subscription can create much longer posts, up to 4,000 characters.
X has its own URL shortening service called t.co. This service makes long web addresses shorter when you post them. It also helps protect users from harmful websites.
In June 2011, X added a built-in photo-sharing service. This allowed users to upload and attach photos directly to their posts. In 2016, X added the ability to write captions up to 480 characters for each image. By 2022, this feature was available to everyone, with a limit of 1000 characters. Images with descriptions have an "ALT" badge.
In 2015, X started letting users add poll questions to their posts. Polls can stay open for up to 7 days, and voters remain anonymous.
Videos and Audio
X has focused more on live video streaming. It has hosted streams of big events like political conventions and sports games. In 2017, X announced plans for a 24-hour streaming video channel with content from various partners.
X Spaces is a feature for live audio conversations. Users can host or join a "space" to talk with others. Up to 13 people can speak in a Space at once. Since October 2021, any X user can create a Space.
Trending Topics
X has a "trends" feature that shows popular topics among users. A word or phrase can become a "trending topic" based on how often it's mentioned. Some trends are shown globally, while others are specific to a country.
Lists
In late 2009, X added "Twitter Lists." This feature lets users create and follow a special list of accounts. Instead of following each person separately, you can follow a whole list at once. Lists can be public or private.
Moments
In October 2015, X introduced "Moments." This feature allows users to collect posts from others into a larger story. X first used this for news and events, but in September 2016, all users could create their own Moments.
How X Shows You Content
X uses a special computer program, called an algorithm, to decide which posts you see on your main page. This algorithm tries to show you posts that it thinks you'll find interesting, based on what you've liked or interacted with before.
X on Mobile Devices
X has mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android phones. In April 2017, X launched Twitter Lite. This was a smaller version of the app designed for areas with slower internet or phones with less storage.
X Premium (Paid Features)
On June 3, 2021, X announced a paid subscription service called Twitter Blue. After X rebranded, this service was renamed X Premium. It gives users extra features. In November 2023, a "Premium+" subscription was launched, which removes ads from your feed.
Verified Accounts
In November 2022, Elon Musk announced that account verification would be part of the paid X Premium service. Before this, verification was given to public figures. X states that paid verification helps reduce fake accounts.
The verification badge (a blue checkmark) was included in X Premium, which cost US$7.99 per month. After some issues with people pretending to be others, X temporarily stopped this feature. It was relaunched on December 12, 2022.
X later changed its verification system. Organizations now get a gold checkmark, and government accounts get a grey checkmark. These are part of the "Verified Organizations" program.
How Users Can Earn Money
In 2021, X started "Super Follows," which was later renamed "subscriptions." This lets eligible accounts charge a monthly fee for exclusive content.
In May 2021, X began testing a "Tip Jar" feature. This allows users to send money to certain accounts as a tip. In September 2021, X added the option to tip users with bitcoin. X does not take a cut of these tips.
In August 2021, X rolled out "Ticketed Spaces." This lets hosts charge between $1 and $999 for access to their live audio rooms.
Online Shopping
In July 2021, X started testing a "Shop module" for brands. This allows companies to show a list of products on their profiles. These links take users to external online stores to buy the products.
X Money Account
In January 2025, X announced plans for an "X Money Account" feature. This will be a digital wallet. It will let X users move money between bank accounts and their digital wallet. It will also allow instant payments between users. Visa is working with X on this project.
How Many People Use X
X does not share exact numbers of daily users. However, estimates vary. In February 2009, one study said X was the third most used social network. By April 2017, another study ranked it tenth, with 319 million monthly visitors. In 2017, its global user base was 328 million. According to Elon Musk, the platform had 600 million monthly active users in May 2024.
Who Uses X
In 2009, X was mainly used by older adults. Only 11% of users were aged 12 to 17. A study in June 2009 found that slightly more women used X than men (53% women, 47% men). It also found that a small number of users (5%) created most of the content (75% of all activity).
A 2016 survey found that 24% of online adults in the US used X. It was equally popular with men and women. However, it was more popular with younger people (36% of 18–29-year-olds). A 2019 survey found that X users are more likely to be under 50 years old. It also showed that 10% of the most active users are responsible for 80% of all posts.
What People Post
A study in 2009 looked at 2,000 posts. It found that 40% were "pointless babble," and 38% were conversational. "Pass-along value" (sharing useful info) was 9%, and self-promotion was 6%. Spam and news each made up 4%.
Some experts say that "pointless babble" is actually a way for people to stay connected and know what others are doing.
How X Works
Technology Behind X
X uses open-source software, which means its code is available for others to use and improve. The X website uses a framework called Ruby on Rails. In its early days, X stored posts in MySQL databases. As the number of posts grew, the system needed to be rebuilt.
Since 2009, X has been slowly switching to software written in Scala. This change made X much faster, handling many more requests per second. X also moved from one big app to many smaller services that work together.
X engineers confirmed in 2011 that they switched to a Java server called Blender for search. Individual posts get unique IDs called "snowflakes." The t.co service shortens links and checks for spam. Posts are stored in a MySQL database.
Tools for Developers
X was known for having a very open and powerful API (Application Programming Interface). This allowed other websites and apps to connect with X. Developers created many useful tools, like early mobile apps and URL shorteners.
However, between 2010 and 2012, X made some changes that upset developers. They added stricter limits on how often developers could use the API. This caused some third-party apps to stop working.
In July 2020, X released a new version of its API. In January 2023, X stopped allowing free access to its APIs. This caused many third-party X apps to shut down. X now offers paid plans for API access.
Open Source Contributions
X has used and released a lot of open-source software. They have thanked many open-source projects they used, from programming languages like Ruby and Scala to tools like Git.
On March 31, 2023, X released the source code for its recommendation algorithm on GitHub. This algorithm decides which posts appear on a user's timeline. Elon Musk had promised to do this to make the platform more transparent.
How X Looks
X introduced its first major redesign in September 2010. It had two main sections and focused on showing pictures and videos directly in posts. This redesign tried to make the website feel more like mobile apps.
In 2011, the layout was updated again. It added "Connect" (for interactions like replies) and "Discover" (for trending topics). In March 2012, X became available in languages that read from right to left, like Arabic and Hebrew. By 2023, the X website supported 34 languages.
In September 2012, new profile layouts were introduced with larger header images. The "Discover" tab was replaced by an "Explore" tab on the mobile app in April 2015. This tab shows trending topics and Moments.
In July 2019, X officially released another redesign. This update aimed to make the website and mobile app look more similar. It used a three-column layout with a sidebar for common areas like "Explore."
Security Measures
After some early security problems, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against X. In June 2010, X agreed to improve its security and have independent audits. After some famous accounts were hacked, X added two-factor login verification in April 2013. This adds an extra step to log in, making accounts more secure.
On July 15, 2020, a major hack affected 130 high-profile accounts, including those of famous people. Scammers used these accounts to ask for bitcoin. X quickly disabled posting from verified accounts and reset passwords. It was found that the hackers used a trick called social engineering to get access to X employee tools.
On August 5, 2022, X announced a bug that allowed hackers to link email addresses and phone numbers to user accounts. This bug was fixed, but a hacker later used it to get a list of over 5.4 million user profiles. This information could be used for harmful activities like phishing.
Outages
In the past, when X had problems, users would sometimes see an image called the "fail whale." This image showed eight orange birds lifting a whale from the ocean. It meant "Too many posts! Please wait a moment and try again." X engineers later removed the "fail whale" because the platform became more stable.
How People Use X in Society
X in Emergencies
X's real-time updates make it useful for emergency communication. It has been used to share breaking news during natural disasters like earthquakes and bushfires. Researchers are also studying how X can help track epidemics.
X in Education
X has become a tool for learning in schools and universities. It helps students and teachers communicate. It can make learning more informal and help shy students participate more. Using X in classes can improve student engagement and grades.
Teachers and students use hashtags to talk about specific topics. For example, #edchat is used for general education discussions. More specific hashtags like #scichat (science) or #engchat (English) help narrow down conversations.
Public Figures and News
Many people say that X has changed how news is reported. It allows for instant, short, and frequent communication. Celebrities, politicians, and journalists often use X to share information and discuss events. This can sometimes make arguments on X seem like big national debates.
World Leaders
Many world leaders and diplomats use X to talk with people in other countries and their own citizens. This is sometimes called "Twitter diplomacy." For example, Queen Elizabeth II sent her first post in October 2014. A 2013 study found that 153 out of 193 countries at the United Nations had government X accounts.
Rules and Moderation
X is blocked in some countries, like Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea. It has also been temporarily blocked in other countries. X works with governments to remove certain content. For example, in 2017, Turkey was the country with the most requests for content removal.
Moderating Posts
X has removed many fake accounts and propaganda accounts. These accounts were often linked to governments trying to spread biased information. For example, X removed accounts linked to Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, X started labeling posts that contained false medical information. In April 2020, X removed accounts that defended a president's response to the pandemic.
Community Notes
In August 2020, X started developing a feature called Birdwatch, now known as Community Notes. This tool helps fight misinformation. It allows users to add helpful notes to posts that might be misleading. The goal is to have the X community help inform others.
The program started with a small group of contributors in January 2021. By September 2022, it had expanded to 15,000 users. In November 2022, at the request of Elon Musk, Birdwatch was renamed Community Notes and expanded to more countries.
Popular Accounts and Records
Accounts with Many Followers
As of May 2025, here are the top ten X accounts with the most followers:
| Rank | Change | Account name | Owner | Followers (millions) |
Activity | Country |
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| 1 |  |
@elonmusk | Elon Musk | 220.1 | Business magnate and chairman |  South Africa Canada United States |
| 2 | |
@BarackObama | Barack Obama | 130.3 | 44th U.S. president | United States |
| 3 | |
@Cristiano | Cristiano Ronaldo | 115.4 | Footballer |  Portugal |
| 4 |  |
@narendramodi | Narendra Modi | 108.736 | Prime Minister of India |  India |
| 5 |  |
@justinbieber | Justin Bieber | 108.702 | Musician | Canada |
| 6 | |
@rihanna | Rihanna | 107.7 | Musician and businesswoman |  Barbados |
| 7 | |
@realDonaldTrump | Donald Trump | 105.1 | 45th and 47th U.S. president | United States |
| 8 | |
@katyperry | Katy Perry | 104.6 | Musician | United States |
| 9 | |
@taylorswift13 | Taylor Swift | 94.1 | Musician | United States |
| 10 | |
@NASA | NASA | 86.7 | Space agency | United States |
Record-Breaking Posts
A selfie taken by 86th Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres in March 2014 became the most reposted image at the time. It was reposted over 1.8 million times in the first hour. This record was broken in May 2017 by Carter Wilkerson, who got almost 3.5 million reposts.
The most reposted post ever was by Yusaku Maezawa in January 2019, with 4.4 million reposts. He broke his own record with another post in December 2019, which got 3.8 million reposts.
The most posts sent in one second happened on August 2, 2013. During a Japanese TV showing of the film Castle in the Sky, fans all posted the word balse at the same time. This caused a global peak of 143,199 posts in one second.
The fastest time to reach a million followers was set by Caitlyn Jenner. She joined X on June 1, 2015, and gained a million followers in just 4 hours and 3 minutes.
Fun Facts About X
- The first idea for this service was called twttr. This name was inspired by Flickr and the short codes used for text messages. The company later bought the name "Twitter" and changed it.
- Before it became X, Twitter was known around the world for its blue bird logo, called the Twitter Bird.
- X has apps for phones and tablets like iPhone, iPad, and Android.
- A small group of very active users (about 10%) create most of the posts (about 80%).
- In 2017, Twitter launched Twitter Lite, a smaller version for places with slow internet or phones with little storage.
- In 2023, the X website supported 34 different languages.
- X uses open-source software, which means its code is available for others to see and use.
- In 2020, it was thought that about 15% of accounts were run by internet bots (computer programs) instead of real people.
- X is often used as a way to share breaking news quickly, like during emergencies.
- Many colleges and universities use X as a tool for learning and communication.
- The leaders of 125 countries and many other important politicians have X accounts. They have sent over 350,000 posts and have almost 52 million followers combined.
Images for kids
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2006–2010
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2010–2012
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2012–2023
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2023–present
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X's profile in August 2023
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Donald Trump's X post from July 2017
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Jack Dorsey (left) and Barack Obama at a Twitter Town Hall in July 2011.
See also
In Spanish: Twitter para niños
