Twitter facts for kids
Logo used since 2023
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X homepage visited while logged out in July 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 |
| CEO | Linda Yaccarino |
| 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, which used to be called Twitter, is a very popular online place where people connect and share short messages. It's one of the biggest social media sites in the world. You can share short messages, pictures, and videos, which are called "posts." You can also "like" what other people share. X also lets you send private messages, make video and audio calls, save posts, and join groups. It even has a chatbot called Grok and a feature for live audio chats called Spaces.
Contents
The Story of X: How it Started and Grew
X was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. It officially launched in July of that same year. Twitter, as it was known then, grew very quickly! By 2012, more than 100 million people were using it and sending 340 million posts every day.
At first, posts were very short, limited to just 140 characters, like a text message. In 2017, this limit was changed to 280 characters. For people who subscribe to X, the character limit was removed completely in 2023.
In October 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter for a lot of money. He said he wanted to make sure everyone could speak freely on the platform. In March 2023, the company that owned Twitter changed its name to X Corp..
Linda Yaccarino became the CEO of X in June 2023, but Elon Musk stayed on as the chairman. In July 2023, Musk announced that Twitter would change its name to "X" and its famous bird logo would be replaced. This change was finished by May 2024.
The X Logo: How it Changed Over Time
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2006–2010
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2010–2012
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2012–2023
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2023–present
World Leaders Using X
Many world leaders and their teams use X to talk to 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 study in 2013 found that most countries at the United Nations had official X accounts. These accounts helped leaders reach over 106 million followers!
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.
Most Followed Accounts on X
As of February 14, 2025, here are the top ten accounts with the most followers on X:
| Rank | Change | Account name | Owner | Followers (millions) |
Activity | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
@elonmusk | Elon Musk | 217.5 | Business magnate and chairman |  RSA Canada United States |
| 2 | |
@BarackObama | Barack Obama | 130.7 | 44th U.S. president | United States |
| 3 |  |
@Cristiano | Cristiano Ronaldo | 114.7 | Footballer |  POR |
| 4 |  |
@justinbieber | Justin Bieber | 109.8 | Musician | Canada |
| 5 | |
@rihanna | Rihanna | 108.2 | Musician and businesswoman |  Barbados |
| 6 | |
@katyperry | Katy Perry | 105.5 | Musician | United States |
| 7 | |
@narendramodi | Narendra Modi | 104.7 | Prime Minister of India |  IND |
| 8 | |
@realDonaldTrump | Donald Trump | 100.9 | 45th and 47th U.S. president | United States |
| 9 | |
@taylorswift13 | Taylor Swift | 94.5 | Musician | United States |
| 10 | |
@NASA | NASA | 84.8 | Space agency | United States |
Record-Breaking Moments on X
- A selfie taken by Ellen DeGeneres at the Academy Awards in March 2014 became the most shared image at the time. It was retweeted over 1.8 million times in just one hour!
- This record was later broken by Carter Wilkerson in May 2017, who got almost 3.5 million retweets.
- In January 2019, Yusaku Maezawa broke the record again with 4.4 million retweets for a giveaway announcement.
- The most posts sent in one second happened on August 2, 2013. During a Japanese movie showing, fans all tweeted the word "balse" at the same time, reaching 143,199 posts in one second!
- The most talked-about event in X history was on October 24, 2015. A special TV show in the Philippines got 41 million posts using the hashtag "#ALDubEBTamangPanahon."
- The fastest time to reach one million followers was set by Caitlyn Jenner in June 2015, who gained a million followers in just 4 hours and 3 minutes.
See also
In Spanish: Twitter para niños
