Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging service created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey as a side project at Obvious, creators of podcasting service Odeo. It was formally incorporated in May 2007. Users on Twitter can post 140-character status updates ("tweets"), and get updated on tweets by other users through the Twitter website, the mobile-optimized site, SMS text messages or a large number of Twitter API-based services and clients, including clients for most mobile devices such as the iPhone.

A post on the Twitter website or service is called a tweet. Here is an example of a tweet made in 2022 by Paul Pierce, a retired professional basketball player who was for many years the main star for the Boston Celtics:

Functionality is often developed at Twitter through a process of codifying common community practices. The syntax to reply to another user (so-called "at-replies") has been formalized from early usage, as have hashtags and 'retweeting' functionality, which allows a user to rebroadcast a Twitter message to other users.

Twitter's popularity

Twitter has been extremely popular: originally the preserve of the early adopting geek market (including a lot of attendees at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, Texas), it is now used by a wide variety of celebrities, politicians, sports figures, and other famous people. Many tweets in 2022 also include an image. As of 2022, Twitter had about 206 million daily active users, including 38 million in the United States.

Twitter bans Donald Trump (2020)

Twitter has been a source of controversy since 2020, when it banned President Donald J. Trump, for repeated violations of its rules, because the company deemed that his posts in the run-up to the January 6, 2021 riots at the U. S. Capital building were intended to incite violence The @realdonaldtrump handle had 88.7 million followers when Twitter suspended it, and its loss removed Trump's ability to reach his very large audience quickly. During prior 4 years of his presidency, Trump had famously used the Twitter platform to insult, deride and threaten his political opposition, not shying away from blatant sexism and displaying widespread hostility for illegal immigrants despite the fact that his wife is also a U. S. immigrant who, arguably, received preferential treatment in receiving residency rights after moving to New York City from Slovenia in 1996 while employed by one of Trump's businesses.

Elon Musk acquisition of Twitter could remove the Trump ban

As of 2022, Twitter is undergoing additional controversy because of its impending acquisition by ultra-billionaire Elon Musk, who is expected (if the acquisition completes) to remove much of the content moderation which is intended to limit the ability of extremists to use Twitter to promote personal and public violence, but which Trump supporters see as suppression of "free speech", with "free speech" being a euphemism in the eyes of many others for the right to use the platform to promote unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.