When the first tweet went around the world - From 'just setting up my twttr' to X: How Twitter transformed the world

Twitter began with a simple message on March 21, 2006, when Jack Dorsey posted the first tweet: 'just setting up my twttr'. That short update marked the start of a platform that would reshape how people share news and opinions. Over time, it grew into a global hub for real-time discussions and debates.

The idea for Twitter started as an internal project at Odeo, a podcasting company. Developers wanted a way to send brief status updates via SMS, limiting messages to 140 characters. This constraint became a defining feature, helping the service stand out as a fast, simple way to communicate.

Within a few years, Twitter gained widespread popularity. It became a key platform for breaking news, public conversations, and social movements. Its influence expanded so much that the first tweet was later sold as an NFT for several million dollars in 2021. In October 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. His takeover led to sweeping changes, including layoffs, revised content moderation rules, and new ways to make money from the platform. A year later, Musk rebranded Twitter as *X*, signalling his ambition to turn it into an 'everything app'. By March 2026, X had grown to over 500 million monthly active users worldwide. The platform's evolution under Musk has sparked ongoing discussions about how information is shared and controlled online.

From a single tweet in 2006 to a global platform with half a billion users, X has undergone dramatic shifts in purpose and scale. The changes introduced since 2022 continue to shape its role in public discourse. The platform remains a major force in how people consume and debate news today.