In 2006, the enormous blogging platform formally known as Twitter, now X, was created. It was the brainstorm child of former NYU student Jack Dorsey. With help from Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams, they were able to bring to life an app still used 17 years later.  

The first ever tweet was made in March, 2006 by Dorsey that said “just setting up my twttr”. Even one of the creators of twitter had to worry about word count.  

In 2008, Twitter was experiencing immense success and it was made clear that it needed firm leadership. The kind of leadership that will ensure the company’s growth and have the skills to keep it together. Dorsey was taking on the role of CEO, but with people flocking to the platform, they needed someone with more experience. So Evan Williams took over. 

Under Williams, Twitter became mainstream and everyone was flocking to be on the platform. Making appearances on other popular media like talking on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” helped boost the popularity of Twitter. Williams paved a path for Twitter. However, Williams stepped down as CEO only two years later, feeling more comfortable in a developer role. Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo stepped up to the task of being CEO.  

Leadership in Twitter seemed to be constantly tossed around early on. Costolo would stay five years before he eventually stepped down as well. It was reported that stockholders were not satisfied with the slow growth of the company under him.  

Under Costolo, Twitter became an essential tool, a form of social media that keeps people connected and sharing. It was even used during times of crisis to communicate. The United States President has an official account to post, which could be said how important Twitter seems to mean. It gets information out to the public fast and efficiently.  

Dorsey gave being CEO another shot in the middle of 2015. Even as popular as the app was, it looked like Twitter was severely lacking behind other platforms like Google and Facebook. It was not profitable like other platforms, and like any business it needs to make money to stay afloat. By 2017, it looked like Twitter was finally improving financially, but it still struggled competitively.  

Since then he had led Twitter to the platform it is until 2021, which he stepped down immediately and named Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal the new CEO.  This was nine months after they had to deactivate former President Donald Trump’s account, since he posted misleading information that led to U.S. Capitol riots.  

After 2021 were the events that led to Elon Musk acquiring Twitter and turning it into the platform now called X.  

In 2022, Elon Musk would become the largest shareholder, owning 9.1 percent of Twitter stock. He was offered a seat to be on the company’s board, but he turned it down because being on the board would limit the amount of stock he could purchase from the company. He would only be able to own up to 15 percent of Twitter stock. That was enough for Musk to decline the offer.  

Only weeks later would he make an offer to own Twitter; he would pay $43 billion for the platform. They initially fought against the Musk take over, but in the end they accepted the money and Twitter now belongs to Musk. But was that enough? 

Following his acquisition of twitter, he would fire and lay off many Twitter employees and top executives. Hiring his own team to take a look at how Twitter succeeded and where they failed.  

One of the most controversial decisions that shook the internet is Twitter Blue. This is Twitter’s new subscription service that allows people to be verified if they pay $8 a month. Before Musk, Twitter would have to look at each account individually to prevent impersonation.  

This makes sense knowing that Twitter, as a company, has been suffering financially. It makes sense from a business standpoint to make a subscription service to make a profit. 

I do think it is silly to have to pay for a blue check mark. However, I am not someone who uses the service too often. Someone could say the same thing about GrubHub, if you are not someone not constantly ordering take-out it might seem ridiculous to pay for a delivery service.  

What was ironic about this is that after announcing and implementing Twitter Blue, the internet immediately abused it and made fun of it. Many accounts were able to look like celebrities and companies with the verified blue check mark. Musk then had to go back and implement a second layer of verification with tags under the account.  

Then a tragedy struck. We held a funeral of Twitter’s iconic blue bird and observed as an X took its place. I know I was confused when I looked down at my phone and wondered, where did Twitter go and why is there a giant X on my screen? You can imagine my confusion.  

Apparently it is because he plans to make it more than just a tweeting app, or is it called X-ing now? That part is still a little confusing. I think people were as confused as I was, because he had to add a description in the app store under the app name that reads “Formerly Twitter”.  

He wants to add features like being able to bring “you entire financial world” onto X, as Musk has posted. However, since the rebrand back in July nothing much has changed about the platform that has executed these plans. So right now it looks like a Twitter knock off, the same thing just without all the charm.  

Although I still grieve the blue bird we all knew and loved, I am interested to see what Elon Musk does with the app. If it is anything like his tweets, it will probably be unhinged and out of nowhere.