Twitter, or as we know it today – X, wasn’t always just a blue bird on your screen. Did you know Twitter almost got named Friend Stalker? Yes, really! One of its founders, Evan Williams, proposed this creepy name at the platform’s dawn. Another founder, Noah Glass, wanted to call it Twrr, inspired by the popular platform Flickr. Eventually, the name Twitter, meaning ‘to twitch’ or ‘chirp’, stuck—until Elon Musk rebranded it as X.
But wait, there’s more! Before Twitter, there was a startup called Odeo, a podcast platform that flopped hard. That’s when Jack Dorsey joined the team and combined SMS messaging with social networking, leading to Twitter’s launch in April 2006. Since then, Twitter became a go-to tool for journalists and amateur news sources alike.
And what about that little blue bird? It’s named Larry T Bird, after basketball legend Larry Bird. Designer Martin Graser used a whopping 15 symmetrical circles to craft the perfect, cute logo, which is actually a hummingbird.
Oh, and the hashtag? Not Twitter’s invention! In 2007, user Chris Messina came up with the hashtag to make tweet searches easier, and now hashtags are everywhere.
However, Twitter isn’t allowed everywhere. China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have completely blocked access, while Egypt, Nigeria, and Turkey have done so intermittently.
This social network changed how we communicate but also brought new dangers, like oversharing personal info. Thought you knew everything about Twitter? Think again!
So, what do you think? Is Twitter just a social network or something way more powerful and dark? Drop a comment, maybe we’ll uncover more secrets together!
