Timeline of Twitter

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The history of Twitter, later known as X, can be traced back to a brainstorming session at Odeo.

Major events

More information Time period, Key developments at Twitter ...
Time periodKey developments at Twitter
March 2006  March 2007Twitter launches as a product of parent company Odeo. It grows slowly until March 2007, where usage grows dramatically after it is showcased at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference.
April 2007  October 2008Twitter grows rapidly under CEO Jack Dorsey, completing two funding rounds and launching official support for hashtags.
October 2008  October 2010Jack Dorsey steps down, and Evan Williams takes over as CEO. Twitter raises money, gets celebrity endorsements and publicity, and continues to grow rapidly. The first tweet from space occurs during this period. Twitter also announces that it will start allowing for advertising in the form of promoted tweets – "ordinary tweets that businesses and individuals want to highlight to a wider group of users."
October 2010  October 2013Evan Williams steps down as CEO, and Dick Costolo takes over.
October 2013Twitter announces plans and files relevant legal documents in October 2013 so as to go public. In November 2013, it has its initial public offering. Post-IPO, the company's pace of acquisitions increases dramatically.
November 2014  presentWith the launch of features such as Instant Timeline, While You Were Away, Quality Filter, Curator, and Moments, Twitter diversifies beyond just being a reverse chronological stream of tweets by people you already follow.
July 2015  presentDick Costolo departs Twitter and Jack Dorsey assumes the role of interim CEO. Commentators note that the "founder's instincts" are influencing the product's new direction.
April 2022Elon Musk and Twitter board reach a deal for Musk to acquire the company for $44 billion and take it private.[1][2]
July 2023Elon Musk rebrands Twitter to X.[3]
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Full timeline

More information Year, Month and date ...
YearMonth and dateEvent typeEvent
2004NovemberPreludeOdeo, Twitter's parent company, is started.
2005FebruaryPreludeOdeo's podcasting service is released, with very little public response.
2006February 26–27CreationJack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams and Biz Stone discuss the idea of using text messaging to share statuses, and decide to work on the project. The original idea is attributed to Jack Dorsey, and called the status concept.[4]
2006Early MarchCreationThe name Twitter (spelled twttr at the time and using a green site logo[5]) is chosen for the service. The idea for the name is attributed to Noah Glass.[6][7]
2006March 21CreationTwitter is officially set up and Jack Dorsey sends the first tweet.[8]
2006July 15Media coverageNoah Glass tells Om Malik about Twitter (then called twttr), and Malik writes what appears to be the first ever news coverage of Twitter,[9] and several people, including Malik himself, have commented on the accuracy (or lack thereof) of its predictions from the perspective of hindsight.[10][11][12]
2006August 3UsageTwitter users tweet about a mild (4.4 on the Richter scale) earthquake in California. The event helps Twitter's team see the potential of Twitter as a way for many people to contribute to the reporting of a live event, each from his or her own vantage point.[13]
2006SeptemberCreationTwttr renames itself Twitter after purchasing the Twitter.com domain name.[14]
2006SeptemberUserbaseTwitter attempts to have a grand launch at the Love Parade, but gets very little traction there, with only 100 new signups.[15]
2006OctoberFinancial/legal and company operationBiz Stone, Evan Williams, Dorsey, and other members of Odeo, form Obvious Corporation and acquired Odeo, together with its assets—including Odeo.com and Twitter.com—from the investors and shareholders.[16]
2007March 12UserbaseTwitter is highly successful at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) and gets a major bump in usage from the event.[17][18][19] Commentator Steven Levy calls this a tipping point for Twitter.[20]
2007AprilFinancial/legal and company operationTwitter spins off into its own company.[21]
2007June 26Financial/legalTwitter announces that it has closed a funding round led by Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures.[22] The five-million-dollar round values Twitter at $20 million.[23]
2007August 23UsageThe hashtag (#), first proposed by user Chris Messina, debuts on Twitter.[24]
2008June 24Financial/legalTwitter announces the closure of its second funding round, welcoming new investors Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital and Jeff Bezos of Bezos Expeditions. Existing partners Union Square Ventures and Digital Garage also invest more.[25]
2008October 16Company operationIt is announced that Jack Dorsey has stepped down from the CEO role at Twitter, and Evan Williams takes over.[26][27][28][29]
2009February 13Financial/legalTwitter announces the closure of yet another funding round, with new investors Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital and Todd Chaffee of Institutional Venture Partners.[30][31]
2009April 17Media coverage, userbase expansionEvan Williams appears alongside Ashton Kutcher on Oprah Winfrey's show to explain Twitter to Oprah's audience.[32]
2009April 20 onwardMedia coverage, userbase expansionExecutives from Twitter and WordPress head over to Iraq to expose the people there to social media and the Internet.[33]
2009April 30Media coverageTwitter executives Biz Stone and Evan Williams are included in the TIME 100.[34]
2009June 15–16UsageTwitter reschedules planned downtime for maintenance so as not to conflict with a large planned protest in Iran.[35] Because a US State Department official had emailed Twitter about the planned protest, newspapers speculate that Twitter rescheduled its downtime because of pressure from the US government.[36][37][38]
2009OctoberUsageTwitter posts are indexed in real time by Google Search (Google Real-Time Search).[39]
2010January 22UsageThe first unassisted off-Earth Twitter message is posted from the International Space Station by NASA astronaut T. J. Creamer.[40]
2010April 13ProductTwitter announces that it will start allowing for advertising in the form of promoted tweets – "ordinary tweets that businesses and individuals want to highlight to a wider group of users."[41][42][43]
2010 September[44] Product Implementation of hash-bang fragment URLs and AJAX-based page loading. Replaced by JavaScript PushState in early 2012 due to problems with compatibility and shareability.[45][46]
2010October 4Company operationEvan Williams steps down as CEO, and Dick Costolo, the erstwhile COO, takes over as CEO.[47][48][49]
2011April 5, April 20ProductTwitter tests a new homepage and phased out the "Old Twitter."[50] However, a glitch came about after the page was launched, so the previous "retro" homepage was still in use until the issues were resolved; the new homepage was reintroduced on April 20.[51][52]
2011July 5AcquisitionTwitter acquires BackType, a real-time social analytics platform.[53][54]
2011September 8–9Financial/legalTwitter closes its Series G round, raising $800 million at a $8 billion valuation. Of the $800 million, $400 million buys off shares from existing investors and the remaining $400 million goes to the company.[55][56]
2011December 8ProductTwitter overhauls its website once more to feature the "Fly" design, which the service says is easier for new users to follow and promotes advertising. In addition to the Home tab, the Connect and Discover tabs are introduced along with a redesigned profile and timeline of Tweets. The site's layout is compared to that of Facebook.[57][58]
2012February 21ProductTwitter announces a partnership with Russian search engine Yandex. Yandex, a Russian search engine, finds value within the partnership due to Twitter's real time news feeds. Twitter's director of business development explained that it is important to have Twitter content where Twitter users go.[59]
2012March 21UserbaseTwitter celebrates its sixth birthday while also announcing that it has 140 million users and sees 340 million tweets per day. The number of users is up 40% from their September 2011 number, which was said to have been at 100 million at the time.[60]
2012AprilCompany operationTwitter announces that it is opening an office in Detroit, with the aim of working with automotive brands and advertising agencies.[61] Twitter also expanded its office in Dublin.[62]
2012June 5ProductA modified logo is unveiled through the company blog, removing the text to showcase the slightly redesigned bird as the sole symbol of Twitter.[63]
2012August 22ProductName of tweets' source client no longer displayed.[64] Reinstated in December 2018.
2012October 5AcquisitionTwitter acquired a video clip company called Vine that launches (later) in January 2013.[65][66] Twitter released Vine as a standalone app that allows users to create and share six-second looping video clips on January 24, 2013. Vine videos shared on Twitter are visible directly in users' Twitter feeds.[67] Due to an influx of inappropriate content, it is now rated 17+ in Apple's app store.[68]
2012December 18UserbaseTwitter announces it had surpassed 200 million monthly active users. Twitter hit 100 million monthly active users in September 2011.[69]
2013March 24ProductLine breaks[70][71][72]
2013April 18ProductTwitter launches a music app called Twitter Music for the iPhone.[73]
2013June 13ProductShutdown of public site API "1.0"[74]
2013August 28AcquisitionTwitter acquires Trendrr, a real-time social data company.[75]
2013September 9AcquisitionTwitter acquires MoPub.[76]
2013September 12Financial/legalTwitter announces that it has filed papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of a planned stock market listing.[77]
2013October 4Financial/legalTwitter releases an 800-page prospectus in preparation for the IPO.[78]
2013November 6–7Financial/legalOn November 6, 70 million shares[79] are priced at US$26 and issued by lead underwriter Goldman Sachs.[80] On November 7, trading of the shares begins on the New York Stock Exchange. The share closes at US$44.90, giving the company a valuation of around US$31 billion.[81]
2014AprilProductDesktop website layout majorly redesigned. This layout served as main front end for desktop web users until July 2019.
2014June 19AcquisitionTwitter acquires SnappyTV.[82]
2014June 30AcquisitionTwitter confirms acquisition of mobile ad retargeting startup TapCommerce.[83]
2014July 31AcquisitionTwitter acquires password security startup Mitro and open sources the product.[84]
2014November 12Product, userbaseTwitter announces "Instant Timeline"—a way to show users who have just created accounts interesting content even before they have followed anybody. Around the same time, Twitter announces that it will make the timeline more customized, highlighting to a user the most important tweets while they were away, rather than simply showing a reverse chronological feed. Other features announced include better video capability and the ability to share public tweets privately with one's followers to discuss them.[85]
2014December 2ProductTwitter announces a new suite of anti-harassment tools and promises faster response times for abuse complaints.[86]
2015January 20AcquisitionTwitter acquires India-based mobile marketing startup ZipDial.[87][88]
2015January 21ProductTwitter officially launches its "While You Were Away" feature.[89]
2015January 27ProductLaunch of video uploading through mobile app and direct messaging in groups.[90]
2015February 11AcquisitionTwitter announces that it has acquired Niche, an ad network for social media stars, founded by Rob Fishman and Darren Lachtman.[91] The acquisition price is reportedly $50 million.[92]
2015February 17ProductTwitter lets people share team accounts without sharing passwords, with its new TweetDeck Team feature.[93][94][95]
2015March 5Product, monetizationTwitter announces that it will tap data from its Marketing Platform Partners and allow publishers to target ads to specific audiences based on that data.[96][97]
2015March 9AcquisitionTwitter acquires Periscope, a live video streaming startup.[98][99]
2015March 23ProductTwitter starts rolling out a "Quality Filter" to verified iOS users so that people can more easily keep bullying and unpleasant tweets out of their stream. A number of news articles commented that it worked quite well.[100][101][102][103]
2015March 31ProductTwitter publicly launches Curator, a real-time search and filtering feature for media outlets, that some commentators call a Storify competitor.[104][105][106]
2015April 2AcquisitionTwitter acquires TenXer, a platform for developers and engineers to collaborate more effectively.[107]
2015April 7ProductAdded feature to quote tweets[108]
2015April 28AcquisitionTwitter acquires with $532 million in stock TellApart, an ad technology company with rich user profiles, and partners with DoubleClick, Google's ad exchange.[109][110][111]
2015April 28FinancialTwitter shares fall in price by about 18% based on their disappointing quarterly revenue ($436 million), earning, and user growth numbers.[112][113][114] The drop begins even before Twitter's official announcement because the results are scraped by financial intelligence firm Selerity from Twitter's website.[115][116]
2015May 18ProductTwitter completes the rollout of its new search interface for logged-in web users.[117][118]
2015May 19Use in other productsGoogle adds tweets to its mobile search results.[119][120][121][39]
2015June 11 (announcement), July 1 (planned change)Company operationDick Costolo steps down as CEO, co-founder Jack Dorsey returns as interim CEO. Costolo will remain on the Board. Shares are up 3% on the announcement.[122][123][124]
2015June 17AcquisitionTwitter acquires Cambridge-based machine learning startup Whetlab.[125]
2015September 30ProductTwitter expands Buy buttons through partnerships with BigCommerce, Demandware, and Shopify.[126][127]
2015October 6ProductTwitter debuts Twitter Moments, a way for people to get a quick overview of important tweets or chains of tweets that occurred recently.[128][129]
2015October 14Company operationOmid Kordestani leaves his job as Chief Business Officer at Google to become Executive Chairman at Twitter.[130] His base salary is $50,000 and he is eligible for up to $12 million in stock based on the company's performance.[131][132]
2015November 3ProductTwitter replaces the Favorite button with a Like button and the star symbol (used to symbolize favoriting) with a heart symbol.[133][134][135] Twitter reports a 6% increase in usage of the feature after the change,[136] and also appears to be experimenting with offering a more diverse set of emojis, prompting commentators to draw parallels with Facebook's Reactions feature.[137]
2015November 4ProductTwitter launches a political transparency page, so that people can better engage with policy issues on Twitter.[138]
2016February–MarchProductTwitter rolls out a change to its feed, making recommended tweets the default option, rather than the reverse chronological format that it had used since launch.[139] The rollout officially begins on February 10.[140][141] The rollout is completed on March 17, 2016.[142] Users are allowed to opt out, but Twitter reports in April 2016 that the percentage of users who opted out is in the "low single digits".[143]
2016May 24ProductTwitter announces that attached photos and videos will not be counted towards the 140 character limitation, and that a tweet beginning with a handle will be seen by followers.[144]
2016June 14 or 15ProductAdded ability to retweet oneself[145][146]
2016June 20AcquisitionTwitter acquires Magic Pony Technology, a company based out of London that has developed techniques of using neural networks (systems that essentially are designed to think like human brains) and machine learning to provide expanded data for images.[147]
2016June 24ProductTwitter launches tags to location feeds with Foursquare. People can see which tweets are from a specific place.[148]
2016September 23Acquisition (potential)CNBC reports that Twitter is in talks with potential acquirers including Google and Salesforce.com.[149] On the same day, TechCrunch reports on the departure of two key Twitter team members.[150]
2016October 21DowntimeA distributed denial of service attack on DNS provider Dyn's servers in the United States East Coast causes DNS resolution problems for many websites include Twitter, Reddit, GitHub, Spotify, and others, mostly for users in the Americas.[151]
2016October 27Company operationTwitter announces that it plans to cut 350 jobs (around 9% of its global workforce).[152]
2016October 27VineVine announces that Twitter would be discontinuing the Vine mobile app. Vine says users of the service would be notified before any changes to the app or website are made. The company also states that the website and the app will be still available for users to view and download Vines; however, users will no longer be able to post.[153]
2016November 1Company operationRishi Jaitly, Twitter's head of India, announces his departure from the company.[154][155]
2016November 9Company operationAdam Bain, Twitter's chief operating officer, announces he will leave the company.[156]
2016December 1AcquisitionTwitter acquires Yes, Inc., the company that made several apps including Frenzy. All of Yes's apps would shut down. In the process of the acquisition, Keith Coleman, who had served as CEO of Yes, becomes a new vice president of product for Twitter.[157][158]
2016December 20Company operationAdam Messinger, Twitter's chief technology officer, announces his departure from the company.[159] On the same day, Josh McFarland, a vice president of product, also announces his departure from Twitter.[160][161]
2017JanuaryTwitter announces that it would shut down the Twitter Dashboard.[162]
2017January 12CompetitionThe founders of App.net announce that the platform will shut down on March 14, 2017. App.net has been called "an ad-free, subscription-based, Twitter clone".[163][164] The source code for App.net will be made available through its GitHub account.[165]
2017January 18AcquisitionTwitter announces it has sold Fabric, Twitter's developer platform, to Google.[166][167][168]
2017January 20VineTwitter launches an online archive of Vine videos.[169]
2017January 26ProductTwitter launches the "Explore" tab, which replaces the "Moments" tab. The Explore tab bundles together Moments, trends, live video streams, and search.[170]
2017January 27LegalTwitter releases two national security letters it had received from the United States federal government. The release followed the lifting of the gag order placed on Twitter to not release the letters. The letters are from September 2015 and June 2016.[171][172][173][174]
2017 March 30 Product Usernames no longer inside tweet replies[175]
2017 March 31 Product Default profile picture changed from egg with randomly coloured background to grey person silhouette.[176]
2017 April 6 Product Introduction of "Twitter Lite", a progressive web app for mobile users.[177]
2017 April Product Font size of tweets in timeline consistent; some tweets' font no longer appears larger.[178]
2017 June 15 Product Redesign of user interface icons such as "like", "retweet", "reply", and circular profile pictures, following a trend widely adapted by other large social media sites.[179]
2017 November 7 Product Twitter increases tweets' character limit from 140 to 280 for all accounts. The earliest rollout to select accounts happened in September.[180]
2017 November 10 Product Twitter increases display names' character limit from 20 to 50 characters.[181]
2017 December Product Ability to post threads of multiple tweets at once[182]
2018 July 13 Product Locked and suspended accounts no longer add to profiles' follower counts, making the appearance of a sudden drop in following on popular accounts.[183]
2018 September Legal Jack Dorsey testifies before the U.S. senate alongside Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.[180]
2018 December 20 Product Tweet source label reinstated on the website and mobile app, after previously removed in August 2012.[184]
2019 March Product Earliest trial of vertical left-side navigation bar column on the progressive web app ("Twitter Web App"). Gradually rolled out, starting with Microsoft Windows 10 users.[185][186] In June 2019, this layout was rolled out to all users of "Twitter Web App".[187]
2019 May 7 Product Added ability to attach media (images or a video) to quote tweets[188]
2019 June Company Operation Twitter reveals data showing thousands of fake accounts linked to foreign governments like Iran and Russia.[180]
2019 July 15 Product Progressive web app front end (known as "Twitter Web App", formerly "Twitter Lite") set to default for desktop website users.
2019 July 15 Product TLS 1.0 and 1.1 support ended, placing Twitter among the earliest sites to do so.
2019September 5ProductLine breaks in biography texts[189]
2020 March Product Multimedia viewer overhaul for desktop users of "Twitter Web App", with the host tweet and its replies appearing in a scrollable and retractable side bar on the right, similarly to Facebook and Instagram. Gradually rolled out.[190]
2020 June 1 Product Legacy (2014) web front end, also known as "Twitter Web Client", discontinued.
2020 August 11 Product Ability to limit replies to individual tweets to followed or mentioned users.[191] First tested in May 2020.[192] Expanded to be adjustable after tweeting in July 2021.[193]
2020 August 26 Product Added counter for quote tweets[194]
2020 November Product Trial with changed retweeting behaviour, where users are prompted to quote the tweet with a comment rather than a menu with a selection between both. A quoteless retweet would only be done if nothing was entered in the text box. The trial lasted for a month.[195]
2020 December 15 to 16 Product Shutdown of "M2" mobile web front end which commenced as mobile front end in the early 2010s and later served as fallback to low-end devices/browsers, as well as browsers with JavaScript deactivated or unsupported.
2021 May Product Removal of the automated picture cropping algorithm used for previews in tweets and timelines.[196][197]
2021 October 14 Product First trial of downvoting feature[198]
2022 April 25 Company operation Elon Musk and Twitter board reach a deal for Musk to acquire the company for $44 billion and take it private.[1][2]
2022 August 1 Product Initial tests of "tweets per month" counter.[199]
2022 August 23 Legal Contents of Whistleblower complaint to the United States Congress is published, alleging multiple violations of United States securities regulations, the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, and a 2011 enforceable consent decree reached with the Federal Trade Commission after several issues between 2007 and 2010.[200]
2022 October 27 Company operation Elon Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter.[201]
2022 November 1-9 Product Announcement of new version of Twitter Blue with verification system, costing $7.99 per month.[202] Launched 8 days later.[203]
2022 November 8 Product Addition of "Official" label for government, company, and public figure accounts[204]
2022 November 18-19 Company operation Elon Musk reinstates several previously banned accounts, including Donald Trump[205][206]
2022 December 10 Product Relaunch of Twitter Blue with higher price on iOS[207]
2022 December 18 Product Brief ban on posting links to other social media platforms, reverted a day later[208]
2022 December 19 Company operation Elon Musk runs a poll asking if he should resign as Twitter's CEO.[209]
2022 December 19 Product Launch of gold verified checkmarks and square profile pictures for brands as part of Twitter Blue for Business, as well as gray checkmarks for government accounts[210]
2022 December 23 Product Addition of public view counter (or "impression counter") to individual tweets.[211]
2023 January 19 Product Twitter bans third-party client apps, resulting in the discontinuation of apps like Twitterrific and Tweetbot.[212]
2023 February 17 Product Twitter starts charging for SMS two-factor authentication, with the feature being limited to Twitter Blue subscribers effective March 20[213]
2023 March 23 Product Announcement of discontinuation of legacy verified checkmarks as of April 1,[214] later delayed to April 20[215]
2023 March 31 Product Twitter's algorithm is made open source[216]
2023 April 3-6 Product Twitter briefly replaces its logo with a Doge logo for 3 days.[217]
2023 April 10 Company operation Twitter, Inc. is merged with X Corp.[218]
2023 April 20 Product Discontinuation of legacy verified checkmarks[215]
2023 May 12 Company operation Linda Yaccarino is appointed as Twitter's new CEO following Musk's resignation[219]
2023 June 12 Company operation Linda Yaccarino begins her tenure as Twitter's CEO[220]
2023 June 30 Product Unregistered users are blocked from accessing profiles and tweets, citing data scraping from AI[221] companies[222]
2023 July 3 Product Relaunch of new TweetDeck for verified users[223]
2023 July 23 Product Elon Musk rebrands Twitter to "X".[224]
2023 August 5 Product Twitter Blue is rebranded to X Premium[225]
2023 August 15 Product TweetDeck (rebranded to X Pro) now requires subscription[226]
2023 August 25 Product Launch of X Hiring for Verified Organizations[227]
2023 October 4 Product Headlines removed from links in posts[228]
2023 October 25 Product Launch of audio and video calls[229]
2023 October 27 Product Launch of additional Premium subscription tiers (Basic, Premium, and Premium+)[230]
2023 November 3 Product Launch of Grok chatbot for X Premium subscribers[231]
2023 November 16 Company operation Multiple companies pull advertising from X after Musk's antisemitic posts[232]
2023 December 21 Outage Global outage of X[233]
2024 January 2 Product Headlines are re-added to article links with small text[234]
2024 March 17 Product Grok is made open source[235]
2024 April 3 Product Gifting of Premium subscriptions to accounts with over 2,500 verified followers, and Premium+ for accounts with over 5,000 verified followers[236]
2024 May 17 Product URL is changed from Twitter.com to X.com[237]
2024 June 11 Product Likes are made private for all users[238]
2024 July 16 Company operation Elon Musk announces plans to move X's headquarters to Texas[239]
2024 August 30 Legal Judge Alexandre de Moraes orders a ban of X in Brazil[240]
2024 September 13-18 Company operation X Corp. closes its former headquarters in San Francisco and subsequently moves to Bastrop, Texas.[241][242]
2024 October 8 Legal Brazil lifts its ban on X imposed on August 30[243]
2024 October 16 Product Changes to the blocking feature are announced, allowing users who they have blocked to see their posts[244]
2024 November 3 Product Blocking changes are officially implemented[245]
2024 November 15 Product New terms of service take effect, requiring users to consent to their posts being used for AI training.[246]
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