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X (formerly Twitter) is one of the most popular social networks, but the question of what exactly it is still arises from time to time.
What X is: What’s behind the name
Twitter is both a blogging service and a social network.
- X (then still Twitter) was founded in March 2006.
- Registered users can send short messages with a maximum of 140 characters via the network. These are called “tweets”.
- The regular name was initially “twttr”.
- Twitter founder Jack Dorsey also posted the first tweet, tweeting: “just setting up my twttr. “
- X has been mobile since 2010, as the apps have been available for Android and iOS ever since. X has also been listed on the stock exchange since 2013
- A unique selling point is still that tweets are limited to 140 characters, even if this rule has now been softened so that photos, videos or quoted tweets no longer fall under the 140 characters.
- The creation of lists is also practical. This means that only the tweets from the accounts you add to the list are displayed. This is particularly useful as X is often used as a news source.
X: Criticism of the network
Nonetheless, criticism of X is repeatedly voiced in various forms.
- This concerns, on the one hand, the supposedly partially restricted freedom of expression.
- Since 2012, X has been filtering certain content that violates the law in individual countries. This primarily concerns right-wing extremism, hate messages and the glorification of violence.
- Elon Musk sees this regulation as a serious encroachment on freedom of expression on the platform.
- At the same time, others argue that X reacts too hesitantly to illegal content. Facebook or Instagram, for example, would have deleted numerous accounts with a national socialist background much more extensively and quickly.
- This approach is also reflected in the sometimes very harsh treatment on X. In the supposed anonymity, many users seem to believe that they can express their opinions completely uninhibitedly.
- Thus, also due to the fact that X is used by numerous journalists, politicians and public figures, a very worrying stream of opinion is created, within which everyone has an opinion on everything and which no longer recognizes differentiation.
- This creates a difficult balancing act for X between guaranteeing free, digital exchange on the one hand and the exploitation of this opportunity by a few incorrigible people on the other.
