Elon Musk may want to send B次元官网网址渢weetB次元官网网址� back to the birds, but the ubiquitous term for posting on the site is here to stay B次元官网网址� at least for now.
For one, the word is still plastered all over the site formerly known as Twitter. Write a post, you still need to press a blue button that says B次元官网网址渢weetB次元官网网址� to publish it. To repost it, you still tap B次元官网网址渞etweet.B次元官网网址�
But itB次元官网网址檚 more than that.
With B次元官网网址渢weets,B次元官网网址� in just a few years something few companies have done in a lifetime: It became a verb and implanted itself into the lexicon of America and the world. takes more than a top-down declaration, even if it is from the owner of Twitter-turned-X, who also happens to be one of the worldB次元官网网址檚 richest men.
B次元官网网址淟anguage has always come from the people that use it on a day-to-day basis. And it canB次元官网网址檛 be controlled, it canB次元官网网址檛 be created, it canB次元官网网址檛 be morphed. You donB次元官网网址檛 get to decide it,B次元官网网址� said Nick Bilton, the author of B次元官网网址淗atching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and BetrayalB次元官网网址� about TwitterB次元官网网址檚 origins.
Twitter didnB次元官网网址檛 start out as Twitter. It was B次元官网网址渢wttrB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� without vowels, which was the trend in 2006 when the platform launched and SMS texting was wildly popular. The iPhone only came out in 2007.
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams B次元官网网址渨ent one day and purchased the vowels, two vowels for essentially $7,500 each,B次元官网网址� when he bought the URL for twitter.com from a bird enthusiast, Bilton said.
At the beginning, people didnB次元官网网址檛 B次元官网网址渢weetB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� it was B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 going to twitter this,B次元官网网址� Bilton recalled. But B次元官网网址渢witteredB次元官网网址� doesnB次元官网网址檛 roll off the tongue and B次元官网网址渢weetB次元官网网址� soon took over, first in the Twitter office, then San Francisco, then everywhere.
WeB次元官网网址檝e been . World leaders, celebrities and athletes, dissidents in repressive regimes, , sex workers and religious icons, meme queens and actual queens. Former President Donald TrumpB次元官网网址檚 incendiary use of the bird app quickly punted B次元官网网址渢weetB次元官网网址� into near-constant headlines during his presidency. People who never signed up for Twitter knew what the word meant.
For now, we still tweet, retweet and quote tweet, and sometimes B次元官网网址� perhaps not often enough B次元官网网址� delete tweets. B次元官网网址 sites embed tweets in their stories and TV programs scroll them. No other social network has a word for posting thatB次元官网网址檚 entered the vernacular like B次元官网网址渢weetB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� though Google did the same for B次元官网网址済oogling.B次元官网网址�
The Oxford English Dictionary added B次元官网网址渢weetB次元官网网址� in 2011. Merriam-Webster followed in 2013. The Associated Press Stylebook entered it in 2010.
B次元官网网址淕etting into the dictionary is an indication that people are already using it,B次元官网网址� said Jack Lynch, a Rutgers University English professor who studies the history of language. B次元官网网址淒ictionaries are usually pretty tentative or cautious about letting new words in, especially for new phenomena, because they donB次元官网网址檛 want things to be just a flash in the pan.B次元官网网址�
As Twitter grew into a global communications platform and struggled with misinformation, trolls and hate speech, its friendly brand image remained. The blue bird icon evokes a smile, like the Amazon up-turned-arrow smile B次元官网网址� in contrast to the X that Musk has imposed.
Martin Grasser was two years out of art school when Twitter hired him for the logo redesign in 2011. His wasnB次元官网网址檛 the first bird logo for Twitter, but it would be the most enduring.
B次元官网网址淭hey knew they wanted a bird. So we werenB次元官网网址檛 starting completely over, but they wanted it to be on par with Apple and Nike. That was really the brief,B次元官网网址� he said.
Twitter launched GrasserB次元官网网址檚 design in May 2012; the company went public on Wall Street later that year.
One early in-house design shown to Grasser looked like B次元官网网址渁 flying goose with a tail. It looked kind of like a dragon. It was crazy,B次元官网网址� he said. Jack Dorsey, another co-founder (and twice-CEO) wanted something simpler.
The bird represented a vision of Twitter as a friendly place B次元官网网址渨here everyone can weigh in and chat,B次元官网网址� Grasser said.
B次元官网网址淭he round form evokes a sense of optimism, the bird even being sort of turned upward, as corny as that sounds, I think is different than a bird flying down or flat,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲e wanted to give it this idea of like soaring.B次元官网网址�
The word B次元官网网址淭witterB次元官网网址� itself is playful, as is B次元官网网址渢weet.B次元官网网址� This was no accident, Bilton said.
Other names that floated as the platform started out included B次元官网网址淪tatusB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淔riend Stalker.B次元官网网址�
It was Noah Glass, another co-founder who never quite got the credit he deserved for his role in hatching Twitter, who had the winning idea.
Glass, Bilton said, B次元官网网址渉ad been thinking about like heartbeats and emotions. He was going through a divorce and he literally went through the dictionary word by word until he came across the word twitter. And he just knew instantly that was it.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淗e was one of the four founders who had the emotional intelligence to be able to understand that this was about connecting with humans,B次元官网网址� Bilton said. B次元官网网址淚t was inviting, it was emotional. It was about connecting with humans and your friends and your loved ones.B次元官网网址�
Musk began his quest erasing TwitterB次元官网网址檚 corporate culture and image in favor of his own vision as soon as he in October 2022. He lost three-quarters of the companyB次元官网网址檚 staff through firings, layoffs and voluntary departures, auctioned off furniture and d茅cor, and upended policies on hate speech and misinformation. The rebranding to X was no surprise.
TwitterB次元官网网址檚 rebranding is rooted in ambition that Musk began to pursue nearly a quarter century ago after he sold his first startup, Zip2, to Compaq Computer. He set out to create a one-stop digital shop for finance called X.com B次元官网网址� an B次元官网网址渆verythingB次元官网网址� service that would provide bank accounts, process payments, make loans and handle investments.
He has not given up on the dream. Twitter is now X, falling in line with MuskB次元官网网址檚 other X-named brands, SpaceX and TeslaB次元官网网址檚 Model X. Not to mention his young son, whom he calls B次元官网网址淴.B次元官网网址�
His goal for X is to turn it into an B次元官网网址渆verythingB次元官网网址� app B次元官网网址� for video, photos, messaging, payments and other services, although he has given few details. For now, X.com is still, essentially Twitter.com, even as the blue bird and other playful tidbits start to disappear.
B次元官网网址淭here used to be a saying inside Twitter that Twitter was the company that couldnB次元官网网址檛 kill itself. I think that still rings true, whether itB次元官网网址檚 called Twitter or X,B次元官网网址� Bilton said.
B次元官网网址淚 think that itB次元官网网址檚 kind of become a fabric of society. And even Elon Musk may not be able to break it.B次元官网网址�
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