New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on November 18, 2022) follows:
The recent acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk has been nothing short of a mess and extremely chaotic. Many are leaving the platform for good, while others are enjoying the drama with popcorn in their hand.
While some may say that the platform no longer promotes healthy communication, insightful debates, or useful information, it’s still one of the most popular social media platforms in the world and crushing past records.
So far, we have seen Musk’s plans including the Twitter Blue subscription and the new advertisement policy. But none of these changes were really well received by its users.
Elon Musk’s Twitter 2.0 chaos
The dust had hardly settled on these issues, Musk decided to make everything even more chaotic with the ‘Twitter 2.0’ bomb.
Apparently, the new owner of Twitter recently shared ‘hardcore’ plans for Twitter 2.0 with his staff members via email.
This has inevitably prompted a considerable number of employees to resign en masse following the ultimatum. Not just that, more and more employees are now coming out listing other issues.
For instance, the decision to temporarily close offices and the fact that only a thousand employees signed up for the Twitter 2.0 approach are only making it worse for the platform.
With the entire payroll department also resigning and incoming reports about Twitter looking to hire software engineers for their future plans is furthering the idea of a looming disaster.
Twitter hiring new devs who want to work there, while those who did not want work there leave will be the start of a new culture, for sure.
It’s unlikely there would be handovers between new hires and old timers leaving tho. Another break with conventional backfill strategies.
Source
But Twitter is surprisingly doing better
Many have already bid farewell to the platform for good thus pushing the #RIPTwitter and #Twitter 2.0 to trend on a daily basis. It’s interesting to note that Elon Musk seems to not be phased by these complaints.
In fact, he can often be seen bragging about the increase in the number of Twitter users ever since his takeover.
And … we just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage lol
Source
Not just the new Twitter owner, many people have taken all this mockery to another level and are enjoying the drama and creating memes about the entire situation.
You can check out one of those memes below for reference:
Nonetheless, it is quite evident that many people including Twitter employees are not here for the new cultural reset of the platform.
There are still numerous uncertainties and confusion unfolding every day that has forced many to distance themselves from the site.
It’s still unclear where the future of Twitter is ultimately headed but a lot of people have already strayed from their trust in the company.
That said, we’ll keep an eye on further developments and reflect the same here so stay tuned for more.
Click/tap to view older updates
Update 1 (November 22, 2022)
12:23 pm (IST): After laying off thousands of employees, it’s been reported that Elon Musk is ready to hire again for the roles of engineering and sales.
Update 2 (November 25, 2022)
10:35 am (IST): Elon Musk has confirmed via a poll that they are planning to unban those accounts that were banned citing other issues apart from breaking laws or engaged in egregious spam.
05:00 pm (IST): After the mass layoff at Twitter, Elon Musk is now focusing on Twitter 2.0 and all the new changes he can bring to the platform. For that, Twitter is aggressively recruiting new employee who can contribute to Twitter 2.0.
Also, it came to notice that many employees are rejecting Elon Musk’s vision of hardcore Twitter 2.0 and leaving the company. More on that here.
And not just the employees, some WWE superstars are also not happy with the Twitter 2.0 at the moment.
05:50 pm (IST): In a recent meeting in San Francisco, Elon Musk told employees that he plans to encrypt DMs and add encrypted video and voice calling between accounts. More on that here.
Update 3 (November 28, 2022)
10:54 am (IST): Responding to a tweet, Elon Musk said that the team is working on a number of features. For instance, it will let users opt-in to civil discourse mode, help reduce abuse by way of validating only the Twitter Blue accounts, and more.
Musk also shared some slides that propagate upcoming agendas for Twitter such as Encrypted DMs, the ability to post long-form tweets, and much more.
07:22 pm (IST): Elon Musk has confirmed that they might expand the character limit on Twitter in the coming days.
Dodgecoin price has surged after Elon Musk hinted that he might accept the cryptocurrency for payments in Twitter 2.0.
Furthermore, Elon Musk has shared some slides from their recent meeting which suggest that Twitter is now ready to recruit new employees. Moreover, he calls Twitter 2.0 an ‘Everything app’.
Update 4 (December 01, 2022)
09:22 am (IST): Elon Musk recently tweeted to apprise users of the probable drop in their follower count as Twitter is currently getting rid of a lot of spam/scam accounts at the moment.
Twitter is purging a lot of spam/scam accounts right now, so you may see your follower count drop
Source
Coincidentally, this comes after Twitter 2.0 mission to promote transparency and protect the public conversation on the microblogging platform.
Update 5 (December 05, 2022)
05:57 pm (IST): As noticed by one of our team members, Twitter appears to be testing ‘nested reply’ system to make it easier to read tweets.
As can be seen in the image linked below, replies have been shifted slightly to the right similar to Facebook and Instagram. However, there’s no official word on the same.
06:15 pm (IST): It has come to light that Elon Musk has added a ‘live tweeting’ feature to Twitter 2.0. However, there are not many details about this feature.
In addition to it, Elon Musk also claimed that the social media platform ‘Twitter 2.0’ is serving 90 billion tweet impressions per day.
Twitter is now serving almost 90 billion tweet impressions per day!
Just how incredibly alive the system actually is will become obvious as we show view count on all tweets.
Source
Update 6 (December 06, 2022)
04:48 pm (IST): It appears that Twitter has added the option to upload high-quality videos even without a Twitter Blue subscription.
Update 7 (December 09, 2022)
12:04 pm (IST): Elon Musk has announced on Twitter that they are working on a software update that will show the user’s true account status.
That is, they’ll know if they’ve been shadowbanned along with the reason and how to appeal for it.
Twitter is working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if you’ve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal (Source)
Update 8 (December 12, 2022)
10:02 am (IST): Twitter Blue, a monthly opt-in subscription feature that adds a blue checkmark to your account, is set to relaunch today priced at $11/month on iOS and $8/month on the web.
However, there’s still no word for the availability of the same on Android.
we’re relaunching @TwitterBlue on Monday – subscribe on web for $8/month or on iOS for $11/month to get access to subscriber-only features, including the blue checkmark 🧵
Source
With the help of the new Twitter Blue feature, subscribers will be able to Edit Tweets, upload 1080p videos, and get a reader mode.
when you subscribe you’ll get Edit Tweet, 1080p video uploads, reader mode, and a blue checkmark (after your account has been reviewed)
Source
Twitter Blue subscribers can also change their handle, display name, or profile photo but their verification checkmarks will temporarily be taken away.
Additionally, Twitter will begin to replace the ‘Official’ label with a gold checkmark for business and consequentially with a gray checkmark for government and joint accounts.
we’ll begin replacing that “official” label with a gold checkmark for businesses, and later in the week a grey checkmark for government and multilateral accounts
Source
11:30 am (IST): Elon Musk has reportedly (1, 2) made some changes to the platform that prevents tweets from bots to appear at the top of the thread.
He has also confirmed that the character limit of tweets will be increased from 280 to 4000. Furthermore, he agreed on diversifying the ‘Trending tab’.
Update 9 (December 13, 2022)
11:00 am (IST): Elon Musk recently took to Twitter to announce that the team is trying its best to shut down bots. Moreover, there will be a provision to prosecute scammers in any case.
They will try other methods, but we’re shutting them down as soon as they show up.
Twitter will also be moving to prosecute scammers anywhere on Earth.
Source
Coincidentally, it comes after the long-standing issues related to scammers (1,2,3,4,5) and their aggressive promotion of Crypto and NFTs (1,2,3,4,5).
In fact, Elon Musk’s identity was also abused in one of the cryptocurrency scams. Interestingly, a scammer created the account and started adding people to a list called ‘Deal of the Year’ for a fake cryptocurrency giveaway.
11:48 am (IST): Elon Musk has confirmed that the basic Blue subscription will not completely remove the ads, but limit them to half and they’ll launch a high-tier plan next year with no ads.
Basic Blue will have half the number of ads. We will offer a higher tier with no ads next year. (Source)
Furthermore, with Twitter Blue for Business, a gold verification badge will be provided to all the verified businesses.
We’re also piloting a new service called Twitter Blue for Business, which is a service for business entities on Twitter that adds a gold checkmark to official business accounts. (Source)
11:58 am (IST): Twitter support announced that the official profile labels will be replaced with grey and gold checkmarks. However, some types of accounts will still have the old labels. Get more information on Profile labels here.
In order to get Twitter Blue, users should have an account which is 90 days old and a confirmed phone number. Moreover, if you already have a Blue subscription, you don’t need to re-purchase it to get the new features.
12:00 pm (IST): Twitter will reportedly remove all the legacy blue checkmarks in a few months.
In a few months, we will remove all legacy blue checks. The way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical. (Source)
12:06 pm (IST): Users are now looking for yellow checkmark on Twitter. However, yellow is officially the gold checkmark. Twitter has introduced three different types on checkmarks which does not include yellow checkmark.
– Blue checkmark for Blue subscribers.
– Grey checkmark for accounts affiliated with government or those monitored by Twitter.
– Gold checkmark for advertisers or company owned accounts.
Update 10 (December 19, 2022)
01:06 pm (IST): Elon Musk has announced that they will incorporate mute and block signals from Blue Verified as downvotes.
Moreover, he said that the major policy changes will be decided through votes.
Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again. (Source)
04:00 pm (IST): Twitter might soon provide users with a proper reason for account suspension or deboosting. More on that here.
Update 11 (December 20, 2022)
10:26 am (IST): Twitter has announced Twitter Blue for Business, a program for businesses that will help distinguish brands and their key employees on Twitter.
This feature, however, will be initially available for limited businesses. But it will be expanded next year.
Today, we’re rolling out Twitter Blue for Business, a new program that lets businesses distinguish their brands and key employees on Twitter. These accounts will show a square company badge next to their display names. (Source)
Moreover, Elon Musk could only allow Blue subscribers to take part in policy related polls.
Update 12 (December 21, 2022)
12:17 pm (IST): It seems that Elon Musk is all set to resign as CEO of Twitter after 57.5% of those polled voted in favor of him stepping down as the owner of the platform.
I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
Source
Update 13 (December 22, 2022)
01:30 pm (IST): Twitter has announced a new feature called $Cashtags. That is when you tweet the symbol of a major stock, ETF, or crypto currency with ‘$’ at the beginning, you’ll see a clickable link that will open search results page.
Update 14 (December 23, 2022)
02:11 pm (IST): Elon Musk has announced that they have released a new ‘View count’ feature that reveals how many times a tweet has been seen.
Also, Twitter Blue subscribers will now be able to upload 60-minute-long videos of up to 2GB in size from the web at 1080p resolution.
02:20 pm (IST): Twitter users are furious after Elon Musk introduced new labeling system where blue, gray, and gold checkmarks denote different types of verified accounts.
06:44 pm (IST): After Elon Musk posted a poll asking users if he should step down as the CEO of Twitter, Mr Beast has asked if he could fill his spot.
And surprisingly, Musk said that it’s not out of the question, meaning it’s possible.
Update 15 (December 26, 2022)
11:44 am (IST): Elon Musk has confirmed that Twitter will get several major UI improvements in January.
Update 16 (December 30, 2022)
12:43 pm (IST): Elon Musk recently announced that the goal of new Twitter will seek to optimize unregrettable user minutes.
New Twitter will strive to optimize unregretted user-minutes
Source
Update 17 (January 02, 2023)
11:57 am (IST): Elon Musk has confirmed to bring new Twitter navigation that will allow users to swipe and switch between tabs such as recommended and followed tweets, trends, topics and more.
New Twitter navigation coming in Jan that allows swiping to side to switch between recommended & followed tweets, trends, topics, etc. Until then, tap stars icon on upper right of home screen to switch. (Source)
Update 18 (January 04, 2023)
12:40 pm (IST): The Twitter team has announced some changes regarding the ads policy of the platform:
Update 19 (January 05, 2023)
12:40 pm (IST): It looks like the Twitter for iPhone/Android label is back as some users have been reportedly seeing it (1,2,3).
01:28 pm (IST): Twitter data of over 200 million users has been leaked publicly. And disturbingly, it is available for anyone to download. More on that here.
Update 20 (January 09, 2023)
05:30 pm (IST): Twitter app will get new features this week. First, users will be able to swype to change between ‘followed tweets’ and ‘recommended tweets’.
A few weeks later, the ‘Bookmark button’ will be implemented in the Tweet details. Also, in February the ‘Long format Tweets’ will arrive along with formatting features like bold, underline and font size.
Meanwhile, a executive revealed that the company will reduce the number of employees in areas that do not require as much volume, opting for measures such as ‘consolidate teams under one leader (instead of two)’.
Update 21 (January 11, 2023)
04:50 pm (IST): Twitter has made a new change in the home page of its iOS app where it now shows ‘For You’ tab as default. More on that here.
Update 22 (January 12, 2023)
01:24 pm (IST): Twitter has announced that the reach of hateful speech on the platform is continuously decreasing and the impressions on such English-language tweets now account for less than 0.01%.
We continue to see a decrease in the reach of this content, with these impressions accounting for less than 0.01% of all English-language Tweet impressions on the platform since our last update. (Source)
Also, they have extended the lookback period of these insights from 60 to 120 days based on users feedback.
We heard feedback that people want to see a longer lookback period for these insights, so we extended this to 120 days (previously ~60 days). We’re also sharing the actual chart from our internal analytics tool, rather than a designed image, to give further transparency. (Source)
03:07 pm (IST): Elon Musk is reportedly thinking about selling usernames through online auctions. This is being done to increase the company’s revenue.
Update 23 (January 16, 2023)
12:27 pm (IST): Twitter has announced that they’ll soon launch Verification for Organizations that will offer business accounts and affiliation bages to businesses that subscribe. More on that here.
Furthermore, Elon Musk has confirmed that they will publish tweet recommendation code, and make account or tweet status visible by next month.
Twitter will publish tweet recommendation code & make account/tweet status visible no later than next month. Transparency builds trust. (Source)
Update 24 (January 20, 2023)
03:48 pm (IST): Twitter has made a new change where Community Notes will now also show on quote tweets. It is currently live on the web app and coming soon on Android and iOS.
Community Notes are now also shown on Quote Tweets 🎉 This change boosts the impact of contributors’ efforts, and helps ensure context is shown everywhere it can be helpful. Live now in the web app, and coming soon to iOS and Android. (Source)
Update 25 (January 23, 2023)
05:39 pm (IST): Twitter has announced that they have released an algorithm update for Community Notes to keep note status and contributor impact score more stable as they expand the feature.
Update 26 (January 25, 2023)
05:37 pm (IST): Twitter has announced that now web users can return to a timeline as per their choice by closing the ‘For You’ or ‘Following’ tabs. The feature will soon be available to iOS and Android users as well.
Update 27 (January 26, 2023)
03:54 pm (IST): Twitter is now reportedly testing ‘Verfied views’, a feature that will show saperate view counts from verified users.
Update 28 (January 31, 2023)
04:13 pm (IST): Twitter is reportedly working to bring payments feature on the platform and the company has begun applying for regulatory licenses. More on that here.
Update 29 (February 1, 2023)
02:14 pm (IST): Twitter has reportedly removed CoTweet feature after its initial testing period. This feature allowed two accounts to tweet together and it was available in the US, Canada and South Korea.
17:45 pm (IST): Elon Musk has announced that the platform will start paying creators for creation of interesting ad threads or sharing ads.
Update 30 (February 2, 2023)
02:45 pm (IST): Elon Musk has been exploring ways to monetize Twitter since his takeover. This has led to the release of a paid version of the Twitter APIs, as free access will expire on February 9th.
Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead
Source
05:45 pm (IST): Twitter may soon request your ID in order to authenticate your identity.
Update 31 (February 6, 2023)
11:08 am (IST): Elon Musk has confirmed that Twitter will soon enable a write-only API for bots sharing good content.
Responding to feedback, Twitter will enable a light, write-only API for bots providing good content that is free. (Source)
Update 32 (February 8, 2023)
10:08 am (IST): Twitter has reportedly added a new ‘Affiliates tab’ for business profiles.
Update 33 (February 9, 2023)
01:20 pm (IST): Twitter has finally increased the word limit per tweet. Users can now tweet up to 4000 characters. It is currently available only for Blue subscribers in the US.
Moreover, Twitter has also introduced some limits for its users. You can check them out below:
– 2,400 tweets per day.
– 500 direct messages per day.
– 5,000 following per account allowed.
– Maximum 400 new account follows per day.
However, due to the recent ongoing issues on Twitter, the limit could be even lower in some time slots. The daily limits could be further divided into smaller limits for semi-hourly interval.
Furthermore, users reaching the limit will be allowed to try again after a few hours. These changes will help reduce downtimes and error pages.
Update 34 (February 14, 2023)
05:25 pm (IST): Twitter free API shutdown has been delayed again, this time indefinitely.
Update 35 (February 17, 2023)
04:16 pm (IST): Twitter has officially announced that the Community Notes feature is now live across all platforms including Android, iOS, and the web.
Update 36 (February 20, 2023)
05:24 pm (IST): Elon Musk said that the next update will enable basic text formatting and longer tweets over the existing extended limit.
A method for content creators to charge users for their selected content via a quick payment system will also be introduced.
Good use of long tweet! Next update will allow much longer tweets with basic formatting, so you can post any content on Twitter.
We’re also spinning up subscriptions, so you can charge people for some content and they can easily pay with one click.
Source
You can see the image attached below to check how the new and simple formatting will look like:
Update 37 (February 22, 2023)
09:29 am (IST): Twitter will now be alerting you whenever a Community Note begins to appear on a Tweet that you’ve liked, retweeted, or liked and replied to.
Starting today, you’ll get a heads up if a Community Note starts showing on a Tweet you’ve replied to, Liked or Retweeted. This helps give people extra context that they might otherwise miss.
Source
05:20 pm (IST): Elon Musk tweeted that he will open source the algorithm of the platform and the users should expect disappointment at first, but things would get better.
Update 38 (February 24, 2023)
06:00 pm (IST): Twitter has eliminated captions from the social audio rooms called ‘Spaces’ on iOS. Although the company continues to promote it, iOS still does not presently offer the ability to enable captions in a Space.
Update 39 (March 6, 2023)
09:30 am (IST): Elon Musk has recently announced that the character limit for longform tweets will be increased to 10,000 characters soon.
Update 40 (March 27, 2023)
04:25 pm (IST): Twitter Verified has announced that they will begin winding down the legacy verified program on April 1.
Update 41 (March 28, 2023)
05:25 pm (IST): According to a recent Tweet by Elon Musk, Twitter will show only verified accounts on its For You page starting April 15. More on that here.
Update 42 (April 11, 2023)
05:15 pm (IST): According to a court document, Twitter Inc., no longer exists. And as of now, Twitter is owned directly by Musk’s own company, X Corp.
Update 43 (April 18, 2023)
05:05 pm (IST): Elon Musk recently confirmed in an interview that they might release ‘encrypted DMs’ at the end of this month which will add an extra layer of security to users’ private conversations.
Update 44 (April 27, 2023)
11:30 am (IST): According to recent tweets by Elon Musk(1,2), it appears that Fleets, Vine and Periscope features will be reintroduced to Twitter.
Update 45 (April 28, 2023)
06:30 pm (IST): As of this week, Twitter is prioritizing comments from verified accounts on publications to improve the quality of conversations on the platform. Verified account comments will appear above those from unverified accounts in replies.
Twitter has also released their latest transparency report for the first half of 2022, which provides information on their policy enforcement efforts for those interested in platform transparency.
Update 46 (May 10, 2023)
04:30 pm (IST): Elon Musk says users can now reply to any message in a thread, not just the most recent one. Additionally, any emoji reaction can be used to respond to messages.
In another exciting development, the release of encrypted DMs V1.0 is set to launch tomorrow. This added layer of security will ensure that messages exchanged on the app are protected from prying eyes.
But that’s not all. Elon Musk also announced that voice and video chat capabilities will soon be added to the platform. This will enable users to connect with people anywhere in the world without having to share their phone numbers.
Update 47 (May 15, 2023)
05:30 pm (IST): Linda Yaccarino (ex-NBCU exec) assumes the role of CEO of Twitter with Elon Musk’s endorsement.
Update 48 (May 19, 2023)
12:10 pm (IST): According to Elon Musk, Twitter Blue Verified subscribers can now upload videos of upto 2 hours of length. Notably, these have a size limit of 8GB.
Update 49 (May 31, 2023)
04:19 pm (IST): Twitter is now expanding its crowdsourced fact check program to include images. More on that here.
Update 50 (June 15, 2023)
03:43 pm (IST): Twitter server migration will reportedly take place this month and with this, Elon Musk will be able to reduce host-related operating expenses.
Update 51 (June 29, 2023)
05:39 pm (IST): Now Twitter Blue users will have a huge limit of up to 25,000 characters, plus up to 4 inline images per post.
Update 52 (July 11, 2023)
04:11 pm (IST): Elon Musk has announced that Twitter will soon send you weekly emails of your recent bookmarks:
Update 53 (July 21, 2023)
04:09 pm (IST): Twitter is reportedly working on a new feature that will allow verified organisations to post job listings on their profile. More on that here.
04:15 pm (IST): Twitter Notes (introduced to provide users with a more private and concise way to share their thoughts) is making a comeback as Twitter Articles.
Update 54 (July 24, 2023)
09:39 am (IST): Twitter has declared that it will soon cap the number of daily direct messages (DMs) sent to unverified accounts.
Update 55 (July 27, 2023)
04:39 pm (IST): X is reportedly getting audio and video calls features soon:
Update 56 (July 28, 2023)
04:30 pm (IST): Elon Musk was planning on removing light mode on Twitter and making dark mode as default. However, the X (Twitter) owner changed his decision after users criticised this move.
Now, he has confirmed that they will keep the light mode option. However, the dim option will be removed. More on that here.
05:50 pm (IST): As per the reports (1,2,3,4), the Twitter app’s UI and icons have already been changed to ‘X app’. The app also might offer multiple ‘X’ home screen icons to choose from.
Also, you can follow the procedure mentioned here, to revert back to the old icon.
Update 57 (August 02, 2023)
11:02 am (IST): Twitter/X users on iOS and Android can now hide their blue checkmark so they can benefit from the subscription without having their account verified.
NEWS: The ability to hide your Blue checkmark is now live and working on Android with the latest update!
Source
Since users with the verified mark who were not public figures were the subject of a running joke on Twitter, this would boost Blue’s membership rates as it would let them hide the verified mark too.
Update 58 (September 08, 2023)
12:17 pm (IST): According to a recent report, tweets will be termed posts and re-tweets as reposts, with effect from September 29.
Update 59 (September 22, 2023)
02:57 pm (IST): Twitter is set to remove inactive accounts in the near future, freeing up long-coveted usernames as per Elon Musk.
Update 60 (October 20, 2023)
05:07 pm (IST): Elon Musk has recently stated that two new premium tiers will be launched for X. The first one will boast all the functionality but will display ads as usual. The other tier will provide a completely ad-free experience but at a much higher price.
Update 61 (October 26, 2023)
05:32 pm (IST): In a recent tweet, Elon Musk confirmed that the early version of video and audio calling is rolling out to X (fka Twitter). Premium members can activate this feature by going to the ‘Privacy & Safety’ panel under the settings. Afterwards, tap on the ‘Direct Messages’ button and click on the ‘Enable Audio & Video Calling’ option.
Although you should note that this function is only available to a handful of users as of now.
Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Twitter section, so be sure to follow them as well.
Featured image source: Twitter
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