Pioneering Twitter's Inception: Unaware of Its Future Transformation
Twitting Through the Years: Unveiling the Journey of Twitter
Join CNN as they take us on a captivating tour of Twitter's history with their searing four-parter, "Twitter: Shattering the Tweet," airing Sundays at 10pm ET/PT from March 9th - 30th.
In the world of tech, creators often have little to no clue about the ultimate purpose or utilization of their inventions. Twitter, a groundbreaking app, is no exception. Early employees of the company opened up to CNN in a unique documentary, offering insight on its dynamic journey.
The early days of Twitter bore resemblance to the tech-savvy world of its time. A generous dose of radical optimism guided its visionaries as they believed they were revolutionizing the online realm. However, the subsequent twenty years saw Twitter wrestling with the moral quandary - should it be a crucible for free expression or a bulwark against hate speech and misuse of such power?
Evan Williams, Twitter's co-founder, reflected on the tumultuous early years, stating, "We didn't really have enough hours in the day to mull over the much larger implications of what we were building."
The global stage knows Twitter now, thanks to its merger with X, a company owned by Elon Musk - the world's wealthiest man. Among other things, Musk has employed Twitter to bolster President Donald Trump's reelection and advocate for his Political agenda. White Supremacists and perpetrators of disinformation have found a friendly home on the platform as well, while some long-time users cling to Twitter's remaining utility for disseminating real-time news and information. The platform's financial standing has become increasingly questionable as many advertisers have fled following Musk's controversial policies.
The "Shattering the Tweet" series gives audiences an inside look at the events that led up to the current predicament. It meticulously chronicles Twitter's evolution - from its inception by a group of counterculture pioneers to its chaotic leadership struggles, the assimilation of world leaders and political heavyweights into the Twitterverse, and finally, to Musk's sensational $44 billion acquisition.
"We pooled together something that took on a life of its own, with both good and bad elements," Williams said in a subsequent episode, expressing concern over how to maintain a balance as the bad aspects appeared to overshadow the good.
X did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
The Enigma of Time
Two decades ago, Twitter was born in an era where Facebook was relatively obscure. Smartphone apps hadn't even made their grand entrance yet, as the iPhone was set to hit markets a year later.
During its infancy, Twitter's content largely remained frivolous. Jack Dorsey, a co-founder, would post occasionally, such as "walking home. Cold," while Stone would share, "eating a baked potato and green beans with BBQ seitan and white wine."
"At the time, we had a sense of what we were doing, but the fog of uncertainty was pretty thick," said Jason Goldman, Twitter's first head of product, who later served as the Chief Digital Officer in the Obama White House. "There's a natural inclination towards action in the tech industry, and we simply wanted to move forward."
As Twitter grew, it provided unexpected benefits and served as a powerful force behind social movements like the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter.
At the heart of Twitter's tale lies Dorsey, the billionaire considered the platform's creator-father. His ideals and values form the bedrock of Twitter's foundation, as he helmed the company for a combined eight years (from 2006 to 2008 and again from 2015 to 2021) and perhaps, inadvertently laid the groundwork for Musk's acquisition.
Dorsey had always envisioned Twitter as a platform for free expression, stating in a 2016 interview at the Code conference, "A platform must be free, allowing for every extreme voice to be heard."
However, this unyielding commitment to free speech sometimes hindered timely action against the platform's issues.
Del Harvey, Twitter's long-time former head of trust, and safety, said in the series that Twitter had not devoted adequate resources to content moderation until 2017, when the platform faced escalating pressure to address hate speech and abuse.
In 2020, Dorsey invited Musk to join a company-wide meeting, posing the question, "By the way, do you want to run Twitter?" Musk responded candidly, discussing issues like manipulation of the system and public opinion. It was just two years later when Musk began purchasing a substantial stake in Twitter, setting the stage for his eventual acquisition.
Looking back, Goldman mused that while they had hoped for delightful use cases for Twitter, some of the unanticipated outcomes, such as Twitter becoming a rallying cry for extremist ideologies, "was not a bug – it was a feature of the tool."
The documentary "Shattering the Tweet" unearths the unintended consequences Twitter faced as a platform, such as its use by extremist ideologies. Despite its origins as a casual messaging app (e.g., posts about walking home or eating meals), Twitter's evolution saw it become a powerful tool in social movements like the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter. The "mystery of time" and the fog of uncertainty surrounded the tech industry during Twitter's inception, making it difficult for creators to foresee the moral dilemmas that would arise later, such as the balance between free expression and hate speech. The prospect of Twitter becoming a birdhouse for disinformation, bullying, and hate speech might have been a feature of the tool, rather than an unintended outcome.
