Last week, Elon Musk made a significant announcement that marked the end of an era for Twitter as a brand. The iconic blue bird logo on the headquarters was replaced with an X, and even the app and website underwent changes. Amidst these transformations, the lingering “Tweet” button caught attention. Momentarily, it changed to “Post,” hinting at the complete eradication of any traces of the little blue bird and its associated platform from the realm of X, the company formerly known as Twitter.
However, my belief in retiring the term “tweet” goes beyond these cosmetic changes. I felt that “tweet” was outgrowing its origin, becoming independent from the brand that popularized it. To avoid a confusing cycle of various names like toots, skeets, threets, and now xeets, I advocated for calling all microblog posts “tweets.” But with every aspect of the name fading from social media, “tweet” seems increasingly linked to a bygone era.
Originally designed for brevity, a tweet was a concise form of expression. In fact, Roger Ebert once likened the 140-character limit to poetry. However, with the option to purchase up to 4,000 characters in a tweet or enjoy 500 characters for free on Threads, Twitter’s original character limit has been nearly quintupled. The need to be economical with words has diminished.
Yet, the decision to abandon the term “tweet” isn’t solely influenced by the transformation of microblogs or the changing of the Tweet button by X. In truth, I attempted to embrace the term “tweet” as a universal label, but it proved to be unconvincing. Phrases like “Hey, did you see that Thread tweet” felt awkward compared to “Hey, did you see that Thread post” when discussing a 500-character analysis of someone’s Diablo IV build or something shared on Mastodon.
Hence, it’s time for us to embrace the more straightforward term “post.” While it may lack the whimsy of “tweet” and won’t be associated with any trademark, it offers a clear and concise description. No longer will we say “the President just tweeted,” but “the President just posted.” Though it may not be as charming, it is certainly easier to articulate.