Publisher	Twitter Inc
Platforms	Varies with device
Price	Free
Size	Varies with device
Latest Version	Varies with device

While Facebook and Instagram are both dominating social media, Twitter never loses the limelight and remains special on its own. The popular social media app was launched in 2006 and even though it underwent many changes over the years, Twitter remains faithful to its main and original purpose. As we all know, Twitter allows users to broadcast short messages which are referred to as “tweets”. Originally, the length of the tweets was limited to 140 characters but eventually doubled it to 280 characters in 2017. With this straightforward and SMS-like function of Twitter, it has been described as the SMS of the Internet.

Tweets and Retweets

Interestingly, unlike other leading social media apps like Facebook and Instagram, Twitter comes with a very simple interface. Navigation is notably less complicated. After downloading the app either from Android Google Play Store or Apple AppStore, it will first ask you to sign up for an account. If you have an existing account, you can simply log in using your login details (username and password). Once done, it will now prompt you to its simple and easy-to-navigate interface. The app is divided into four interactive tabs. The lower panel will showcase four icons that will give you access to Home, Search, Notification, and Messages.

There is also a floating icon above the lower panel that allows you to compose your tweet (this changes to Mail icon if you are accessing the Message tab). To Tweet, tap the tweet icon (feather icon) and it prompts you to a text box. Input your message that is not more than 280 characters. Along with your tweet, you can attach GIF, Photo, Poll, and input your current location. Once done, top the tweet button to broadcast your tweet. The Home page will showcase your feeds or the tweets from your friends or people you are following. For each tweet on your feed, you can reply, retweet, heart, and share. Retweeting allows you to share someone else’s tweet on your own timeline or dashboard while Sharing it allows you to share tweets to various social media platforms like Facebook, Viber, and many others.

Hashtags and Viral Trends

Twitter is one of the social media platforms to dominantly use hashtags. You can create a hashtag by simply inputting a number sign (#) followed by any characters (no spaces). Similar hashtags are being compiled by the system. On Twitter, when a hashtag becomes extremely popular, it appears in the “Trending Topics” area of a user’s homepage. The trending topics can be organized by geographic area or by all of Twitter. Interestingly, hashtags are also intended for the discussion of a particular event. Whether it is a political campaign, a social event, popular tv shows, or others. They also act as beacons that help users find and “follow” or “list” other users of similar interests.

You can also use the hashtags to search for a topic you want. Head over to Search and input the hashtag and it will list down all the users and their tweets that contain the hashtag you are searching. The Search tab of Twitter will also display the current Trending Topic. By default, the Trending Topic is set on your current location but you can configure it and change it to World Trends or better yet explore other locations. Users can also send a Direct Message (DM) to other users for a private conversation.

The Verdict

With more than 320 million active users monthly, Twitter remains to be one of the leading social media platforms today. The simplicity of the app is what exactly makes it so special. Whether you want to be updated with the latest trends or you want to discover new friends that share the same interest with you, this is definitely a perfect platform to explore. Twitter is available for both Android and iOS devices and you can download this app absolutely for free. Have fun!