Let’s rewind to 2006. Twitter hits the scene, and it’s all about SMS—those short, snappy text messages you’d send from a flip phone. Back then, it was built around the idea of texting: 140 married to a 140-character limit tied right to your phone. You could shoot off a quick update or get a friend’s tweet as a text, no app required. It was simple, direct, and felt like a social extension of your SMS inbox. That tight connection to texting defined Twitter’s early days, rooted in the tech everyone carried in their pocket.

Now fast forward to today, and X—Twitter’s rebranded evolution under Elon Musk since 2023—is a different beast. Is it still an SMS service at heart? Not really. X has outgrown those texting roots, morphing into what Musk calls an “everything app.” Think long-form posts (up to 25,000 characters for premium users), video uploads, audio calls, even hints of payment features down the road. It’s not about firing off a quick text anymore—you’re mostly accessing it via the web or app, not SMS.

Sure, SMS still lingers in small ways. In places with spotty internet, it might be an option, and it’s used for things like two-factor authentication in some regions. But that’s about it—security concerns (remember the hack of Jack Dorsey’s account in 2019?) killed off most SMS posting years ago. Twitter’s original 140-character soul was shaped by texting limits; X plays by a whole new set of rules.

So, no, X isn’t an SMS service like early Twitter was. It’s evolved into something broader and more complex, leaving the SMS days behind as tech and habits shifted. Twitter was a texting platform with a social twist; X is aiming to be a digital hub for, well, just about everything.

I do occasionally reminisce about the old original twitter. What do you think—miss the SMS simplicity, or are you sold on X’s bigger vision?