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X (ex-Twitter) seems to be one of today’s major social media platforms. Here people share their opinions on very sensitive, controversial and important social issues. And since it came into the hands of Elon Musk, one of the most influential people of our time, the social network has become even more exciting to explore.
Well, what is X now, and how is it possible to bypass the registration requirements set by Elon Musk himself? Let’s figure it out in today’s article.
What is X? Back to the Times of Twitter
As you may know, this is how the former Twitter, one of the leading social media, is called now. Right from the moment it was acquired by Elon Musk in 2022.
From the very beginning in 2006, when Jack Dorsey and other co-founders came up with the idea to build a platform where users can publish short diary-like posts with their opinions on any society-related topics or personal everyday experiences, it seemed to begin changing the entire social media landscape. This is how microblogging and Twitter itself were born with up to 140 symbols publications available.
Largely due to the innovative and capacious form of expression for social networks, this social media platform quickly gained a massive base of supporters. Besides, it significantly influenced the entire way users interact with each other on today’s web.
Before Musk’s acquisition, users who finalized X registration (Twitter) were able to:
- Create a microblog, keep up with the news of other users by following their pages, and be followed by others.
- Publish a text post with images attached.
- Like, repost other users’ posts to add on their own page.
- Reply to other users’ posts, and take part in threads.
Well, if you look at it chronologically, what is X shortly before the change of ownership?
The social network also began testing new functionality:
- ‘Fleets’, which is an analogue to the stories format. Though, on X, users publish photos, text, and videos that can disappear in 24 hours.
- ‘Spaces’, which started as closed chat rooms where users could share voice messages with each other.
- Attempts to allow posting adult content — and monetize it.
What is X Under Musk’s Control?
In 2022, when Mr. Musk acquired the social media platform, the first thing he did was change the name to X. Seemingly, he named it after his X Corp company and fired most of the management and employees of ex-Twitter. His key aspirations were to provide free speech even for his ‘worst haters’ on the social network and clean up the community from bots that completed X registration. Right after acquisition, he unbanned the accounts of Donald Trump and Kanye West that were disallowed due to racist and politically controversial posts.
Key X Сhanges from Elon Musk
What Mr. Musk Brought to the Platform? Here is the list of key points:
- No single format for user posts anymore: not only text posts of up to 140 symbols are allowed but any other format, even a 2-hour long video.
- To radically fight the bots, Mr. Musk started charging a fee for making a post. This is how Mr. Musk began to expand the premium subscriptions to increase its revenue.
- As for read-only users, it’s obligatory to create X account. Besides, the number of posts that are available for reading per day is limited, depending on an account category. Verification costs $8 per month.
- Blue verification mark became a premium feature available to anyone who’s ready to pay for it.
- ‘Likes’ on posts are now hidden from other users, mainly to protect employees who frequently like ‘edgy’ posts from the companies’ ears. According to the new policies, users cannot see who liked someone else’s posts, though they still can see who liked their own publications.
- As for the stories format, in ‘Fleets’, Musk implemented AI bot Grok to summarize all the trending stories featured on the ‘For You’ tab in the ‘Explore’ section.
- For those who registered new X account, expanded video and live streaming functionality (in ‘Spaces’) on the platform is available. In plans, it’s to launch a YouTube-like platform soon.
- Launch of the X Hiring service where verified organizations can publish job offers that is pretty similar to LinkedIn’s functionality.
As for the plans, Mr. Musk is going to transform X into a full-fledged dating platform and a digital bank to enable mobile payments where ‘users won’t even need to have a bank account’. According to the publicly available interviews, he sees the future of ex-Twitter as of a supperapp by analogy to the Chinese WeChat, which he says he is deeply inspired with.
X Registration Requirements
As mentioned above, even to have access to X users’ posts, it is mandatory to create X account. Next, read on how to complete registration on the platform.
When you open the app, select ‘Create account’ from the options presented on the screen. On Step 3, you’ll have the preferred option of signing up. You can choose the one that suits you best, whether it’s through email, a phone number, or a social media account.
After that, select the language that you prefer on your new X account. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your native language. For example, you can install a foreign language that you are learning and read posts in this language — and also keep practicing formulating thoughts in real conversations.
Then, follow the prompts to provide the necessary information such as your name, username, email address, and any other information to complete your account setup.
After that, you will be able to customize your account privacy settings and more according to your preferences. Then, on Step 7, tap on the ‘Sign Up’ button to officially complete X registration.
To authenticate your account, you may be required to enter a verification code sent to your email or phone number. Type in a verification code provided to proceed. Then, after creating a password which is strong enough for security, choose your username that reflects your personality for the X community.
And as a final step, to kickstart your experience within the community, follow at least one account that aligns with your interests. Tap on the ‘Follow’ button.
How to Sign Up for X without X without a Phone Number?
One of the problems when registering an account on X may be that you don’t have a phone number or aren’t ready to use a personal number. In any of these cases, it’s reasonable to find an alternative. For example, consider using a temporary phone number based on the so-called SMS activation virtual platform.
This software allows you to get an OTP to create X account and other apps right to your personal account on the virtual platform. Using this virtual tool, you protect your real phone number from being compromised and used in malicious activity or just spam.
Moreover, for those concerned about their anonymity within the platform, buying a temporary virtual number does not require proof of identity and is not tied to a specific device. (The latter can help bypass the detection of device fingerprints).
What’s more, your real geolocation also remains hidden since, with the SMS-Man functionality, you can buy a disposable phone number from 190+ countries available. You can apply any of it for registering in 4000+ supported services, but first, to set up a new X account.
Here is how to purchase a one-time virtual phone number for X from SMS-Man:
- Register on the platform via the link sms-man.com using email address or a social media account.
- Add funds to the balance: VISA, Payeer, Alipay, crypto transactions, and more are available.
- Enter ‘Receive SMS’, choose the service (Twitter) and the required country code. Tap ‘Purchase’.
- Under the selection functions, you’ll find the archive of purchases. It stores the purchased numbers. Copy the number and apply it to the X account.
- Then go back to SMS-man and request an OTP by clicking on ‘Get SMS’.
- Open up the code and utilize it for a new X account.