The open world of ‘Old Twitter’: How the social network shaped India's first digital communities twenty years ago

Good day to those and only those who still call it Twitter.

For someone who wasn’t online in the 2010s, that would sound like a message on a housing society WhatsApp group.

Social media netizens today are all tagged and labelled—influencers (mega, mid, nano, max, ProMax.), their fan clubs, hardliners on the left, centrists, or right-wingers, and in between it all, us common folks just trying to research how to sleep better.

When Twitter (now X) emerged, it was a social network that enabled you to connect with complete strangers in a wholesome way. Back then, we had Facebook for folks you knew, Orkut (RIP) for its large slam books, LinkedIn minus the bros, and blogging sites like Tumblr. Twitter launched in 2006 and was adopted in India soon after, a period that we now refer to as “Old Twitter”.

Photographer Naina Redhu, one of India’s first Twitter users, who was 25 then and based in Delhi, recalls joining in 2006 out of curiosity and only finding users from Palo Alto. She logged back in two years later, when more Indians began joining the platform. “The internet was a small place,” she says. “Everything was out in the open. You followed each other’s personal journeys.”

A SIMPLE UNIVERSE

Old Twitter was weirdly wonderful and intermittently chaotic. People wishing good morning, people sharing jokes, people asking for help, people having subgroups to make fun of other people, people finding love, with mostly everyone knowing everyone.

I joined in 2008 when Twitter emerged as the most credible source of information on the Mumbai terror attacks. Soon after, I connected with folks across countries, building networks and friendships which have lasted more than a decade. It was a far better place for professional connections than LinkedIn due to a more personal rapport eliminating corporate formalities. Even the seniormost leaders responded kindly and I eventually landed my first job via a simple Direct Message to a founder asking for work.

Chennai-based chartered accountant and content creator Lavanya Mohan, 39, too, got her first freelance break via Twitter. “I was following one of my seniors from school who followed me back. She noticed I was writing and gave me my first freelance writing opportunity.”

For others it was instrumental in finding love. Mumbai-based author and businesswoman Shakti Salgoakar-Yezdani met her husband at a “tweet-up”—an offline meeting of people who’d originally got to know one another on Twitter—over beer and food. “We met at someone’s home, and started doing trips to a popular brewery in Pune.” She later adopted her dog via an appeal. “It was the first social network where you could meet new people,” says Salgaonkar-Yezdani, 41. “We had no inhibitions and people just messaged each other; there was no concept of trolls and creeps. It felt like a college cafeteria where friends got together.”

IT professional Hrish Thota remembers tweeting to singer Lucky Ali to meet the Bengaluru Twitter users at a café in Church Street, when he was visiting Bengaluru in 2010. “We tweeted to him and he just showed up,” says Thota, 45. “It was a simple universe where you could speak to celebs with no middlemen.”

Brand marketeer Samit Malkani, 45, attributes this to early audiences who were highly progressive. “They networked socially instead of seeking dopamine rewards on which social media thrives today. That led to a feeling of genuine community and support and fun.”

Today when I look back, a lot of this can be ascribed to the fact that apart from networking, Twitter was the first social network to give power to micro-thoughts and the written short-form content. The 140-character tweet had its own language—no one paid much attention to content or punctuation and no one edited their thoughts before putting them out.

The platform’s lack of judgement extended beyond sport, into deeply personal moments where one just needed to get things off their chest. You could tweet anything, and you would find someone to discuss it with positively and constructively. Author and podcast host Anupam Gupta, 54, from Mumbai, recalls offloading emotions on Twitter after losing a close family member. “I found I could say things which I could not share in offline circles then.”

Soon enough a few voices became influential. Twitter birthed the concept of influencers around 2013. Regular people endorsing products/services, cracking jokes, networking—it was a marketing gold mine. Want to know where to get plum cake? Ask your network. Want to know which moisturiser works in Mumbai humidity? That lawyer who was a secret skincare girlie would respond.

“PR companies were reaching out to us to feature their products on blogs,” Thota says. “We extended it to our Twitter too as it became a form of digital amplification.” Brands stuck with Facebook pages, saw an opportunity to host tweet-ups around their products. A popular beer brand tweet-up was highly coveted, there was politics and jealousy about being invited for a movie channel’s tweet-up. Monetisation began on Twitter with groups of popular users charging to create an “organic trend” for brands.

Soon enough, anyone with a follower count over 10,000 had a rate card. Twitter influencers walked so that Instagram influencers could run or rather, shoot reels. Malkani remarks, “I think of the comedians. While they hosted their content on YouTube, Twitter was where they showed who they were, making people laugh. Twitter made us feel like we knew those influencers like close friends.”

The influence extended to larger movements like #MeToo, with women speaking out in India as well fuelled by the global movement. The social network turned into a platform of real change, which deeply affected us not just at personal micro-level but started shaping actual news—tweets soon became the news instead of the other way round.

But what started out with goodwill, friendship and benevolence, soon grew out of control. The social network which drove adoption by becoming the go-to place for accurate real-time information began to feel different since 2019, and it worsened when it became X, prompting a lot of people to leave. Information was distorted, there was misuse of AI imagery and paid amplification started to creep in. It began with the “fights” becoming more toxic personal call-outs—there were women fighting over cheating boyfriends and troll accounts tweeting personal information about the popular users. By then the community was very well-known, putting a spotlight on most users.

RETURN OF AUTHENTICITY

Then came the trolls. The anonymity that the network thrived on in its early years became its most dangerous weapon with widespread unnamed accounts. The disintegration began around the time the politically motivated accounts multiplied. While world leaders used the platform for official announcement and during campaigns like US President Barack Obama in his first term, the tone started to shift. Trolling turned to targeting with coordinated smear campaigns. This shift spooked the community.

Today, most of the friends I had there have gone quiet or left the network. You can no longer say what is on your mind without anonymous trolling. It has become particularly unsafe for women with rape and death threats. “Twitter used to be a safe space,” says Mohan. “There were always opposing viewpoints which were discussed without one feeling threatened. Today the lack of safety discourages women from even posting a photo without the risk of Grok being able to manipulate the image.”

Jack Dorsey, the original founder, started BlueSky, however in India it didn’t catch on. Most users were just weary to switch over and with Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest coming—the networks dedicated to visual mediums took over.

The creator economy too has moved away. “Today the creator economy is far more developed. It is more accessible, which is both great and not. Today, it feels like anyone can start a channel (great) but not really be good at anything and rely on algorithmic hacking to get noticed (not great),” Malkani quips.

2026 has signalled the return of intellectualism and authenticity amid a flood of AI. Substack is making a comeback.

With the social networks signalling a shift back to intelligentsia, thus words, and perfect visuals being de-emphasised, could we go back to Old Twitter? I think it is sadly non-existent although Threads does see a revival of sorts in the West and is coming on strongly to India. What has endured are the friendships and relationships forged during that time. There are now large WhatsApp groups lovingly nurtured by Gupta and others. They are a glorious group who lived their lives and views proudly on social networks which were originally designed to give digital users a platform to be their authentic selves. Chances are these folks still start their conversations in the same earnest way—with a “Good Morning” before picking out a topic for the day to collectively and joyously whine about.

Priyal Sanghavi (@priyal) is a marketing and communications professional from Mumbai.