After a mascot change and rebranding following Elon Musk's acquisition, the social media platform now known as X has seen some evolution in recent years. The platform emphasizes free speech and draws both praise and criticism for its approach. Whether it lives up to that ideal is a matter of opinion, but for those new to the platform, here's a breakdown of what X is and how it works.

X, formerly known as Twitter, is a social media platform where people post short messages to communicate and connect with an audience or "circle" of like-minded people, or accounts that cater to your interests.

You can follow people who post interesting takes on things or casual conversations, and others can follow you for the same. You can also interact with others by replying to their posts, quoting them, or liking posts shared by others. All in all, X is a social media platform where you can discover and engage with topics, people, businesses and their conversations.

People can post a short message, pictures, or both at the same time. The post will then appear in the feeds of people who follow you. When your followers or you interact with content, it is shown to your followers' followers, and so on. At the end of the day, your post could end up reaching millions of users.