Social networking giant Twitter turns five today, as its popularity continues to grow with users across the world.
According to The Independent, it has been five years since co-founder and chairman of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, wrote and published the first tweet – which read: “Inviting coworkers.”
Since that first message, Twitter has become one of the world’s most popular social networking websites; used by people across the globe for personal and professional use.
Marketers and businesspeople alike have come to rely on the platform for online marketing; posting social media content in a bid to strengthen their brand and increase their audience. Likewise on a personal basis, it has been crucial in helping the public communicate with each other, particularly in times of crisis; such as the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and during the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
This was confirmed by The Guardian, which claimed: “Twitter has become an endlessly flowing river of news, opinion, information, expertise, contacts, data, links, connections.”
“You can not only find out what is happening, but connect to the people you’re trying to reach more directly.”
It is thought the original founders of the system did have an inkling that something big would come from the development, with Biz Stone (one of Twitter’s founding members) confirmed: “As much fun as we were having, there was always in the back of our heads the idea of the potential of something important coming from it.”
“Even if we didn’t say it out loud and talk about it. Because we were just getting started and we really had no place saying anything like it.”
