Twitter was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, who at the time worked for the podcasting company Odeo. Inspired by TXTMob, it later became a massively popular social networking and microblogging site. Users post text based messages of up to 140 characters on their pages via the site or a mobile device such as a cell phone, which can then be followed by other members. The concept included the mobile aspect early on, and it went through several name changes before work began in March, 2006. The act of posting a message became known as a “tweet”. The first tweet was sent by Jack Dorsey on March 21st, 2006 at 9:50pm PST: “Just setting up my twttr.”
Used as a prototype by Odeo employees, it was later publicly launched in July and became a separate company in 2007. Most agree the biggest public surgence of Twitter popularity was at the 2007 South By Southwest festival, where Twitter displayed real time Twitter messages on 60 inch plasma screens. They won the festival’s Web Award that year.
Today, Twitter’s massive popularity has brought celebrities, politicians, athletes and more to the online world where the public can get an unparalleled view into their personal lives. The site has become so popular, some are addicted to ‘tweeting’, as it’s known, and the number of different Twitter pages range from the fascinating to the completely ludicrous. Twitter is stronger than it ever was today and appears ready to continue on into the future.