Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Five years ago on March 21, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey fired off the first tweets officially giving life to the micro-messaging service:
Here are some facts about the San Francisco-based startup:
- Dorsey's Twitter account @jack automatically sent out the first tweet, "just setting up my twttr," on March 21, 2006 and Dorsey followed it up with the first "human-generated" tweet "inviting coworkers"
- Twitter has more than 200 million registered users sending more than 140 million tweets a day
- Last year, Twitter users sent 25 billion tweets and the company added more than 100 million new registered accounts.
It has averaged 460,000 new accounts per day over the past month.
- Pop star Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) has the most Twitter followers with 8.78 million followed by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) with 8.13 million, Britney Spears (@britneyspears) with 7.12 million, Barack Obama (@barackobama) with 6.97 million and Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) with 6.73 million
- Actor Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) was the fastest to one million followers, picking them up in just 24 hours
- The hashtag (#) feature on Twitter which groups tweets by subject debuted in August 2007, proposed by a user
- In October 2009, Google and Microsoft began integrating tweets into their search products
- Twitter has 400 employees and is adding workers almost weekly
- Twitter is based in San Francisco, with additional employees in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington
- Twitter was incorporated in April 2007; it was co-founded by Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey - @biz, @ev and @jack
- The initial Twitter logo was created by Stone, a former graphic designer
- Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo is a former improvisational comedian
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments