Ten Years of Twitter

Twitter turns ten years old today, so we thought we’d have a look at how far the social networking platform has come since 2006, and what’s in store for its future.

Twitter Timeline

The first tweet was sent on 21^st March 2006 by co-founder Jack Dorsey.
Later that year came @replies
#hashtags first made an appearance in 2007
By 2009 Twitter had become a platform for breaking news
Ashton Kutcher became the first celebrity to exceed one million followers in 2009
The first tweet posted from space was on 12^th May 2009
In 2010 the Library of Congress decided to acquire the entire Twitter archive
In 2011 Twitter was used as an organising tool for Occupy Wall Street
The pope joined in 2012
Twitter launched the six-second video clip platform Vine in 2013
By 2013, the advertising industry had gotten on board with Twitter as a platform for real-time advertising, tying advertising in with events such as the Super Bowl
Also in 2013, Twitter became a publicly traded company
The most retweeted tweet of all time (as of writing!) was posted by Ellen DeGeneres at the 2014 Oscars
Twitter launched the live video streaming service Periscope in 2015
President Obama joined in May 2015
Favourites and stars turned to likes and hearts in late 2015

Also in late 2015, Twitter Moments was launched, aiming to group together the most important and best recent tweets in one tab

Future Plans

Earlier this year many Twitter users were concerned about rumoured plans to remove the 140-character limit for tweets, essentially removing an important USP of the network. Crafting a tweet that says everything we want to say in just a few words has evolved into an art form. But it seems that anyone who was worried about the limit being increased to 10,000 characters can rest easy. According to Jack Dorsey, Twitter is changing a lot and for the better, but there will still be a 140-character limit. Sort of.

There have been hints that text could be embedded into tweets in the same way that images are so that people can share longer updates without the need to share screenshots as an image in the tweet, which is sometimes how people get around the character limit.

Twitter also received some backlash in February when the platform was rife with rumours of a Facebook-style algorithm for the main feed. Jack Dorsey was quick to reassure users that Twitter would remain real-time and that the live stream is here to stay, although the “While you were away” box (which can be hidden) does show users tweets they haven’t seen. The platform thinks this feature is important for making the site easier to understand for new users.

Twitter has always been and will continue to be whatever users make of it. For personal use, it can be a way to get the latest news as it happens, share information with friends, keep up to date with favourite brands and celebrities, or dig through the noise to find gems of stories and information that we may not find elsewhere.

Though it can be challenging to stand out, Twitter is an essential part of a marketer’s toolkit. Whatever direction Twitter takes in the future, it will be important for brands to continue to stay up to date and get involved, finding potential customers, building relationships, and making sure their voices are heard.

Happy birthday Twitter!