Twitter, which has become an inseparable part of our lives, started as Twttr and was used internally at Odeo for a few months before it was launched publically as Twitter in 2006.
Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey (@Jack) had originally imagined Twitter as an SMS-based interactive platform. Friends could use the platform to keep tabs on what the other one was doing.
Dorsey suggested this platform to Odeo’s co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, who gave the go ahead to spend more time on the project and develop it further.
In those days, it was a popular trend to drop vowels in the name of services and companies to gain domain-name advantage hence the original name twttr. Software developer Noah Glass (@Noah) came up with the original name twttr as well as the name it is now called: Twitter.
Dorsey sent the first message “just setting up my twttr” on Twitter was sent on March 21, 2006 and a few months later on July 15, Twitter was finally launched.
Over the years Twitter has emerged as the go to platform for everyone from politicians to movie stars to interact and share news with their followers and other Tweeter users.
During the 2016 US Presidential election, Twitter was the largest source of breaking news on voting day.
It has become a very useful tool for governance in many countries, with new policies and other information tweeted by the people in power.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who rarely interacts with meadiapersons, uses Twitter to connect with the masses and it is one of the reasons for his immense popularity. Likewise, other world leaders, particularly US President Donald Trump, celebrities, sportspersons and others use Twitter to connect with and expand their fan base.
As of February, 2019 there were more than 32 crore active Twitter users around the world.