How Did Twitter Start?

Twitter was actually started by a podcast company called Odeo in 2006. It was from the result of a board meeting that failed to produce any creative ideas. So people will put into groups to brainstorm ideas. One of the groups started to connect with friends about their ideas using a short messenger service. It was originally called Status and was created by Jack Dorsey. The first message Jack made was “just setting up my twittr”. After a brainstorming session for a good name Odeo called the service Twitter.

Twitter did not become popular until 2007 at the South by Southwest Festival. Huge monitors were set up at the festival which constantly streamed tweets. The festival created a lot of interest in the new service.

Today there are millions of people who have Twitter accounts, and the growth of Twitter in recent months has been astounding. Twitter almost doubles its membership every month.

People enjoy knowing what their friends and family are doing by reading their “tweets”. Also people use Twitter to share interesting sites and funny videos. Twitter can be used to get up to updates on events or famous people as many celebrities are using Twitter to keep their fans up to speed with what they are doing.

Although Twitter started out as being a purely social network it is now increasingly used by companies as a marketing tool. Organizations have created Twitter accounts and use them to provide information on new products and monitor what people are saying about the company and products. Some companies such as Dell, have been using Twitter for providing customer service by interacting directly with customers and giving technical advice and support online.