Philadelphia

Happy 7th birthday, Twitter: The company through the years

TECH_twitter_0919

Our baby is growing up so fast. And by baby, we mean Twitter.

Twitter turned seven today. To celebrate, it released a video recapping the history of Twitter from its humble beginnings to present day.

The site was launched on March 21, 2006 and today boasts 200 million monthly active users..

“As we’ve grown, Twitter has become a true global town square – a public place to hear the latest news, exchange ideas and connect with people in real time. This iw shwere you come to connect with the world at large,” wrote Twitter’s Editorial Director Karen Wickre in a blog post.

The video shows ways in which Twitter has helped change the way we get our news. From the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, to Tahrir Square and President Barack Obama’s re-election, users have become citizen journalists.

Twitter isn’t only used as a news service, though. Where would we be if our favorite celebrities weren’t tweeting? Here’s the list of the top seven (get it, in honor of Twitter’s seventh birthday) Twitter accounts with the most followers.

1. @JustinBieber: 36,011,871
2. @LadyGaga: 35,064,313
3. @KatyPerry: 33,617,790
4. @Rihanna: 28,806,073
5. @BarackObama: 28,377,249
6. @TaylorSwift: 24,961,927
7. @BritneySpears: 24,717,490

While the list consists of mainly pop stars – with the exception of President Obama – the tweets that have been re-tweeted the most vary from NFL players, to Wendy’s fast food choice.

 

Happy birthday, Twitter. We can’t wait to see what the next seven years will look like.

Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant

 


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