Jack Dorsey posted the first ever tweet: "just setting up my twttr".
In the seven years since that tweet, more than 200 million people have joined Twitter and the service now sees 400 million tweets sent every day.
George Osborne yesterday became the latest high profile person to join Twitter, signing up a few hours before delivering his Budget statement. There was even a Twitter reference during in the House of Commons, with Ed Miliband offering a hashtag joke in his response.
"Today the chancellor joined Twitter," the Labour leader said. "He could have got it all into 140 characters: Growth down, borrowing up, families hit, and millionaires laughing all the way to the bank. Hashtag downgraded chancellor."
According to a survey published earlier this week, the most popular topic to tweet about is television, with 40 per cent of evening tweets concerning what is on television.The findings, from TV Licensing's TeleScope survey, were similar to those of a Brandwatch study last week, which found that women talk more on Twitter about personal matters, television and work, while men are more likely to tweet about sport gaming and news.
Overall, according to Brandwatch, television is the most popular topic for tweets, followed by sport, music and celebrities.
To mark its seventh birthday, Twitter asked celebrity users what they liked best about the service. Here is a selection of the responses:
Richard Branson: "To me, Twitter means a way to communicate with people in real-time, highlight good causes and - above all – have fun!"
Sarah Millican: "It's always there. A link to the world. To tell me which celebs have died or show me a video of a monkey on a pig. Friends & fans alike."
Sarah Beeny: "Twitter is the home of witty, warm, welcoming and useful banter - it's an amazing place to be!"
Alastair Campbell: "I like twitter because it enables people to create their own media landscape. I hope it does not become too commercial."
Derren Brown: "Twitter provides a cross section of the population with its madness and extremes in tact. Fascinating & exhausting."
