The history of the popular social networking/microblogging service Twitter has its roots a unique idea by Jack Dorsey.  Dorsey proposed the idea of individuals using an SMS service to share messages with a small group to board members of Odeo, a company specializing in podcasts.  The original project code for the service was twttr.

On this day, March 21st, in 2006, Jack Dorsey posts the first Twitter message ever.  The message read, “just setting up my twttr.” Dorsey and others would go on to develop the service and eventually changed the name from twttr to Twitter.  According to Dorsey, the world “twitter” was perfect for the goal of their service; the word is defined as a short burst of inconsequential information.  Twitter would be introduced to the public by July 15, 2006 and quickly gained popularity.

As of 2011, Twitter had an excess of 300 million users across the globe.  Twitter is currently one of the main ways for individuals, groups and celebrities to share messages with friends and fans instantly.  Twitter has also gained recognition as being one of the top ten visited websites in the world and has been ranked as one of the top used social networking sites as well.