Once upon a time in 2006, a small team of developers at a podcasting company called Odeo had a problem: nobody cared about their podcasting platform. It would seem they were just way too early to the podcast boom of the 2020s. Like any good startup, instead of admitting defeat, they decided to pivot, because in Silicon Valley, failure isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning of your future TED Talk.
Among the Odeo employees was a man named Jack Dorsey, who had an idea for a platform where people could share short status updates via text messages. Back then, this was revolutionary. Today, it sounds like something your aunt does on Facebook or WhatsApp every morning.
Dorsey, along with Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, worked on the project, and in March of 2006, Dorsey posted the first-ever tweet: "just setting up my twttr." So if you ever feel self-conscious about using shortened text because you’re typing one handed while eating lunch, remember, it’s heritage at this point.
Twitter officially launched to the public in July 2006, and at first, no one really knew what to do with it. But then, something magical happened, celebrities, journalists, and brands realized they could use it to communicate directly with people. Suddenly, Twitter became a digital town square, where world leaders, comedians, and your uncle with horrible takes could all scream at unsuspecting netizens.
