Twitter celebrates 7th birthday, 200 million users

It's been seven years since Twitter creator Jack Dorsey first tweeted. And in the time that has passed, the social network has gathered over 200 million users who generate over 400 million tweets each day.

To mark the social network's birthday, the folks at Twitter made a video covering some of the key moments in Twitter's history.

The year 2007 brought the hashtag — the invention often credited to Google's Chris Messina— and the first retweet. In 2007, Oprah Winfrey joined Twitter, only to be promptly teased by Shaquille O'Neal. Soon after that, astronaut Mike Massimino sent the first tweet from space. In January 2013, Twitter introduced Vine, a video-sharing service.

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While Twitter has gathered over 200 million users in the last seven years, the number is dwarfed by Facebook's billion or so users. (That social network's been around since 2004.) Google+, by comparison, launched in mid-2011 and has since racked up 135 million active users.

No matter Twitter's size next to its fellow social networks, one must admit that it has played a role in many historical events, and been a highly disruptive force in the media, being the first medium to report the slaying of Osama bin Laden and the Hudson River plane crash of 2009, among many many other breaking news items.

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

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It also has the most whimsical logo. The Twitter bird, named Larry after former NBA basketball player Larry Bird, is likely pecking at some birthday cake today.

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