It feels like a lifetime ago. Back when we were all obsessing over our MySpace layouts and trying to figure out if we should "Poke" someone on Facebook, a weird little side project was brewing in a San Francisco office. You probably know it as the place where the world’s biggest arguments happen, or maybe you just call it "X" now. But honestly, the question of when did twitter begin isn't just about a date on a calendar. It’s about a failing podcast company and a group of guys who were basically just bored.
The technical answer? It started in March 2006.
But the "real" story is a lot messier. It involves a "hackathon," a dictionary, and a name that almost sounds like a medical condition.
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The Day the Bird Was Born
If you want the exact moment the first spark hit the internet, look at March 21, 2006. That’s when Jack Dorsey, one of the co-founders, sent out the first-ever message. It wasn't profound. It wasn't a political statement. It was basically a "Hello World" for the social media age.
"just setting up my twttr" — @jack, March 21, 2006.
Notice the spelling? No vowels. Back then, dropping vowels was the trendy "tech" thing to do—think Flickr. They called it twttr. It sounds like a typo now, but at the time, they thought it was genius. The team was working at Odeo, a startup that helped people find and publish podcasts. The problem? Apple had just announced iTunes was getting a podcasting directory.
Odeo was dead in the water.
In a fit of "we need a new idea or we’re all out of a job," the founders—Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass—held a day-long brainstorming session. Jack Dorsey pitched an idea he’d been obsessed with for years: a way to use SMS (text messages) to tell your friends what you were doing in real-time.
When Did Twitter Begin for the Rest of Us?
While the first tweet was sent in March, the public didn't get their hands on it until July 15, 2006. That’s the official launch date. Even then, it wasn't an instant hit. People didn't "get" it.
"Why would I want to know what someone is eating for lunch?"
That was the number one criticism. Honestly, it was a fair point. In the early days, that's exactly what it was. People would post things like "Walking the dog" or "Hungry." It was mundane. It was simple. And because it was built on the back of SMS technology, you were strictly limited to 140 characters.
Why 140? Because mobile carriers capped text messages at 160 characters. The devs reserved 20 characters for the username and the command code, leaving 140 for the actual "tweet." It was a constraint born of necessity that ended up defining an entire culture of brevity.
The Turning Point: SXSW 2007
For about a year, it was just a niche tool for tech nerds in Silicon Valley. Then came the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in March 2007.
The Twitter team did something clever. They put up giant plasma screens in the hallways of the conference, streaming live tweets from attendees. Suddenly, everyone was using it to find out where the best parties were or which speakers were actually worth watching. Usage tripled during that one event. That was the moment the world realized Twitter wasn't just about lunch; it was about what is happening right now.
The Forgotten Founder and the Name Change
We usually hear about Jack, Biz, and Ev. But there’s a name that often gets left out of the "when did twitter begin" narrative: Noah Glass.
Noah was the one who actually came up with the name "Twitter." After they moved away from the "twttr" spelling, he spent hours looking through a dictionary for words starting with "Tw." He hit on "Twitter," which the dictionary defined as "a short burst of inconsequential information" and "chirps from birds."
It was perfect.
Sadly, the history of the company is full of drama. By the time Twitter spun off into its own company in 2007, Noah Glass was pushed out. If you ever find yourself diving into the book Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton, you’ll see just how much "betrayal" was involved in those early years. It wasn't all just "blue birds" and "happy thoughts."
Why the Start Date Matters in 2026
Looking back from where we are now, the origins of the platform explain so much about its current identity as "X." It was always meant to be a "status" tool—a way to broadcast a pulse.
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- 2006: The internal prototype and first tweet.
- 2007: The hashtag is born (invented by user Chris Messina, not the company!).
- 2009: The first "Real-Time News" moment with the Miracle on the Hudson.
- 2022-2023: The Elon Musk era begins, leading to the rebrand.
The platform has survived several near-death experiences, leadership swaps, and a total identity overhaul. But the DNA of that 2006 "twttr" prototype—the idea that you can reach the entire world in a single sentence—is still what keeps it alive today.
Your Next Steps
If you’re a digital historian or just someone trying to clean up your social media footprint, knowing the history is just the start. Here is what you should do next:
- Check your own "First Tweet": Use the advanced search tool on X (formerly Twitter) to find your earliest posts. Type
(from:yourusername) until:2010-01-01into the search bar. It's a great way to see your own personal history. - Audit your privacy: Since the platform's ownership has changed significantly, take five minutes to review your "Data sharing and personalization" settings.
- Explore the "Wayback Machine": If you want to see what the site actually looked like on July 15, 2006, head to the Internet Archive. It was green, bubbly, and looked nothing like the "X" we see today.