Twitter Celebrates Ninth Birthday, First Tweets Recognized

By Edward Cardenas

SOUTHFIELD (CBS Detroit) - The 140-character micro-blogging site Twitter celebrates its ninth birthday Friday, and during its short life, it has changed the way people communicate.

Nearly 500 million Tweets are sent per day by Twitter's 288 million monthly users, the company reports. Many of the advancements made by the service came from these users and have become part of popular culture, Twitter stated.

"We continue to say that Twitter is what it is because of the people who use it. After all, it's because of you that we have product features like hashtags and best practices like live-Tweeting," Gabriel Stricker, Twitter chief communications officer, wrote in a blog post. "Today, these are deeply rooted elements of Twitter and part of mainstream cultural vernacular

Founder Jack Dorsey sent the first Tweet:

Since that first Tweet, the social media service has worked its way into everyday life.

Twitter has also established a website for those looking to relive their first Tweet, or interested to find what others sent in their 140-character message.

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