Twitter Turns 10! What Is In Store For The Social Network?

Twitter turns 10 today, and after a decade, the social media network has grown to 320 million active monthly users and one billion unique visits per month. Twitter took to its own platform to commemorate the milestone.

“I'm really confident in what's ahead,” said CEO Jack Dorsey to Bloomberg Businessweek. “I think over the 10 years, we've seen Twitter be so influential in the world, and we've seen so many dramatic-use cases of the service.”

The micro-blogging platform’s popularity is so strong that the traditional pound sign (#) is now universally recognized as a hashtag. Fun fact: the concept of the hashtag came from Chris Messina, who tweeted the suggestion back in 2007.

Some of the earliest tweets from celebrities are a fun flashback; most of these individuals are now verified account holders with millions of fans, but their debut tweets showcase the uncertainty with which many influencers dabbled on the platform.

Since its conception, Twitter has transitioned from a platform where people share their thoughts and ramblings to become an essential social media network where celebrities, politicians and key influencers communicate with their fans and the world. Twitter is even credited for playing a role in major social uprisings like the 2011 Arab Spring.

After lasting a decade, it’s a fair question to ask where the network will be in another decade.

“There's a whole discussion around virtual reality and augmented reality, and Twitter has been augmenting reality for 10 years,” Dorsey told Bloomberg Businessweek. “You watch any game, you watch any live event, you watch any political debate, Twitter makes it more interesting, funnier, entertaining. I think Periscope takes that a step further by actually pulling them together on one screen. So if you were to very humbly think of Twitter as a chat room—a global chat room—it's been this room that people talk about the world and what's happening in the world nonstop.”