The New York Stock Exchange decked out for Twitter's IPO in November of 2013.
Richard Levine/Demotix/Corbis
Twitter is tuing 10 on Monday.
The social network has become immensely popular on a very simple theory: Say what you want in 140 characters or less. (That sentence is 122 characters, including spaces.)
Though that may not sound like a lot of room to maneuver, Twitter's users have figured out how to craft pithy, playful and poignant messages that have had a role in everything from pop culture moments like the Academy Awards to political upheavals like the Arab Spring.
Over the past decade, the free service has become a go-to platform for politicians, entertainers, activists and everyday people and one of the top sources for breaking news. If there's a catastrophe, folks flock to Twitter to find out the latest. Many of its 320 million tweeters use the service to swap opinions about sporting events as they happen, or to monitor protests, wars or terrorist attacks as they unfold in real time.
Donald Trump, the unexpected Republican front-ruer for president of the United States, relies on Twitter to trash his rivals and share his often-unapologetic commentaries. First Lady Michelle Obama helped popularize the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls to call attention to the plight of kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria. Whistle-blower Edward Snowden joined Twitter in September 2015 with the ironic phrase "Can you hear me now?"
Singers Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift have the most Twitter followers at nearly 85 million, 77 million and 73 million, respectively. Obama ranks fourth with 71 million, according to TwitterCounter.
Twitter's founders, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass, said their goal was to create a "public messaging" service, akin to the way cab drivers and dispatchers communicate. They called it "a simple way to say something, to anyone, that everyone in the world can see instantly."
The proof is in the tweets. Here's a list of some of the most important ones from the past decade.
On March 21, 2006, Twitter co-founder and current CEO Jack Dorsey sent out his first tweet: "just setting up my twttr."
In 2009, Twitter brought images to the world almost immediately after a US Airways plane with 155 passengers on board struck a bird on takeoff and miraculously landed in the Hudson River near New York City. Twitter user Janis Krums was among the first witnesses on the scene and tweeted a photo that came to symbolize the "Miracle on the Hudson." Dorsey thanked Krums via Twitter, naturally, calling it an "iconic moment."
Following a controversial election in Iran in June 2009, thousands began protesting in the streets of Tehran. When the govement shut off news about the demonstrations, protesters took to Twitter. The phrase "Twitter Revolution" was bo.
The microblogging service played a vital part in the Arab Spring uprisings across Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Libya in late 2010 and 2011. Demonstrators used the social network as a mobilization tool to coordinate and organize protests. Twitter and other platforms were credited with the ousting of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the resignation of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.
Millions took to Twitter with the hashtag #PrayforParis to show solidarity and peace after terror attacks killed at least 130 people in the city in November 2015. It was the city's second major terror attack. Eleven people were killed and 11 injured at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo earlier that year. That attack spawned the #JeSuisCharlie -- I am Charlie -- hashtag.