21 March 2016•Update: 22 March 2016
By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO
Twitter turned 10 years old Monday, an anniversary celebrated by the company and many users but shadowed by the fact that the service has never created a profit.
On March 21, 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet, “just setting up my twittr”, a simple missive that recalls the service’s original name.
Over the following decade, Twitter changed the face of news, social movements, mobile communications and the notion of celebrity.
The service pioneered the “@” mention and the hashtag, two features that are utilized by many other social media platforms.
“Happy 10th birthday @Twitter! #LoveTwitter” Dorsey tweeted Monday.
Dorsey went on to lead the company as CEO until he lost the position in 2008, developed payments system Square and then returned to Twitter as chief executive in 2015.
The celebrations have been darkened by several growing concerns, including the fact that the company has never turned a profit. In fact, it has lost more than $2 billion since 2011, according to its quarterly financial statements.
The company went public in 2013 and shares have dipped 77 percent since their all-time high more than two years ago. Even more worrying for investors, Twitter reported earlier this year that its user base actually shrank to 320 million monthly users across the planet.
Although it was seen as a Facebook competitor for many years, it is now completely eclipsed by Facebook, which boasts a user base of 1.59 billion. In fact, Twitter has also been overtaken by image-sharing service Instagram, which is owned by Facebook and has 400 million monthly active users.
Although shares of Twitter spiked Monday morning, the company’s stock hovered around Friday’s close of $16.85 later in the day.
Though the company’s future remains in question, Twitter was in a celebratory mood Monday, nonetheless.
“Thank you for making history, driving change, lifting each other up and laughing together every day,” the company told its users in a blog post.
