Twitter

Basic facts
Location:| San Francisco, Calif.
Top official:| Jack Dorsey, CEO
Founder(s):| Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone
Year founded:| 2006
Website:| Official website

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Presidential debates (2015-2016)
* 3 Recent news
* 4 See also
* 5 External links
* 6 Footnotes

Twitter is a social media platform that allows registered users to post 140-character messages called "tweets." The company was founded in 2006 in San Francisco and became a publicly traded company in 2013.[1]

## Background[edit]

Twitter's co-founders began the company as a concept that combined instant messaging with the kind of online journaling found in services like LiveJournal. Co-founder Jack Dorsey said that the idea stemmed from "a fascination with cities and how they work, and what’s going on in them right now." Twitter became a digital version of the city's "world of vehicle dispatch -- where cars and bikes zooming around town must constantly squawk to each other about where they are and what they're up to."[2]

In the company's early days, Dorsey worked as the CEO but was replaced by Evan Williams in 2008. Dick Costolo took on that role from 2010 to 2015, when Dorsey returned as Twitter's CEO.[3] The company's focus shifted under Williams, who transformed Twitter's role from a status-posting site to a service that fostered social commentary: "Twitter was a service for people to talk about what was going on around them, to share news and information. It was when Williams explained this concept — eventually saying Twitter was about 'what’s happening' — that many in the industry, including those who once dismissed it, started to understand its potential."[4]

## Presidential debates (2015-2016)[edit]

See also: Presidential debates (2015-2016)

Along with CBS News, KCCI-TV and The Des Moines Register, Twitter sponsored the Democratic debate on November 14, 2015. Of the partnership with CBS News, the news organization said, "CBS News is so pleased to partner with Twitter on our Democratic debate. Our people have worked with Twitter’s unique curator tools to measure changing responses to what viewers will see on the screen."[5]

## Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Twitter. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Twitter - Google News

## See also[edit]

* CBS Democratic debate (November 14, 2015)

## External links[edit]

* Twitter on Twitter
* Twitter

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ CNN, "#WOW! Twitter soars 73% in IPO," November 7, 2013
2. ↑ LA Times, "Twitter creator Jack Dorsey illuminates the site's founding document. Part I," February 18, 2009
3. ↑ Fortune, "Let's remember why Jack Dorsey was fired as Twitter's CEO," September 30, 2015
4. ↑ The New York Times, "All Is Fair in Love and Twitter," October 9, 2013
5. ↑ Observer, "How to Live Stream CBS News’ Democratic Debate on Saturday," November 10, 2015

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