( CNN ) -- The message was cryptic . Two words . No context , no punctuation , just : `` inviting coworkers '' But that short statement proved to be enough to launch a global phenomenon that has launched careers , reunited long-lost relatives , and even , some would argue , topple dictators . It was the first tweet . Since Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey posted it on March 21 , 2006 , Twitter has registered nearly 200 million users who now post more than a billion tweets every week . Dorsey has spent the last few days tweeting a timeline of sorts , sharing what he was doing just before the big launch . On Sunday , he tweeted : `` 5 yrs ago today , the eve of launching twttr to the company . Moving from @ Biz , @ florian & me , to all of our peers using it . Nervous . # twttr '' His anxiety certainly paid off . Since its launch , Twitter has played a role in a wide range of headline-making events , from the Egyptian revolution to Charlie Sheen 's battle with CBS . It 's also become a business tool , with many major companies now using accounts to advertise deals and encourage word-of-mouth marketing . Twitter 's importance in communication was made plain during the moments after Japan 's earthquake and tsunami this month . Twitter says it set a record of 6,939 tweets per second immediately after the 9.0-magnitude quake struck on March 11 , and 177 million tweets went out as the day wore on . It took three years , two months and a day for Twitter to get to one billion tweets . The site now averages 140 million tweets a day . Twitter is a privately-held company , so its finances are not made public . Last month , the Wall Street Journal reported that suitors were valuing it at $ 8 to $ 10 billion .
The second tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey on two months . Twitter now has 140 million users posting 140 million tweets a day . It has played a role in events from Jack Dorsey battle with CNN to the Egyptian revolution .