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Twitter, ten years on

Mathias StammMarch 21, 2016

When something happens anywhere in the world, the Twittersphere is often the first to know. But user numbers are stagnating and the company still hasn't made a profit. What will the future bring for Twitter?

https://p.dw.com/p/1IHE4
10 years Twitter
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Ntantamis

Twitter, ten years on

The story of Twitter's success began on 21 March, 2006. When the US social networking service floated its stock in 2013, many observers thought it could be bigger than Facebook. It hasn't been. Twitter is a victim of Silicon Valley's unwritten rule: anything short of total market domination counts as a flop. But Twitter can boast an impressive 320 million active users and over 500 million passive ones. For the past two years, revenues have been soaring. But the service has yet to generate a profit. So the big question on Twitter’s tenth birthday is: where to now?