Location: 795 Folsom St, San Francisco, California 94107, United States

Founded in: 2006
Stage: Revenue generating
Number of employees: 50+
Funding history:

- Date: 08/2009, Series C: $100 M

- Date: 05/2008, Series B: $10 M (post valuation: $95000000).

- Date: 07/2007, Series A: $4.8 M

Short URL: vator.co/Twitter-Twitter

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Alex McCauley
Business Operations Manager, Twitter

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Twitter

What's happening?
Startup/business
California, United States United States

http://twitter.com

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Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Media buyers get a new tool from Vitrue for social ads"

Vitrue allows agency partners to make ad buys based on social media metrics in real time – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "NBA sees playoffs as time to launch Pinterest, Tumblr"

Sports are finding a place in the photo-driven virility of social media – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Andreessen Horowitz makes bold donation to philanthropy"

Partners pledge to donate half their lifetime earnings to charity – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Facebook expected to IPO on May 17 "

With an anticipated valuation of $104B, the biggest Internet tech IPO ever is just four weeks away – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Square seeking more capital, $4B valuation"

With mobile payment options on the rise, Square is about to fly out of reach of smaller services – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "DataSift, NewsCred partner to track news diffusion"

Researchers interested in seeing how news articles go viral can benefit from DataSift's new product – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Facebook Timeline creates 46% bump in engagement "

With only three days to convert, brands should be excited by lift in user interaction on Timeline – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Small businesses look for bump from new Twitter ads"

American Express cements its partnership with Twitter to help promote small businesses – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter buys Posterous for more sharing expertise"

Four-year-old start-up becomes the sixth acquisition by Twitter in a year – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Late Night with Raj Kapoor: A look into the mind of VCs"

Vator Splash panel discuss worst pitches, who passed on Zappos and who Twitter should buy next – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Who is calling Facebook their billion-dollar deal"

From Mark Zuckerberg. Peter Thiel to Accel Partners, lots of people are smiling at Facebook's value – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Andreessen Horowitz secures $1.5B fund"

Young Menlo Park venture firm now oversees $2.7 billion in funding – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter gets $300M from Saudi Prince Alwaleed"

As Arabic is fastest-growing language on Twitter, Arabian Warren Buffet lands an investment – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "The good sense of Web anonymity"

Twitter gets it... Why doesn't anyone else? – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter's latest departure reveals a leaky ship"

Chief Scientist Chowdhury, and two board members Wilson and Sabet leave in the same week – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Track social traffic with new Twitter Web Analytics"

Website owners can now see how their content is being shared, who's coming to their site and more – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "UK makes no move to restrict social networks"

Facebook, Twitter and RIM met with UK Home Office to discuss riots, but restrictions weren't a focus – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter upgraded with full-fledged photo galleries"

See a user's photos at a glance, explore their collection in an expanded gallery and get up close – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "New Twitter features to surface more relevant stuff"

Two timelines, @username and Activity, show you retweets, follows and other interesting content – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Fresh off new funding, Twitter acquires Bagcheck"

One founder joins the engineering team at Twitter, the other departs to work on new things – Read more

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Company description

What is Twitter?

Twitter is an online information network that allows anyone with an account to post 140 character messages, called tweets. It is free to sign up. Users then follow other accounts which they are interested in, and view the tweets of everyone they follow in their "timeline." Most Twitter accounts are public, where one does not need to approve a request to follow, or need to follow back. This makes Twitter a powerful "one to many" broadcast platform where individuals, companies or organizations can reach millions of followers with a single message. Twitter is accessible from Twitter.com, our mobile website, SMS, our mobile apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, our iPad application, or 3rd party clients built by outside developers using our API. Twitter accounts can also be private, where the owner must approve follower requests.

Where did the idea for Twitter come from?

Twitter started as an internal project within the podcasting company Odeo. Jack Dorsey, and engineer, had long been interested in status updates. Jack developed the idea, along with Biz Stone, and the first prototype was built in two weeks in March 2006 and launched publicly in August of 2006. The service grew popular very quickly and it soon made sense for Twitter to move outside of Odea. In May 2007, Twitter Inc was founded.

How is Twitter built?

Our engineering team works with a web application framework called Ruby on Rails. We all work on Apple computers except for testing purposes.

We built Twitter using Ruby on Rails because it allows us to work quickly and easily--our team likes to deploy features and changes multiple times per day. Rails provides skeleton code frameworks so we don't have to re-invent the wheel every time we want to add something simple like a sign in form or a picture upload feature.

How do you make money from Twitter?

There are a few ways that Twitter makes money. We have licensing deals in place with Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft's Bing to give them access to the "firehose" - a stream of tweets so that they can more easily incorporate those tweets into their search results.

In Summer 2010, we launched our Promoted Tweets product. Promoted Tweets are a special kind of tweet which appear at the top of search results within Twitter.com, if a company has bid on that keyword. Unlike search results in search engines, Promoted Tweets are normal tweets from a business, so they are as interactive as any other tweet - you can @reply, favorite or retweet a Promoted Tweet.

At the same time, we launched Promoted Trends, where companies can place a trend (clearly marked Promoted) within Twitter's Trending Topics. These are especially effective for upcoming launches, like a movie or album release.

Lastly, we started a Twitter account called @earlybird where we partner with other companies to provide users with a special, short-term deal. For example, we partnered with Virgin America for a special day of fares on Virginamerica.com that were only accessible through the link in the @earlybird tweet.

What's next for Twitter?

We continue to focus on building a product that provides value for users.

We're building Twitter, Inc into a successful, revenue-generating company that attracts world-class talent with an inspiring culture and attitude towards doing business.

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Media buyers get a new tool from Vitrue for social ads"

Vitrue allows agency partners to make ad buys based on social media metrics in real time – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "NBA sees playoffs as time to launch Pinterest, Tumblr"

Sports are finding a place in the photo-driven virility of social media – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Andreessen Horowitz makes bold donation to philanthropy"

Partners pledge to donate half their lifetime earnings to charity – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Facebook expected to IPO on May 17 "

With an anticipated valuation of $104B, the biggest Internet tech IPO ever is just four weeks away – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Square seeking more capital, $4B valuation"

With mobile payment options on the rise, Square is about to fly out of reach of smaller services – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "DataSift, NewsCred partner to track news diffusion"

Researchers interested in seeing how news articles go viral can benefit from DataSift's new product – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Facebook Timeline creates 46% bump in engagement "

With only three days to convert, brands should be excited by lift in user interaction on Timeline – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Small businesses look for bump from new Twitter ads"

American Express cements its partnership with Twitter to help promote small businesses – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter buys Posterous for more sharing expertise"

Four-year-old start-up becomes the sixth acquisition by Twitter in a year – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Late Night with Raj Kapoor: A look into the mind of VCs"

Vator Splash panel discuss worst pitches, who passed on Zappos and who Twitter should buy next – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Who is calling Facebook their billion-dollar deal"

From Mark Zuckerberg. Peter Thiel to Accel Partners, lots of people are smiling at Facebook's value – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Andreessen Horowitz secures $1.5B fund"

Young Menlo Park venture firm now oversees $2.7 billion in funding – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter gets $300M from Saudi Prince Alwaleed"

As Arabic is fastest-growing language on Twitter, Arabian Warren Buffet lands an investment – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "The good sense of Web anonymity"

Twitter gets it... Why doesn't anyone else? – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter's latest departure reveals a leaky ship"

Chief Scientist Chowdhury, and two board members Wilson and Sabet leave in the same week – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Track social traffic with new Twitter Web Analytics"

Website owners can now see how their content is being shared, who's coming to their site and more – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "UK makes no move to restrict social networks"

Facebook, Twitter and RIM met with UK Home Office to discuss riots, but restrictions weren't a focus – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter upgraded with full-fledged photo galleries"

See a user's photos at a glance, explore their collection in an expanded gallery and get up close – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "New Twitter features to surface more relevant stuff"

Two timelines, @username and Activity, show you retweets, follows and other interesting content – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Fresh off new funding, Twitter acquires Bagcheck"

One founder joins the engineering team at Twitter, the other departs to work on new things – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter confirms "significant" funding from DST"

Joining the ranks of Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, the microblogging darling catches Yuri's wallet – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Obama turns to Twitter for debt ceiling #compromise"

Urging citizens to phone, email and tweet congressmen, the President returns to social media – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter to inject Promoted Tweets into your stream"

If you're following a brand that buys a Promoted Tweet, you'll see it near the top of your timeline – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "SecondMarket bends to social media hype again"

The market has so far seen $268 million in private company stock transactions, Facebook leads – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter makes two new mgmt hires to bolster brand"

Pam Kramer named VP of consumer marketing, Joel Lunenfeld named director of global brand strategy – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 07/22/11"

Twitter reportedly raising $800 million round; more money for social gaming – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter closing $800 million at $8B valuation?"

Half of the new money would be allotted to cashing out current employees and investors – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 07/08/11"

Zynga to make $500 million for Facebook this year; Turntable.fm rumored to be raising round – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter raising new round at $7 billion valuation?"

After blowing a quarter of its last funding on one acquisition, Twitter seeks new funding – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter buys BackType to process those 200M tweets"

Every day, users send out 200 million tweets, and Twitter wants to process them in realtime – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 07/01/11"

LivingSocial possibly seeking $1 billion IPO; Twitter to host townhall with President Obama – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Ask Obama questions at next week's Twitter townhall"

Following a successful one-hour Facebook townhall in April, the President eyes more social media – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "PrivacyVille: Earn zPoints for reading Zynga policy"

Latest Ville isn't really a game, but it looks like one and rewards users with real, usable points – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter working on developer destination site"

Relationship with developers not always rosy, but Twitter's actively working to mend that – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 06/28/11"

GSV Capital invests $6.6 million in Facebook; musician David Gray debuts album on Groupon – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Today's Entrepreneur: Leah Busque"

No. 1 mistake: Worrying about competition and not focusing on who they are and what they are buildin – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 06/14/11"

4chan's new website, Canvas, gets funds from Union Square; Google confirms its acquisition of AdMeld – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Everloop raises $3.1 million for kid network"

Stealing tons of potential users from Facebook, Everloop provides a safe haven for young socialites – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Airbnb growing 30% to 50% monthly"

Startup CEO Brian Chesky says Airbnb is adding 1000 home and room listings every day – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Airbnb growing 30% to 50% monthly"

Startup CEO Brian Chesky says Airbnb is adding 1000 home and room listings every day – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 05/27/11"

tektrak takes home the gold at Vator Splash LA; Google Wallet unveiled – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Analyzing the drumbeat of the social Web"

August Capital's Howard Hartenbaum is our guest host analyzing Tribevibe – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Project Slice gets $9.4M to organize receipts"

DCM, Lightspeed, FLOODGATE and other prominent investors fuel All My Purchases launch – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "BUMP.com acquires BumpChat to connect drivers"

The social network based on license plates will soon let drivers chat with each other – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 05/19/11"

LinkedIn share explodes, rising 96% to $88; Eventbrite raises $50 million Series E – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 05/19/11"

LinkedIn share explodes, rising 96% to $88; Eventbrite raises $50 million Series E – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 05/19/11"

LinkedIn share explodes, rising 96% to $88; Eventbrite raises $50 million Series E – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "LinkedIn dual stock is best for Hoffman, VCs"

Post-IPO, co-founder Reid Hoffman plus Sequoia, Greylock and Bessemer maintain voting authority – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Twitter updates mobile site and Mac client"

mobile.twitter.com gets pretty, Twitter for Mac gets windows – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "How Zite is bouncing back from its legal woes"

After getting hit with a cease and desist letter, Zite has a new CEO and is shaking up its app – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Today's Entrepreneur: John Mills"

No. 1 mistake: Not having a mentor – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Flixster gets snapped up by Warner Bros."

The acquisition will be integral to Warner Bros. new digital strategy – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Making f-commerce more secure"

Addoway pairs with Klout to provide more secure f-commerce transactions – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Announcing: Venture Pivot, July 20 in SF"

Join Kleiner Perkins, Javelin Ventures, August Capital to explore the changing dynamics – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Funding roundup - week ending 04/22/11"

Over $450 million raised for over 25 startups from the seed to late stage – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 04/21/11"

Apple reports awesome financial results... but their iPhones are tracking you (and other news) – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 04/21/11"

Apple reports awesome financial results... but their iPhones are tracking you (and other news) – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Location-base startup HipGeo raises $500K"

A new service that automatically records your whereabouts – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Location-base startup HipGeo raises $500K"

A new service that automatically records your whereabouts – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Startups launch location goodies at Where 2.0"

Fwix, Badger, CrowdFlower, UrbanQ, 360Cities and BestParking.com show off the power of geolocation – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Funding roundup - week ending 04/15/11"

Over $350 million in venture capital and angel investments for companies from seed to growth – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 04/15/11"

CEO Eric Schmidt leaves sweet parting gift; Evernote driving $1 million in revenue – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Salesforce execs invest $3M in Cloudwords"

Marketplace connects translation vendors with content owners – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Apply to AngelPad, get $20k plus mentorship"

Not a second to spare after last demo day, AngelPad is already looking for its next batch – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "TekTrak helps Tokyo family locate daughter"

After the March 11 earthquake, one family in Japan used the TekTrak app to locate their daughter – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "FindTheBest - a next-gen comparison engine"

Doubleclick co-founder Kevin O'Connor talks about taking Kayak's approach to 500 other categories – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Today's Entrepreneur: Josh Bob"

No. 1 mistake: Overthinking things – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Stardoll marks 5th birthday with 100M members"

For a social network devoted exclusively to girls and teens, that's not small potatoes – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Andreessen Horowitz raises $200 million more"

Late-stage, growth-stage companies need more loving than ever, so this firm's saving up – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Kiip raises $4M for in-game advertising"

The stealth company gets support from Hummer Winblad, Crosslink, and True Ventures – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Meal Scan counts calories for you"

Like the shake-weight before it, easy weight-loss solutions abound. Is Meal Scan too easy? – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 04/05/11"

Facebook for iPhone updated with new check-in features; LivingSocial raises another $400 million – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 04/05/11"

Facebook for iPhone updated with new check-in features; LivingSocial raises another $400 million – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Pulse releases app update, but is it enough?"

In a sea of personalized news services, how does Pulse stack up? – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Pulse releases app update, but is it enough?"

In a sea of personalized news services, how does Pulse stack up? – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Today's Entrepreneur: Richard Blackham"

No. 1 mistake: Too many Me-toos and not enough Me-firsts – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Introducing: Find Your Friends' Startup"

Your way to discover which of your friends have startups or are working at startups – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Motista raises $4.5M for market intelligence"

Helping marketers figure out the best way to reach a target audience, Motista fueled by VCs – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 03/17/11"

Facebook may have patented social search; study finds correlation between social media and stock – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 03/14/11"

Anonymous releases batch of internal BoA emails; Twitter started exactly five years ago – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 03/14/11"

Anonymous releases batch of internal BoA emails; Twitter started exactly five years ago – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 03/14/11"

Anonymous releases batch of internal BoA emails; Twitter started exactly five years ago – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 03/08/11"

Beyond Oblivion and Rdio disrupting the music space; Ustream and Charlie Sheen, the TV space – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Why being a Wiki-site was the wrong approach"

SideReel CEO and founder Roman Arzhintar's failures and lessons on being scrappy – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 03/07/11"

AOL closes its acquisition of The Huffington Post; RIM loses its CMO – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Opinionaided raises $1M in seed round"

The mobile Q&A app gets support from General Catalyst, SoftBank, and DFJ – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Greylock grows fund XIII to $1 billion"

One of the oldest venture capital firms, Greylock Partners makes way for more late stage investments – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 02/23/11"

AppSense, BookRenter, Digital Chocolate and more all raising new rounds – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "Today's entrepreneur: David Saad"

No. 1 mistake: Believing in their reality and being in denial.... – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "ReachLocal acquires DealOn for $10M"

The acquisition gives ReachLocal access to DealOn's 18 U.S. markets – Read more

Twitter was featured in a VatorNews article: "What you need to know - 02/15/11"