If you signed up for Twitter in early 2006, you may be among the first 140 users.. though only one Briton is. Do you know who?

Do you remember what you were doing back in the spring of 2006? The first users of Twitter probably do - they were signing up for the new service that had been developed when Jack Dorsey told a brainstorming meeting at Odeo that "I want to have a dispatch service that connects us on our phones using text".

You can see the list of the first 140 people to sign up with Twitter, which of course includes Dorsey and co-founder Biz Stone at No.1 and No.2. Evan Williams, for many the face of Twitter, is down there at No.8. [Note: at present, the Listorious page is throwing a fit for me, and only showing users 141 onwards. But that should be the link...]

The list does have some intriguing elements: third user is crystal, whose biography is simply "Twitter support" yet only has 14,827 followers (at last count). Dorsey, Stone and Williams of course have way more than a million followers, but so many others have fewer than 5,000 followers that you realise that longevity on Twitter isn't the key to large numbers following you - it's publicity.

And who do you think the first Briton on Twitter was? No, it's not Stephen Fry. He didn't get around to it until July 15 2008 - the laggard. Instead, the special mention goes to web developer Jonathan Markwell, who can proudly claim (as he does) to be Britain's first Twitterer, having been on the service since July 12 2006, as user No.51. (Update: Rod Begbie points out that he was Twitter user 76, "born and raised in Scotland". So, first Scot. Though he then became an American. So technically it's still correct to say that only one Briton *is* in the first 140.. though at the time, two Britons were.)

And of course there's Mom - which I think we must recognise as the ur-mother-twitterer, whose tweets include "What is this russ? What does it mean? Yo mama" and "OK WILL TRY IT WILL MAKE MY FAT DISAPPEAR TOO?"

Yes, that's your mother, dear.

The first Guardian user? Since you ask, we think it's (update: ) not Jemima Kiss, who joined on 20 December 2006. Although Simon Willison, now of this parish, did join on 15 November 2006 - though he wasn't then working for The Guardian.

Update: Bobbie Johnson points out that he joined on 17 November 2006.

Update 2: Meg Pickard points out that her @megp account was created at 11am on 15 November 2006. Yes, we are cutting edge.

The 140characters site, by the way, does have a very interesting short (of course) history of how Twitter got set up, by Dom Sagolla (he's there in the first 140). Particularly:

"We launched Twttr Beta on @Ev's birthday. We could now invite a slightly larger circle of friends, but still excluding any large companies (with a few trusted exceptions within places like Google). I'll never forget the family-friendly feeling of that day. We all knew that we were going to change the world with this thing that no one else understood. That day stands out in memory as the deep breath before a baby's first cry.

"Meanwhile, Odeo and the corporate board were at a tension point. Not only was the value of Twttr difficult to describe, the relevance of Odeo was declining monthly. Drastic cuts were recommended. One day in early May 2006, @Ev let four of us go: @Adam, @TonyStubblebine, me, and @Rabble. @Noah and @TimRoberts would later be asked to leave as well. It was a tough decision and huge shock to each of us. We all handled it differently. Looking back on it, I think Twitter allowed us to stay connected when we might not have otherwise been. After all, we weren't even public with the site yet, so each of us continued to add value just by using it with each other."

That's what you'd call loyalty: using the product of the company that just fired you.