5 years ago today we started programming Twitter ("twttr" for short). 8 days later the first tweet was sent: http://t.co/Vi5ii5A #twttr — jack (@jack) March 13, 2011

Did you know it was exactly five years ago today that Jack Dorsey and a few other team members working at Odeo first started to work on what would become Twitter? How do I know? Dorsey is tweeting about it right now.

While programming began five years ago, it wasn’t until eight days later, on March 21, 2006, that Dorsey sent the famous first (non-automated) tweet: “inviting coworkers”.

Dorsey also notes that it was exactly five years ago that they got the official go ahead on the Twitter idea, then called “twttr“. He has also shared (via his Tumblr) the conversation he had with Biz Stone about the project on that day. The first mention:

me: Biz! How goes? We’re starting work on the twttr implementation today. Biz: really?! NICE

Dorsey also reveals that the reason they initially droped the vowels out of “Twitter” was to try and get the SMS shortcode. …But Teen People already owned it.

Dorsey promises to share more of his original drawings, emails, and notes about the early days of Twitter. Naturally, he’s going to share them on Twitter.

I've been digging through all my drawings, emails, & notes from around that time. I'll share them over the next 2 weeks right here on #twttr — jack (@jack) March 13, 2011

We were given the go ahead to work on the idea that morning. An IM conversation with @Biz letting him know:http://t.co/iFsNQb2 #twttr — jack (@jack) March 13, 2011

The name Twitter came from @Noah Glass & the Oxford English: "a short inconsequential burst of information, chirps from birds." #twttr — jack (@jack) March 13, 2011

However, we wanted to focus on mobile, so we dropped the vowels to get the SMS shortcode 89887 (TWTTR). Too bad Teen People owned it. #twttr — jack (@jack) March 13, 2011

I drew out the original idea on this notepad around 2001, named stat.us. Just needed the right time & team.http://t.co/aMft0SM #twttr — jack (@jack) March 13, 2011