Which came first, Google or Twitter?
Google came first, by 8 years. Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park.
Side by side
| Year | 1998 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| Date | 1998-09-04 | 2006-03-21 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park. | Jack Dorsey posted the first tweet. |
The date used here is the incorporation, 4 September 1998. Two others compete: the research project called BackRub began at Stanford in 1996, and the google.com domain was registered on 15 September 1997. Google itself has celebrated its birthday on four different September dates over the years, which is a fair indication that no single one is correct. It is younger than Amazon, eBay and Netflix.
The first tweet — "just setting up my twttr" — went out on 21 March 2006, and the service opened publicly that July. The 140-character limit came from SMS: a text message allows 160 characters and 20 were reserved for the username. When the limit doubled to 280 in 2017 the SMS constraint had been irrelevant for years.
Common questions
- Which came first, Google or Twitter?
- Google, by 8 years — 1998 against 2006.
- When did Google start?
- 1998. Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park.
- When did Twitter start?
- 2006. Jack Dorsey posted the first tweet.
Related pages
- Apple or Google? Apple
- the internet (ARPANET) or Google? the internet (ARPANET)
- the internet (ARPANET) or Twitter? the internet (ARPANET)
- email or Google? email
- email or Twitter? email
- the Macintosh or Twitter? the Macintosh
- Python or Twitter? Python
- Java or Twitter? Java
- JavaScript or Twitter? JavaScript
- Amazon or Google? Amazon
- Amazon or Twitter? Amazon
- Netflix or Twitter? Netflix
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)