Which came first, TikTok or Twitter?
Twitter came first, by 10 years. Jack Dorsey posted the first tweet.
Side by side
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | 2016 | 2006 |
| Date | — | 2006-03-21 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017. | Jack Dorsey posted the first tweet. |
TikTok
The app launched in China as Douyin in September 2016 and internationally as TikTok in 2017. What made it global was the 2018 acquisition and merger of Musical.ly, a lip-sync app that had launched in 2014 and already had a large Western user base — so part of TikTok is two years older than TikTok. Douyin and TikTok remain separate apps on separate infrastructure.
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, TikTok or Twitter?
- Twitter, by 10 years — 2006 against 2016.
- When did TikTok start?
- 2016. ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017.
- When did Twitter start?
- 2006. Jack Dorsey posted the first tweet.
Related pages
- the internet (ARPANET) or Twitter? the internet (ARPANET)
- the internet (ARPANET) or TikTok? the internet (ARPANET)
- email or Twitter? email
- email or TikTok? email
- the Macintosh or Twitter? the Macintosh
- the Macintosh or TikTok? the Macintosh
- Python or Twitter? Python
- Python or TikTok? Python
- Java or Twitter? Java
- Java or TikTok? Java
- JavaScript or Twitter? JavaScript
- JavaScript or TikTok? JavaScript
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)