Fast Facts: Over 350B tweets since 2006

SAN FRANCISCO—Twitter came to life on March 21, 2006, when the account of cofounder Jack Dorsey (@jack) automatically sent out the first tweet: “just setting up my twttr.”

More than 350 billion tweets have since gone out worldwide from some 232 million active users, as of June. Some 77 percent are outside the United States.

Some facts about a global phenomenon:

— Pop star Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) leads the pack with more than 46.37 million followers, followed by Katy Perry (@katyperry) with 46.30 million and Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) with 40.36 million.

— US President Barack Obama (@barackobama) is fourth with 39 million followers.

— Twitter is blocked in China and yet still has some 35 million users in the country.

— Around three-fourths of Twitter users access the platform on a mobile device, and 70 percent of ad revenues come from mobile.

— Twitter documents show a loss of $133 million in the first nine months of 2013 on $422 million in revenue. In 2012, it lost $79 million on $317 million in revenue and has accumulated losses of $483 million since 2010.

— A tweet is limited to 140 text characters, designed to fit easily in a standard text message of 160 characters.

Asked why Twitter is such a hit, cofounder Biz Stone replied: “A big part is that it is just very simple and connects people to other people they would not otherwise be connected to.”