When did you first become aware of Twitter?

By Ilan Adler

On a recent podcast Bill Simmons was talking about the Mayweather Pacquiao fight with Bryan Curtis. Simmons speculated about what would have happened had this fight occurred before 2008, before the rise of Twitter, social media on a mass scale, and the constant 24 hours news and blog cycle. This was in relation the Internet taking on the villain, Floyd Mayweather, a convicted offender of domestic abuse. Simmons specifically said about Twitter not existing before 2008, which got me thinking, when did I first become aware of twitter?

Its actually pretty sad because I remember it quite vividly, it was right after the Virginia Tech shootings in April 2007. In the news coverage it was reported that some of the students who were in hiding from the shooter were relaying messages to the outside, via a service called “Twitter” which was basically bite size SMS length messages delivered to a group of followers via text or desktop interface. This was the first time I had personally heard of Twitter, and because of the tragic circumstances I remember it to this day.

It only took a few more months before Twitter really blew up and hit the mainstream, mainly on the basis of celebrities loving their new direct line to the crowd, and reporters and others breaking stories live, and having a direct line of communication.

I ended up though actually only joining the service in April 2009, mainly in order to follow Bill Simmons himself, who I believe joined Twitter in April 2009

When did you hear about and join Twitter, or any other social media network? Share your experience in the comments below!