Happy birthday Twitter: The ultimate guide to Twitter for business

21st March marks Twitter’s fifth birthday! It was five years ago on that day that Jack Dorsey sent the world’s first tweet!

In only five years, over 190 million users have flocked to the micro-blogging site, sending an estimated 65 million messages around the world each day. Not bad considering those messages can't be longer than 140 characters.

Other amazing Twitter stats (courtesy of Andy Hanselman) include:

• The billionth tweet came after three years, two months and one day. Now there are a billion tweets a week!
• A year ago, people sent 50 million tweets a day.The average now is 140 million and on March 11, 2011, the tally was 177 million!
• 456 tweets per second were sent after Michael Jackson died in 2009. That record was broken on New Year’s Day this year with 6,939 per second tweets 4 seconds after midnight in Japan!
• 572,000 new accounts were created on March 12, 2011; 460,000 new accounts were created daily, on average, in the past month!
• Mobile users increased 182% in the past year!
• 8 people worked at Twitter in January 2008. Today it’s 400!

So in celebration of Twitter's latest milestone, MyCustomer.com has put together a guide to our best content on how brands can use Twitter to benefit their businesses.

• Twitter: How to lose friends and alienate people
   
• Twitter: Ten tips for customer engagement
   
• The guide to social media etiquette for businesses
   
• Social media mixed messages: To respond or not to respond?
   
• BBC Radio 1: 60,000 Twitter followers doesn't guarantee engagement!
   
• Handle with care: Is your brand being damaged by Twitter squatters?
   
• What can we learn from Eurostar's social media shortcomings?
   
• The regulations, rights and wrongs of social media marketing
   
• Video guide: How to use social tools to extend reach
   
• How to create brand engagement on Twitter
   
• To tweet or not to tweet: That’s NOT the question
   
• Eight more ways Twitter could boost your business
   
• Tweet loving: Can Twitter help your business?
   
• Marketing with Twitter
   
• Twifficiency: Lessons from the latest social media phenomenon