Jack Dorsey is the founder of Twitter and co-founder of Square. He developed the idea for Twitter in 2000 while working at a dispatch company, creating a prototype with Biz Stone in 2006. Twitter launched in 2006 and grew rapidly after its use at SXSW in 2007. Dorsey served as Twitter's first CEO and currently serves as CEO of Square, which allows anyone to accept payments via mobile devices. Under Dorsey's leadership, Twitter has become a major platform for real-time news and communication, while Square processes over $11 million in transactions daily.

1. The Founder of Twitter and his Place
In Social Media History
By John Erzen and Bhatti Murti

2. Biographic Information
• Born on Nov. 19, 1976.
• Grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Attended high school at Bishop DuBourg High

3. Biographic Information
• Attended college at Missouri University of Science
and Technology.
• Then transferred to New York University at age 18 to
study and work for a company whose website he had
hacked.

4. Milestones and Achievements
• At an early age, before he hit 10 years, he started studying
maps.
• While in St. Louis, as a youngster, he taught himself how to do
computer programming and transfer maps to a screen.
• He then added dots on the screen and then moved them
around. Initially they didn’t have any meaning, so he started
looking for meaning.
• He used data available in public domain such as movement of
ambulances and police cars, and plotted the data into the dots,
providing meaning to the dots.

5. • In 2000, while in Oakland, Dorsey started his company to dispatch couriers,
taxis, and emergency services from the Web.
• In July 2000, applying his map-reading skills and dispatching, he developed
the idea for a Web-based real-time status/short message communication
service.
• From this and his interest in text messaging, Dorsey partnered with Biz
Stone (co-founder and creative director of Twitter) and built a prototype of
Twitter in two weeks.
• March 21, 2006 - Dorsey and Stone co-founded “Obvious” which ultimately
became Twitter.

6. • The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by
Southwest Interactive conference. During the event, Twitter
usage surged from 20,000 tweets a day to 60,000.
• In 2008, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as
one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.
• In October 2008 – Evan Williams became CEO of Twitter and
Dorsey became chairman.

7. • In March 2011 – Dorsey went back to Twitter as executive
chairman, focusing on product development.
• In 2009, he co-founded service firm Square, where he is now
the CEO. Square allows anyone to easily accept payment by
credit card. Importance of Square? It can make anyone a
merchant.
• Dorsey outlines three core takeaways from his experiences: 1.
Draw: get your idea out of your head and share it; 2. Luck:
assess when the time (and the market) is right to execute your
idea; 3. Iterate: take in the feedback, be a rigorous editor, and
refine your idea.

8. Importance in the Industry
• In 2008, Twitter was used extensively by Presidential candidates Barack
Obama and John McCain to update supporters. (GOP frontrunner Mitt
Romney and Obama continue with the practice for 2012 polls).
• Obama first disclosed VP nominee on Twitter.
• News of the Mumbai terrorist attacks (2008) and the landing of the UA plane
on the Hudson River first reported on Twitter (2009).

9. • In June 2009, Twitter rose to prominence during the
Iranian presidential polls, and the protests that took
place following Mahmoud Ahmedinajad’s claims of
victory. US requested Dorsey to delay Twitter
maintenance work, so protestors could keep tweeting.
• Companies make money off Twitter. For instance,
Dell took to Twitter when it was still in infancy in
2007, and by 2009 disclosed it recorded $6.5 million
in Twitter-driven sales.
• Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have all reportedly
been vying to buy the company for more than $8
billion.
• In December 2011, company was valued at $8.4
billion.

10. Where is he Now?
• Dorsey, 35, lives in San Francisco.
• His assets estimated at $650 million.
• Experian ranks Twitter number two among social
media sites, behind Facebook, with 182 million total
visitors (April 2012).
• Square now processes more than $11 million in
transactions today and Square payments are accepted
on Facebook.
• Dorsey runs two separate companies – Square and
Twitter – remaining hands-on at both the firms.

11. Origin of the Name Twitter?
Hear it from Dorsey himself: We wanted a name that
evoked what we did. We wanted something that was
tangible. And we looked at what we were doing and when
you received a tweet over SMS, your phone would buzz. It
would jitter. It would twitch. And those were the early
names, Jitter and Twitch. And neither one of them really
inspired the best sort of imagery.
http://youtu.be/NNQgF0qvPBE

12. Dorsey: Little Known Facts
• In 2000, he dropped everything to pursue a career in
botanical illustration.
• Later studied for a year to become a certified massage
therapist.
• Subsequently enrolled in fashion designing.
• Had nose ring and earrings on both ears but removed
them as Twitter went mainstream.
• Likes ballet and Prada products.
• His dream job? Mayor of New York City!