Happy b'day Twitter! 6 yrs since the first tweet

New Delhi: Exactly six years ago, on March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, posted the first ever tweet. "just setting up my twttr," read the tweet from @jack. At only 24 characters, the first tweet was way within Twitter's 140 character limit.

The reason Jack Dorsey mentions Twitter as twttr is because that was the original code name for the project. The public launch of what was to soon become the world's most popular microblogging platform happened a few months later on July 15, 2006.

It's been five years and billions of tweets since that first tweet but within those billions of tweets there are some firsts that will always remain so. Here are a selection of six first-of-its-kind tweets on the sixth anniversary of the first tweet.

(Timestamps are in Pacific Standard Time, the time zone in which the Twitter headquarters falls).

1. The first tweet

just setting up my twttr - @jack (Jack Dorsey) at 12:50 PM - 21 March 2006 via web

2. The first tweet from space

Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s - @Astro_TJ (TJ Creamer) at 12:13 AM - 22 January 2010 via web

The first tweet from outer space was posted by NASA astronaut TJ Creamer from the International Space Station.

3. First pregnancy tweet

is pregnant. :o) - @velvetsarah (Sarah) at 2:42 PM - 3 December 2006 via web

Sarah from Geraldton, Australia posted the news about her pregnancy on Twitter. The first known pregnancy announcement tweet.

4. First firing announcement on Twitter

I have been fired by Arrington for not removing the post comments from Loic. I will be looking for work and writing on www.vecosys.com - @ssethi (Sam Sethi) at 10:12 AM - 13 December 2006 via web

Sam Sethi announced on Twitter that he was fired by Michael Arrington from TechCrunch.

5. First tweet by Barack Obama

President Obama and the First Lady are here visiting our disaster operation center right now. - @RedCross (American Red Cross) at 11:36 AM - 18 January 2010 via web

The first tweet personally posted by US President Barack Obama wasn't from the @BarackObama account, but a tweet on @redcross written in the third person. Barack and Michelle Obama were on a visit to Haiti following the devastating earthquake.

6. First product launch on Twitter

Launched http://fivelimes.com even though it's pretty basic....getting it out there - @raja (Raja Bhatia) at 6:25 AM October 28, 2006 via web.