#Happy10thAnniversary: A Decade Of @Twitter

Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) is 10 years to the day since co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet.

Back then it was still called Twittr, a fledgling site going up against the exploding social media phenomenon, Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) .

Since then, it has grown into a network of 320 million users who send 500 million tweets a day.

Over the last 10 years the site has found itself at the centre of some of the biggest global events of the decade.

NASA famously used Twitter to break the news that its Mars Pheonix Lander found ice on Mars back in 2008.

In a royal first in 2010, Clarence House, the Prince of Wales' private office, created a Twitter account to announce Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton.

Twitter has also famously fuelled some of the most prominent trends of the digital world.

Millions turned to Twitter after last year's Paris attacks to tweet using the hashtag #jesuisParis.

The hashtag #bringbackourgirls also generated worldwide attention, with high-profile figures including Michelle Obama joining the campaign to find dozens of girls and women kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Twitter's Lewis Wiltshere said of the site's 10th birthday: "Whether it's the London 2012 Olympics, the #GBBO final, the General Election or the BRIT Awards, when big events happen, they happen on Twitter.

"And 10 years on from the first ever Tweet, our birthday also gives us a great chance to reflect on those big events, but also on those Twitter users who connect in other amazing and inspiring ways, every day.

"From @HerdyShepherd1 Tweeting updates from his farm to a worldwide audience of thousands, to campaigning movements like #EverydaySexism, we remain humbled and inspired by the people who have made Twitter their own."

The site has been no stranger to controversy, however, often as a result of so-called Twitter trolls.

Last year comedian and presenter Stephen Fry said Twitter had gone from being "a secret bathing-pool in a magical glade" to a stagnant pool as he quit the site following a barrage of abuse over one of his tweets.

The site is also reportedly struggling to attract new users (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .