Gallery: Five years after the first Twitter tweet

Controversy over the first tweet does exist. Many report this as the first tweet by Dorsey but note that this time stamp is 12 minutes later than previous one.

Some more amazing stats: 572,000 Twitter accounts were created on March 12, 2011 alone. The number of mobile accounts has increased by 182 percent in the past year. The record of tweets per second is 6,939 set in Japan, 4 seconds after midnight on New Year's Day.

Twitter co-founders Evan Williams (left) and Biz Stone.

The word limit of 140 was established because that's the maximum number of words allowed on a phone text message.

Here is co-founder Jack Dorsey (left) hanging out with Qik’s Daniel Brusilovsky at iPhone Dev Camp 2 in 2008.

Twitter had 8 employees in 2006. There are now over 400.

Twitter's first logo. Twitter was created by Dorsey, Stone and Williams at the podcasting company Odeo. The three plus other Odeo members formed Obvious Corporation to break off Twitter from Odeo in October 2006.

Twitter's current logos.

One of the first "funny tweets" posted by Twitter in 2006.

Twitter's first baby.

First announced firing on Twiiter (2006).

First announcement of a Web site launch on Twitter in 2006.

One of the first reviews of Twitter from Airbag Industries in 2006.

One of the first Twitter apps in 2006, the "twadget."

Another 2006 Twitter app.

Here's "Twapp" from 2006.

A screenshot from Twitter in 2006.

A recent Twitter app - Twitter for BlackBerry.

Twitter first gained notoriety as a dumb app that let people Tweet anything irrelevant but it has lately been a critical tool for breaking news - from political unrest in Iran, Egypt, Libya and other countries to the spread of information during natural disasters such as the recent Japanese earthquake.

Zack Whittaker even says that Twitter is politicizing today's youth.

Here are some recent Tweets that give information on how to help earthquake victims and breaking news in Japan.

Twitter rescheduled maintenance time in 2009 to keep lines of communication open during  a crisis in Iran.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of its first tweet, Twitter set up a new Web site and video of 16 famous people who use the service. One of the notables is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who uses it to conduct foreign policy.

The Republicans have certainly taken notice with Speaker of the House John Boehner.

Back to the aimless tweets for Serena Williams.

Martha Stewart gives critical pie-making tips.

Rachel Zoe gives fashion tips.

And find out the latest from the San Francisco Zoo.