Social media giant Twitter is celebrating its ninth birthday, marking the occasion by recalling some of its biggest posts.
The first tweet came from co-founder Jack Dorsey, when the service did not use vowels in its official name - "Just setting up my twttr", he wrote on March 21, 2006.
Since then, the micro-blogging site has grown to more than 284 million users worldwide.
Most major events and even TV shows now come with their own hashtag, as organisers look to increase their online presence and get people talking about their event.
The suggestion for using hashtags as a means of a creating a group conversation came in 2007 from an early Twitter user, Chris Messina.
The concept of trending has since become the biggest barometer of relevance on social media.
Breaking news has also been a large part of Twitter's usage for some years.
The US Airways flight that was forced to make an emergency landing on the Hudson river in New York in 2009 was first reported on Twitter, with images of passengers on life rafts and standing on the wings of the plane tweeted and then picked up by news organisations.
Clarence House created its official account to confirm Prince William's engagement to Catherine Middleton in 2010.
Barack Obama used the site to confirm his second term as US president even before appearing publicly; tweeting a photo of he and wife Michelle hugging, with the caption "Four more years" after a successful election campaign in 2012.
This image was the most re-tweeted until last year, when Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar selfie with stars including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie was posted. It has been re-tweeted more than three million times since.
Twitter has also been the source of entire movements.
An image of the phrase Je Suis Charlie as the Charlie Hebdo attacks unfolded earlier this year became the rallying cry for free speech at marches after the event.
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