Twitter surpasses 5 billion tweet milestone

Microblogging service Twitter topped the 5 billion tweet threshold earlier this week according to a counter posted on the GigaTweet website, which analyzes Twitter messages in real time.  GigaTweet notes that Twitter is currently averaging about 23 million tweets per day, down from earlier in October, when users broke the 25 million per day benchmark. Mashable notes that the GigaTweet counter stood at 1.6 billion tweets as of April 2009, meaning Twitter users have posted about 3.4 billion tweets in just the last six months. Twitter currently boasts about 54 million users worldwide, and is valued at about $1 billion despite the absence of a discernible revenue model.

In a new interview with the Telegraph, Twitter CEO Evan Williams says the company is convinced the mobile platform represents the future of the service. "The best business models come from where people can create the most value. I think Twitter can create the most value on mobile phones, because it is more immediate," Williams contends. "Most people cannot live without their mobile phones over their PCs and we believe we can enhance people's lives on the move." Williams adds that tweets are confined to 140 characters expressly to fit into the body of one text message: "Most people don't realize that." Earlier this month, Twitter announced an agreement with Indian mobile operator giant Bharti Airtel to offer the carrier's 110 million-plus subscribers Twitter access via SMS.

For more on the 5 billion tweet milestone:
- read this Mashable article