Twitter couldnât have promoted its services any better.
For starters, it was fitting that the company used a short post via its own platform to announce on Thursday its plans to sell its stock to the public. Perhaps not unexpected, legions of Twitter users responded in kind to the news by taking to Twitter, dashing off hundreds of tweets, full of jokes and serious analysis.
The reaction seemed to confirm Twitterâs dominant position as a global forum for public conversation. Not only were journalists and other observers using Twitter to comment, but also company insiders were using Twitter to broadcast their thoughts on the planned offering.
Twitter will have to devise strategies to make enough money to justify the hype and what is projected to be an expensive valuation. But on Thursday, at least, the company enjoyed a day in the virtual sun.
First, the tweet that launched a thousand more:
Then, early investors in Twitter cheered the announcement â" obliquely, in the case of Chris Sacca, a venture capitalist. Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, and Sean Garrett, the companyâs former communications vice president, also shared their thoughts.
Thursday was also the 40th birthday of Twitterâs president of global revenue, Adam Bain, who said he had spent a âday with clients.â
In addition to spreading news of the I.P.O. plans through retweets, many Twitter users â" including journalists, tech entrepreneurs and investors â" began to riff on the planned I.P.O. Aaron Levie, the chief executive of the online data storage company Box, offered his congratulations.
Many of the tweets were playful.
Some of the comments centered on the way Twitter announced its big news.
The confidential nature of Twitterâs filing caused some initial head-scratching, followed by analysis of what it meant.
Some Twitter users speculated about what the ticker symbol might be.
Others focused on the underwriters for the offering â" a coveted assignment on Wall Street.
A few tried to communicate with Twitter insiders.
But Twitter had the last word.