This is a yummy slice of tech history. Back in 2006, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sketched this conceptual, um, sketch of Twitter’s original UI on a notepad.
Snip from the description on Flickr:
The 6th year; the idea has finally solidified (thanks to the massively creative environment my employer Odeo provides) and taken a novel form. We’re calling it twttr (though this original rendering calls it stat.us; I love the word.ed domains, e.g. gu.st). It’s evolved a lot in the past few months. From an excited discussion and persuasion on the South Park playground to a recently approved application for a SMS shortcode. I’m happy this idea has taken root; I hope it thrives.
Twitter has grown and thrived beyond its creator’s original estimates, which, paradoxically, is proving not to be such a great thing for the service.