The Internet as we know it changed when Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams created and launched Twitter in 2006. But a lot has happened with the social-media giant in the past two decades — the site is now owned by Elon Musk, for one — and a new CNN docuseries is giving you the inside story behind the meteoric rise and eventual sale of the revolutionary app, featuring the voices of the founders themselves.
Premiering tonight, March 9 at 10pm Eastern Time, Twitter: Breaking the Bird is a four-part documentary series that goes inside the creation of that once-radical, groundbreaking tech startup. (Subsequent episodes will air on Sundays at 10pm ET.)
Though originally built for simple status updates, Twitter quickly evolved beyond its original purpose. “In just a few years it transformed the way the world communicated. Twitter was adopted by celebrities, politicians and the everyday masses as a source for news, entertainment and community,” reads the series’ synopsis, per CNN. Through firsthand accounts from some of the company’s original founders and early employees, including former CEO Ev Williams and co-founder Biz Stone, the series will give a behind-the-scenes look at Twitter’s inception, its “explosive growth across the world, and the dark underbelly of online hate and harassment that emerged.” Creativity, cockiness, controversy and chaos abound.
“Twitter was one of the most disruptive inventions out of Silicon Valley in modern history and continues to have a huge impact on how people around the world communicate,” said Amy Entelis, Executive Vice President for Talent & Content Development, CNN Worldwide. “Viewers look to CNN Original Series to go behind the headlines of complex, topical stories and this deeply sourced, meticulously researched investigation of Twitter does just that.”
To tune into the premiere of Twitter: Breaking the Bird tonight at 10pm, all well as the following three installments, you’re going to need access to CNN. The cable news network is available on most traditional cable TV providers, as well as live TV streaming services like Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. The docuseries will also be available to pay-TV subscribers on CNN.com and CNN connected TV and mobile apps beginning on Monday, March 10.