Our tiny robot friend way out there on planet Mars introduced lots of new people to Twitter and sent us back some amazing discoveries. Along the way, he also transformed the way NASA shares science with the world. MarsPhoenix was an amazing use of Twitter that did not go unrecognized and we're happy to have had the chance to share in this historic mission. Alas, when the icy cloak of Martian winter draws darkness across the distant planet, a solar powered robot must say farewell. Sweet dreams little guy!

Three years ago during my time as CEO of Odeo, I was lucky to be working with a software engineer Jack Dorsey who wasn't afraid to bring up an idea he'd been thinking about for a long time. What if a simple status message was the format for a social communication service? We were exploring various options for Odeo at the time and experimenting with SMS, so the idea was intriguing. Jack teamed up with Biz Stone to design a prototype. This simple idea called Twitter proved increasingly interesting the more we fleshed it out.

After my company Obvious purchased the assets of Odeo which at the time included Twitter from the shareholders, we decided to form Twitter, Inc as a separate company founded by myself along with Jack and Biz. Jack had by then been leading the project for months with Biz's support, and I was intent on pursuing Obvious. With my blessing, the reigns of Twitter CEO were handed to Jack and I accepted a position as Chairman of the Board.

Rising quickly to the challenge, Jack took Twitter through an order of magnitude of growth and two major rounds of financing, while safely navigating some very rocky waters that would have taken even more experienced leaders down with the ship. Jack is a unique individual with a knack for artful minimalism and simplicity, combined with great vision and ambition. We are indeed fortunate to have his guidance.

Stepping into Different Roles
Jack and I have worked together since the beginning to define a direction and goals for the future of Twitter. I took an active executive role as Chief Product Officer at Twitter. This decision was driven by my enthusiasm and belief that Twitter has huge potential and deserves my full efforts.

We're entering a new phase now and there are new kinds of challenges ahead. Healthy companies acknowledge the need for change even during the best of times. As Twitter grows both internally and externally, we took a good look at our path forward and saw the need for a focused approach from a single leader.

While the board of directors and the company have nothing but praise for where Jack has taken us, we also agree that the best way forward is for Jack to step into the role Chairman, and for me to become CEO. Jack will remain on the board and be closely consulted for all strategic decisions, while I take on day-to-day operations with the support of Biz, Jason, Greg, and the rest of this impressive Twitter team.

Folks who use m.twitter.com to access Twitter on a mobile browser have long lamented the lack of replies. Today we're happy to say that @replies can be accessed via the mobile site. There's a link at the bottom of your timeline and here's a hint: you can just hit the number 1 on your keypad while browsing Twitter on your mobile and you'll go directly to the page.

We put together another debate play-by-play illustrating tweet volume for specific terms mentioned during the last presidential debate. There were four big spikes associated with specific moments during the debate. The key phrases were tax, that one, nuclear, and health care. It looks like McCain's "that one" statement took home the prize of most tweets in one minute. For more election related information, visit Twitter Election 2008.

Quick, to the trends!

• Give $25 is trending this morning as meaningful meme makes it's way through Twitter and helps kids with autism along the way.
• Jim Collins, author of Good to Great spoke evidently gave a very impressive presentation at a conference called Catalyst08 and the tweets are backing that up.
• New MacBooks will be introduced by Apple on October 14th and folks are already twittering in anticipation.
• FOWA and it's associated keyword, #fowa are trendy today as a whole bunch of geeks gather in London to discuss the future of web apps.

Yom Kippur and Sarah Palin sit quietly next to each other in the trends list alone with their thoughts. Kippur Palin? That might work!

This is a wordle graph of words used within tweets during last night's debate.

And we're back, with a look at this morning's trending topics.

• That One is trending because of how Mr. McCain referenced Mr. Obama during last night's debate. Obama supporters are having fun with "I'm voting for that one."
• BlackBerry Storm seems to be a-headed this way based on the sheer volume of covetous updates mentioning the newest product from RIM.
• Yom Kippur ascends toward the top of the trends as folks twitter about atonement—maybe we'll see some confessions of guilt via Twitter?
• Blu-ray snuck into the trends while I was sifting through Yom Kippur because Netflix has announced they'll be charging more for Blu-ray movies.

Friday is typically a slower day on Twitter but not last week. Election momentum continues to build on Twitter and a few stats from Friday show it.

• Friday updates jumped 18.5% from previous Friday.
• Updates during the debate increased 160% compared to same time last week.
• Signups on Friday were up 23%.
• Signups during the debate were up 135% compared to same time last week.

We're adding a little polish to Twitter Election 2008 in advance of the upcoming debate in St. Louis—we suspect this debate will excite even more activity than the first.

This morning's tour of Twitter trends.

• Apple has captured the top trend today as people react to the company's bold threat to close the world's biggest music store if American music publishers raise royalties 66%.
• NDA and iPhone are also trending because Apple has announced it will no longer require app developers to keep their projects under wraps.
• Halloween is trending this morning as lots of folks note that October has arrived and Twitter excitedly—about a month, of all things.
• Phish has reunited and it's generating a mix of twitter updates ranging from "who cares" to "break out the hacky sack."
• #mimasum08 is happening right now and people are twittering about Ze Frank's presentation at the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association Summit.
• FOWA Miami has made it to the trends even though the event hasn't even happened yet—folks are just excited about going.

Sarah Palin, Senate, and #bailout continue to trend.