Twitter’s long been associated with the number 140; it is, of course, this number that defines how the site’s users communicate with each other.  And the number now represents the size of the company’s payroll, too, as Twitter’s hired its 140th employee.

Biz Stone announced the milestone late yesterday by simply tweeting, "Today we are celebrating our 140th employee at Twitter!"  No details about whether the newest staff member is a janitor, programming whiz, or high-ranking exec then followed.

Still, Kim-Mai Cutler was able to list some recent talent acquisitions and make an observation about Twitter’s growth rate.  She named "Robin Sloan, who handled strategy at Al Gore’s Current TV; a few developers, Michael Busch and Dan Webb; and a user interface designer Mark Otto, among others.  They also hired Alexa Lee, who used to produce videos for VentureBeat."

Cutler then continued, "There are many, many others but the hiring pace represents a level unseen at the company.  During the summer in July and August, the company had between 60 and 70 employees."

The interesting thing will be to see where Twitter goes from here.  It’s possible that the company will choose to stick with 140 employees for a while out of a sense of humor.

Also, even though Twitter recently acquired a new space for its headquarters, said space only measures 31,000 square feet, meaning employees probably don’t have tons of room.  With 140 employees, an even split (ignoring the need for a reception area, bathrooms, conference rooms, etc.) would leave each individual just a 15 foot by 15 foot area.