Twitter turns 7! By Christie Merino Assoc. Features Editor
Happy Birthday! #7neverlookedsogood
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hen Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone first created Twitter more than seven years ago, most people were still hung up on the negative impacts that blogging would have on society. The replacement of books and newspapers by informal page-length postings seemed both insulting and disheartening. Twitter created a world of communication limited to 140 characters. It appeared to lack depth and longevity, providing a disservice to the evolution of how we communicate. Dorsey is largely credited with inventing Twitter himself. As chairman and founder of the company, Dorsey has lived beneath the radar of tech celebrities akin to Mark Zuckerberg even though he created one of the top 10 most visited websites on Earth. Ashton Kutcher, avid Twitter user and friend to Dorsey, said, “When he speaks he makes every syllable count.” The man who changed the world of media as we know it did so by integrating many ideas, a talent that can readily be seen by the S - shaped tattoo on his left forearm. “It symbolizes integrating everything,” he said, “everything” meaning his interests in math, music and anatomy. The creativity that flows through this man comes as no surprise, but his chosen outlets — ranging from ballet to creating Square, a mobile payments company—are another story. It is this conglomeration of precision and chaos that
made Twitter the force that it is today. Twitter now boasts 50 million users all across the world. Its use has grown exponentially from the seemingly useless tweet of a picture of breakfast to live-tweeting of the State of the Union address and the conclave election. Twitter not only has revolutionized communication, but it has forever changed the world of marketing and journalism. The rapid transmission of information could have had the potential to drown out the user before even getting started. But Twitter doesn’t overwhelm users with conversations. It simply leaves the door open for anyone to join in and contribute. Gerald Kane, professor of information systems in the Carroll School of Management, said he sees Twitter as whatever the user wants it to be. It may end up resulting in short attention spans, but “it may also increase our ability to scan an informational environment for valuable information,” he said. A shorter attention span may mean that completing time-consuming tasks becomes a little more difficult, but imagine how much easier life is when finding key information takes half the time. The future of advertising lies in communication. Because of Twitter, “Companies are increasingly being forced to deal with the customer as individuals, rather than just a demographic,” Kane said. Instead of targeted ads popping up on your computer screen based on sites you have visited or television commercials based on where you live,
Twitter not only has revolutionized communication, but it has forever changed the world of marketing and journalism. 18
companies are going to listen to what you have to say. “It could hurt certain consumers, though, if they are not popular on social media,” Kane said. The idea that social media sites like Twitter are just for the young folk could not be farther from the truth if aging demographics want to remain in the conversation, because “companies may begin to favor the most active and engaged social media users and ignore customers who cannot share their positive experience wisely,” Kane said. This not only means engaging yourself via social media, but also conducting yourself in a responsible manner. Future employers and people you barely talk to from high school could be watching. Twitter accounts are not just for the average consumer. They are for the fanatic, the trend setter or trend follower. A great example of this is novelty accounts. “They are set up for the purposes of pure entertainment,” Kane said. This is a prime example of how people can control how information flows on their Twitter account. If you are an avid fashionista, you might follow @BCFashionPolice. If you are looking for a good laugh, you might opt for @BCBananas. Maybe you want to remain updated on the latest bit of sports news like Kevin Ware’s broken leg by following @bcgavelsports. Twitter is the perfect social medium in that it constantly evolves. “Just like we have all types of relationships — friends, acquaintances, colleagues — people will engage in very different types of relationships on Twitter, and different people may engage in very different types,” Kane said. Instead of creating a site with all sorts of rules (hidden or not) like Facebook, Twitter evolved into exactly what the
May 2013
users wanted it to be. The “@” symbol was used to reply to Tweets by a user before it actually resulted in an automatic notification. The hashtag was spontaneously invented by another user, which led to the ability to search live streams of tweets based on the hashtag symbol. This search system was developed by a completely different company called Summize and was only purchased by Twitter in 2008. The ability to expand tweets is largely believed to be one of the greatest innovations of Twitter. Adding links to articles or Instagram photos allows users to go beyond the 140-character limit. Expanding tweets by using photos, text, audio, video and advertisements is already in use around the Twitter-sphere. Innovations such as these from official accounts and outside apps will be what helps Twitter adapt. The creators themselves have simply tuned into what users have added to their humble creation, allowing open communication in its purest form. By letting the people decide its future, Twitter has ensured itself a place in the future.
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Twitter’s Top Users 1. Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) 37,365,638 followers 2. Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) 36,036,706 followers 3. Katy Perry (@katyperry) 34,861,063 followers 4. Barack Obama (@BarackObama) 29,680,948 followers 5. Rihanna (@rihanna) 29,167,635 followers
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