Origins of Twitter
Twitter is one of the largest social networking sites on the internet. Twitter's "microblogging" format allows users to post short, periodic updates about their daily life so friends, family and co-workers can find out what they're doing. Twitter was launched in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, but the idea for the popular social networking site was born in 2000.
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Inspiration
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The idea behind Twitter was first devised by Jack Dorsey in 2000. Jack wanted to create a service that would replicate the information provided by a dispatcher. City dispatchers received frequent updates from couriers, taxis and emergency vehicles and could locate any given vehicle at any given time.
Prototype Idea
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Jack wanted to provide a service that would allow you to find out what your friends and family were doing by glancing at a "buddy list." The service would also allow you to update your own status so that your network of friends could see what you were doing. Because of the limitations of technology in 2000, Jack was unable to implement the idea until SMS became popular in 2005.
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Implementation
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In 2005, the use of SMS text messaging service inspired Jack and his co-founders to implement their idea on the internet. The Twitter website was launched and allowed users to update from their homepage or from a mobile phone. Twitter users could add other members to a "follow" list that allowed them to receive updates from friends and family.
Tweets
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Twitter allows you to post your status updates, called "tweets," to the internet from a variety of electronic devices and to view your friend's status updates in real-time. The SMS character limit of 160 characters provided a framework for the Twitter "microblogging" format: Twitter users are limited to 140 characters in an update to keep the message short and allow it to be transmitted to the Twitter website through an SMS message.
Evolution
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Twitter has evolved from its initial use as a simple status update website. Some Twitter users only use the site to keep their friends and family updated on what they are doing, but many members use Twitter to share websites and alert their network to the latest-breaking news. Many media outlets have created Twitter accounts to post the news in real-time. Corporations use Twitter to keep in touch with their customer base. Twitter no longer operates in its own private bubble; the services offered by Twitter can be linked to a variety of other social networking services.
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References
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