Blog #4- Twitter

 

    When one thinks of the most popular social media apps, the obvious come to mind; Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Tik Tok, and of course, Twitter. Developed in March of 2006, Twitter has grown into one of the most popular social media profiles with over 329 Million users in 2021 alone. With the amount of users only increasing, there is no doubt that Twitter will continue to dominate the social media world

Creation

The creation of Twitter started with the podcasting venture Odeo. In 2004, three developers named Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass  created Odeo as a website that gave the ability for users to develop, record and share podcasts. However, in 2005, Apple announced their addition of podcasts to it's music sharing platform iTunes, and Odeo's developers felt they couldn't compete with the far more popular company. Odeo then proceeded to explore other ideas, and employee Jack Dorsey proposed the idea for Twitter. His idea was to develop an app that would work as an SMS (Short Messaging Service) service, where users would be able to share short messages with friends on a larger space other than texts. Thus, the idea for Twitter was born. 

Development

Soon, Dorsey became the leading man behind the project. Within a few years, Twitter had become more than just an idea. Dorsey sent out the first tweet on March 6, 2006, posting, "just setting up my twttr". Once the tweet was released, the future of the app was seen by the developers, and they bought out the origin company Odeo. After buying the former company out, they settled on a new name and company called Obvious Corp. With Obvious Corp, Dorsey along with Williams, Stone and Glass were able to further develop Twitter. The company even received a $10,000 Series A Funding from the State Union to continue to develop the app. After a presentation at the music and technology festival "South by Southwest" in Austin, Texas, the app's interest increased. Afterwards, Twitter became it's own corporate entity, and Dorsey became the CEO of Twitter Inc. The app was finally released to the public in July of 2006. 

Impact

Twitter originally began as a free social networking source. It gave users the opportunity to chat with friends and other users across the app. The apps popularity continued to grow, increasing user rate of about 130% in 2009. The app's popularity was largely due to the fact that users could do all of the same things one could do on a separate social media app, however without the added fees and membership rate. It was essentially like being able to text or communicate with whomever one wanted too without the fees applied. As time passed, Twitter became a revolution for Politicians and Celebrities to communicate with followers and fans. It helped to connect the rich and the poor, the popular and unpopular. In addition, it became also like a news feed, for people to have the opportunity to post direct links to breaking news stories across the world.