Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone were looking at the explosion of the Internet, wondering what their next big tech start up idea would be. After creating several other useful technologies, Williams came up with the idea of a service that allowed users carrying standard cell phones to update small groups of people on their current situation. They likely had no idea how popular it would eventually become.
Originally dubbed twttr beta, Odeo, the company they were working for at the time, decided to invest a small of cash into it. Discouraged by the lack of commitment from Odeo, Williams, Dorsey and their team set up Obvious Corp in 2006 to acquire the project from Odeo. They rebranded the service and bought the domain name twitter.com. On March 21, 2006, Dorsey sent the first tweet: “just setting up my twttr” and it would be the beginning of a revolution.
Twitter is a micro blogging service that that allows users to send and read short messages, of 140 characters, that are called tweets. To be more specific Jack Dorsey sent the first Tweet on March 21. Twitter was incorporated on April 19, 2007 and currently has 3,600 employees in offices around the world.
The basic function of Twitter is to allow users to broadcast information they deem relevant to their “followers” in real-time. Twitter is built on a web interface created using an open source web application framework called Ruby on Rails. It is not a stand-alone technology. It offers the option of integrating other web applications or web services with Twitter via an Application Programing Interface (API).
The name “Twitter” was chosen during a brainstorming session about the product. Originally going to be called Twitch, the developers felt the name sent the wrong message along with bad imagery. They searched a thesaurus for words similar and found the word twitter. The definition was a short burst of inconsequential information‖ and the developers felt the definition fit their service perfectly. In April 2007, Twitter spun off of Obvious Corp to form its own company. The biggest break through for Twitter however came in March 2008 at the South by Southwest festival, as participants were able to see their tweets flash across television screens in real time. Tweets tripled to 60,000 per day until developers realized that they had a widely successful platform on their hands. The service continued to grow through word of mouth and largely through free media press. Over the next year or so Twitter began to gain recognition amongst the media and organizations began to see the potential of Twitter to the more tech savvy audience of the world. Twitter’s potential amongst corporations was also notable. Businesses could leverage Twitter as an effective listening and communication tool with their target audiences and within their own companies. They could also use Twitter for product feedback without having to spend money on conducting surveys. Other benefits of twitter include keeping your business relevant. Twitter allows a business to keep their brand relevant for people to engage with, for example reminding people of a new product launch. It also allows you to interact with prospective customers and your target audience. Twitter is a platform that facilitates open communication between consumers and businesses.
Businesses can also use Twitter as a crisis management tool. They can monitor what is being said about their brand in real-time and address concerns immediately. This leads into self-promotion. Twitter provides the opportunity to show all the positive things businesses are doing, i.e. charitable contributions, fund raising, etc. Twitter has countless uses for companies. Perhaps though the most notable usage of Twitter came during 2008, when it was noted as a key tool for disseminating information about the Presidential Campaign by Barrack Obama, as well as being a source of communication during the attacks on Mumbai and the protest in Iran. The most