TWITTER

It is a free social networking site where users broadcast short posts known as tweets.
These tweets can contain text, videos, photos or links.

History and Background

The history of Twitter can be traced back to a brainstorming session at Odeo. It was early 2006
when a NYU student namely Jack Dorsey shared a new online communication idea with some of
his coworkers at Odeo, a podcasting company. Dorsey had originally imagined Twitter as an
SMS-based communications platform. Groups of friends could keep tabs on what each other
were doing based on their status updates. Like texting, but not. When Dorsey proposed this
SMS-based platform to Odeo's co-founder Evan Williams. Evan and his co-founder Biz Stone by
extension gave Jack the go-ahead to spend more time on the project and develop it further.
They were looking for something that can describe the activity they were planning to introduce
in the real-time world. What came as a result was earlier called ‘Status’ that was later replaced
with ‘Twttr’ (inspired by Flickr- five-character short name). The domain name was not
purchased; and they kept looking for it for a month or so. Meanwhile all this, two words- ‘jitter’,
and ‘twitch’ crossed the founder’s brain, and then they looked for them in the Oxford English
dictionary.
It’s when ‘Twitter’ with the definition “a short inconsequential burst of information, chirps from
birds” appeared and Twitter becomes their final choice. They were delighted to see the
definition because it was what they were really going to introduce. They looked for the domain
name and found that it was already taken but remained unused to date. Without losing much
time, they brought it at a minuscule price and became the first to use ‘twiter.com’.
It is surprising for many and an interesting fact that the bird has a name – “Larry Bird.” If you
can connect it to the basketball player, then your assumption is totally valid. That’s what it is.
Biz Stone (the co-founder) belongs to Boston which is famous for Boston Celtics and Larry Bird.
Biz Stone was a big fan of Larry Bird and he purchased the bird logo at $15. However, the design
has tweaked many times and what has now looked is the ultimate representation of freedom,
hope, and limitless possibility, said Doug Bowman (Former creative director).

Purpose

Twitter's primary purpose is to connect its users and allow them to share their thoughts with their
followers and others through the use of hashtags. It can be a source of news, entertainment and a
marketing tool for businesses. The popularity of Twitter has been increasing steadily over the years.
Years ago, the site was only associated with lawmakers, celebrities, and well-known entrepreneurs.
However, everyone can now readily use it for business and social purposes.
Here are the common uses of Twitter.

 Business Promotion
 Networking
 Building Traffic
 Social Connections
 News
 Discussions
 Fun