History Of Twitter

 Blog Post #4: History Of Twitter

Twitter, invented in 2005, by a team of developers at a dying podcasting company called Odeo. Led by Jack Dorsey along with Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass the idea for Twitter originated during a brainstorming session about how to pivot the company when podcasting faced stiff competition from Apple. Dorsey envisioned a platform where users could share short status updates messages in real-time with a small group, similar to text messaging but on a broader scale. This idea developed into what we know today as Twitter.

                                                                                                                            

Jack Dorsey’s team was trying to develop a way for people to stay connected and communicate with groups of people instantly. Twitter’s platform allowed users to stay connected with each other in a new way. Traditional blogging platforms were long and lengthy posts, while Twitter was the complete opposite, it was shorter and faster to reach an audience quicker on the web. This solved the problem of microblogging, which allowed people to share their thoughts and news instantly. Which was 140 characters or less each time someone tweeted. 

                                                    

                                       

Twitter had a huge impact and influence on the world, it transformed communication, helped with social, political discourse, journalism, and celebrity engagement. When Twitter became popular users would microblog to each other, with real time messaging people could tweet to their followers sharing thoughts, updates on their lives and reactions to news events around the globe. This helped foster a new culture of instant sharing in society from people's personal updates to breaking news. Another impact Twitter has had is with social movements and politics. For example in June 2009, protestors used Twitter to coordinate a political movement, which is known as the Green Movement. Protesters used Twitter to organize and communicate when traditional media was censored or unavailable to the public. Twitter delayed planned server maintenance, not to disrupt the flow of information pouring in. The platform has been used to spark debates, raise awareness, and excite communities around causes. Lastly, the amount of attention Twitter got from celebrities and how big the name grew over a short amount of time. In 2011, President Barack Obama became the first president to have a Twitter account, Obama answered questions from constituents. Companies and celebrities have used Twitter to connect directly with their audience. This bypassed traditional media, allowing brands to build their own narratives and customers to provide feedback instantly.

    

                                                            
                                         

                                        

                                        

There are many positives and amazing impacts Twitter has had, however several problems were bound to occur. Twitter has a problem of spreading misinformation, toxicity/harassment to users and mental health concerns. One big problem Twitter has was censoring people’s opinions, especially Donald Trump's account. Trump's account was permanently banned on January 8th, 2021. When Elon Musk became CEO of twitter he reinstated Trump's account. Musk stated that Twitter's ban of Trump was a "morally bad decision" and "foolish in the extreme,". No matter what someone says it's their freedom of speech, even if you agree or disagree it's unacceptable to control people’s thoughts. Another issue Twitter has on people is how distracting the platform can be. It can throw people off their daily tasks giving up long periods of time scrolling or tweeting. Lastly there's always going to be cyber bullying going on, on each platform. Bullying has changed significantly with technology advancements, now people can be targeted by others and harassed not even in the same room as the one making fun of them. Bullying will never go away but the easiest thing to do is delete the app or just simply ignore the message or post. 

                                        
                                        

Twitter will have an ever lasting effect on people, it changed social media forever. Allowing people to spread news and thoughts instantly across the globe. Twitter revolutionized how we share information, engage in conversations, and organize movements. While it has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on communication and activism. Its negative effects on misinformation, mental health, and social dynamics are serious concerns that continue to shape public discourse around social media today. Twitter will always be used to obtain information, and in following generations.