Blogger, Simpler
Evan Williams revolutionized blogging in 1999 by making it simple. His software, Blogger, asked for only one thing: text. It was easy for anyone, and blogging quickly became an activity more popular than many had believed possible.
Other blogging software adds more and more features, and even Blogger allows for optional titles, but Twitter takes Blogger's single-required-field simplicity and takes it down a notch. No titles, and now with a 140 character limit.
Status, Anywhere
Jack Dorsey started in 2000 with an idea for tracking "status," a feature of the LiveJournal software he was using at the time. Over the next six years he refined and polished the idea, and finally wrote it with Biz Stone and a contract programmer in two weeks in March 2006. The concept moved from stat.us to twttr.com to twitter.com. Twitter asks just one question: What are you doing?
You can answer that question at twitter.com, or at m.twitter.com on your mobile device, or via instant message (GTalk, Jabber, or LiveJournal for now), or by sending an SMS from your phone. Because there is an open API, dozens of third-party applications are available, too.
SMS, by the way, is the reason for the 140 character limit. SMS allows 160 characters, but Twitter subtracts 20 for a username. Twitter has shortcodes in the U.S., India, and Canada, and they're very enthusiastic about SMS especially.
Less Than Public, More Than Private
Instant messenger is one-on-one communication, while a blog is available for all to see. Twitter occupies a place somewhere in between. While tweets can be “protected,” they are generally available for everyone to see, but only those who choose to “follow” you are likely to see them. Tweets can still be directed to individual users, creating lengthy conversations, and followers of one twitterer but not the other will see only half of the conversation, eventually likely having their curiosity stirred.
Not Enough For Some
There are competing services, most of which seem dedicated to the idea that Twitter would be much better if it just had... whatever. Just as many Blogger competitors found the sweet spot for a certain group of users by adding features, so too will some of Twitter's competitors find that Twitter+images or Twitter+podcasts or Twitter+video works well for them. Of course, Twitter's API also makes it easy for competitors to become partners instead, delivering images or podcasts or video using Twitter in conjunction with their own website or software. In an interview with BC Magazine, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone stated that the Twitter API serves 10-20 times more traffic than the Twitter.com website.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
The editor who published this article is now paying more attention to Twitter -- I've succeeded! :-)
2 - Eric Berlin
The success of twitter as you've said is due to its simplicity, the open API, and perhaps most importantly, early market share grab amongst tech and media online adopter types. Pownce and Jaiku might offer some different/better features, but why switch if people you know are on twitter and you've already invested time building up a friend/follow list there?
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
So when's the launch of Twittercritics.org?
4 - Phillip Winn
EB (#2), there's no question in my mind that Twitter came along at just the right time. It will be especially difficult for competing services to succeed, because of the social networking aspects you mention. Why should I sign up with X if everyone's on Twitter?
I already have Facebook and Twitter, though I'm barely using Facebook anymore. Another site? Forget it!
5 - Phillip Winn
Suss (#3) there's a somewhat clumsy BC bot on twitter right now: BC Magazine. I'll improve the bot at some point.
In the meantime, BC Magazine is people, so sign up and join the peeps! :-)
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
Yeah, I think I'm just going to skip this iteration of the Internet until we get to Web 10.0, when Synapsr comes out, letting me seamlessly publish my stream of consciousness to the World Wide Web without having to translate it into keystrokes and words.
7 - Bennett
Thanks for this Phillip, it looks good. In the apps section of twitter there's a desktop console named "Spaz" which I've downloaded and am enjoying its functionality. Plus, I like the name, and if you visit their site you get to see the "dictionary picture" for a spaz...
8 - RJ Elliott
Good article, PW. Now I know what all that "twittering" on Facebook is about. ;)
9 - Phillip Winn
Eric, our esteemed founder and publisher, is now tweeting. Mwua ha ha!