Twitter: 140 Characters of Noise
It’s mid-2006, and the "Web 2.0" revolution is in full swing. But while most sites are getting more complex, a new service called "twttr" (later Twitter) is doing the opposite. It’s microblogging. You get 140 characters to answer one question: "What are you doing?" That’s it. No formatting, no photos (yet), just plain text.
The SMS Constraint
The 140-character limit isn't an arbitrary choice; it's a technical one. Twitter was designed to work over SMS. A standard SMS is 160 characters; Twitter takes 140 for the message and leaves 20 for the username. It’s a brilliant hack that makes the service accessible from any mobile phone, not just the "smart" ones.
// A look at the early Twitter API philosophy
// It's all about the 'status' update
POST /statuses/update.json
status="Just setting up my twttr"
The "Ambient Awareness"
At first, it feels trivial. "I'm having a sandwich." "I'm stuck in traffic." Who cares? But as you follow more people, a strange thing happens. You develop an "ambient awareness" of your social circle. It’s like being in a room with all your friends, hearing snippets of their conversations.
Looking Ahead
Twitter is already becoming a "real-time" search engine. During the San Francisco earthquake earlier this year, Twitter was faster than the news reports. It’s turning from a "personal status" tool into a "global pulse." I wonder if the 140-character limit will eventually become too restrictive, or if it will be the thing that keeps the conversation concise. One thing is for sure: the "hashtag" (a clever user-invented hack) is starting to change how we organize information.
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