Next General Meeting: By Lisa Leifels It’s hard not to notice how rapidly the social networking service Twitter has been gaining popularity and is now one of the ten most visited websites on the internet. The word Twitter is defined in the dictionary as ‘a short bust of inconsequential information’ or ‘chirps from birds’, which explains the meaning behind its signature bird logo. According to Twitter’s blog post on March 21, 2013, which was on Twitter’s 7th birthday, Twitter has grown to well over 200 million active users who are creating over 400 million tweets each day. Unlike Facebook, where most of the news comes from family and friends, Twitter users tend to include a broader mix of sources which contain more news organizations. The biggest moments on Twitter are live events and breaking news when millions of people watch significant entertainment, political and sporting events unfold in real time. We have witnessed for ourselves that Twitter usage spikes during prominent events such as on June 25, 2009 when Michael Jackson died, doubling the number of messages on the site and temporarily shutting it down. The first presidential debate of 2012 set a record as the most tweeted about event in U.S. politics when more than 10 million tweets were sent. Twitter reported that a record number of 24.1 million tweets were sent on February 3, 2013, the night of Super Bowl XLVII, the largest spike being during the power outage. Tweets are at the heart of Twitter, they are small bursts of information that have a maximum length of 140 characters. Initially there was no limit, but 140 characters was adopted after Twitter went public. The reason behind the 140 characters was because 160 characters was the SMS carrier limit and the founders wanted to leave room for a username. Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco and was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone who worked together at the podcasting company Odeo. They were looking for a way to reinvent their company and wanted to figure out how to send a text message on their cell phones. The company experienced rapid growth in 2007 when 400,000 tweets were posted each quarter. This grew to 100 million each quarter in 2008. Twitter was first used primarily in the business community by older adults, who were not using other social media. In 2009 Twitter began to filter into the mainstream and many celebrities joined Twitter. In 2008, Twitter had only eight employees and today it has grown to more than 1,000. Twitter is projected to make $540 million in advertising revenue in 2014. It’s interesting to note that 40% of Twitter users don’t tweet, but watch other people tweet. It’s not surprising to find out that 50% of Twitter users are using the social network on a mobile device. Last year Twitter acquired a video clip company called Vine and in January 2013 Twitter released Vine as a standalone app that allows people to share videos within Tweets. Twitter is here to stay and is changing how we view media, politics and business, and gives you the ability to create your own instantaneous newscast. Twitter can be used to discover what’s happening, keep tabs on people you are interested in and get the inside scoop on the news that matters to you in real time. If you want to find out more about Twitter and how to follow the tweets that pique your interests, please join us on Tuesday, June 4, for a presentation by Jennifer Scott who is a social media enthusiast. Jennifer is currently working at WorkForce Engine as a talent management strategist and is an expert at using social media in the workplace.
--- DACS meetings are usually held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. (Click here for directions and parking information.) Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a question and answer period (Ask DACS), followed by announcements and a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00. The meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic. Danbury Area Computer Society (DACS) is a registered nonprofit and has been serving the region since 1990.
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