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Monday 28 March 2011

Birthday Twittering - are you Twittering yet?



Do you know how old Twitter is? Well you may or may not care, but I was surprised to read that Twitter turned 5 last Monday. Why it doesn't seem to be that old is because Twitter has had a growth spurt in the last 12 months with many people only just opening Twitter accounts recently. I've had an account for ages, but took ages to recognise its worth. I use it more and more each day. It works great with other social networking sites. For example, the A - Z challenge people have been twittering away on #atozchallenge for ages. Want news of the challenge? Go there.I think #hashtags are one of the best things about Twitter.

Here are some Twitter milestones:

  • it took 18 months for Twitter to go from its first tweet (characteristically short, with poor spelling and no punctuation: "just setting up my twttr" sent by co-founder Jack Dorsey,) to get to 500,000 users.
  • today, 500,000 new accounts are registered daily
  • it took over 3 years to get to the billionth tweet, now a billion tweets are sent every eight days
Twitter has caused individuals to lose their jobs because of tweets deemed controversial by their employers.

It has added words and phrases to our language - "fail whale" when Twitter crashes (no wonder with that many messages happening!), plus "to follow", "to unfollow", "to tweet", "to retweet", and of course to be a bit of a "Twit," but I've been using that one forever.

The New York Times has been trying to shut down a registered user of Twitter. Why? After the NYTimes announced the details of its paywall, letting readers know how much they'd pay to read articles online, holes were punched in the wall by a new Twitter account. @FreeNYTimes vowed to tweet every link to every story in the paper for free. Trouble is, if the NYTimes is successful in shutting down "@Free..." new accounts are sure to open hourly which is a terrible shame. The newspaper must need the money honey.

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27 comments:

  1. Melissa28 March 2011 at 20:36

    I never knew all this stuff about Twitter. Fascinating!

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  2. KM Nalle28 March 2011 at 21:53

    Thanks for the Twitter background. I had no idea it was five! I'm still a Twit, but I'm trying to get better at it.

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  3. Maria Zannini28 March 2011 at 21:56

    I wonder if the NYT has any legal leverage. But then if the users were outside jurisdiction it wouldn't matter.

    It seems like a no-win scenario.

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  4. Anonymous29 March 2011 at 02:03

    Nope I'm not twittering yet. I spend enough time blogging LOL! :O)

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  5. Colene Murphy29 March 2011 at 02:26

    Cool stuff! Didn't know it was 5!

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  6. Summer Ross29 March 2011 at 02:40

    Oh wow- Drama! But then I've never been much for drama- at least NYtimes wise. But nice to know about some of this since I'm not a tweeter. I had an account made a long time ago- but sadly I don't remember how to get into it. It wasn't my thing. thanks for the information!

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  7. N. R. Williams29 March 2011 at 05:48

    I still don't get twitter. I see a lot of people tweeting away, but I am never interested in finding out why. I know that's terrible. Still, I tweet because I've been told I must to get my name out there. I see you have an interesting twitter gadget.
    Nancy
    N. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium.

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  8. Michael Di Gesu29 March 2011 at 06:19

    It's amazing how fast twitter caught on!

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  9. Dawn Embers29 March 2011 at 07:14

    Very interesting. I don't even remember exactly how long I've been on twitter. I know it has been over a year but the exact date, no idea. I'm sure there are some who don't care for my tweets about cats or headaches but oh well.

    What I like about it is being able to have quick conversations with my writing friends. To take part in chats like UFchat, Flitchat (fantasy lit chat), YAlitchat, and of course when agents and editors answer questions.

    I sometimes even talk with my sister on twitter. I use it way more than facebook.

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  10. Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy29 March 2011 at 07:53

    cool stuff about twitter :)

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  11. Denise Covey 29 March 2011 at 07:54

    Melissa: Yes, isn't it?

    Kari: You will.

    Maria: Be interesting how it pans out.

    Madeleine: I'm hearing you. Oh, these temptations.

    Colene: It's still an infant!

    Summer: You'll find it when you need it.

    Nancy: You've got to use Twitter, don't let it use you. I love my Tweet Deck - I have free NYTimes updates, (plus every other news service in the world.) Don't like to miss anything, ha ha ha.

    Michael: That it did.

    Dawn: It's great you've found so many uses. I love it for #flashfriday #atozchallenge #bookreview #travel etc etc Can't beat it there!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Deniz Bevan29 March 2011 at 10:12

    Interesting! I'm still not on Twitter, mostly because I don't have a mobile device yet - I'd go crazy trying to keep up with tweets just by logging in after work. We shall see... Maybe if I had a book coming out soon I'd get an iPhone or Android and play on Twitter!

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  13. Jules29 March 2011 at 11:15

    I'm on there but I sure don't get it. I really came because I saw on Clarissa's site you just read Cornwell's latest. I so want to know your opinion?! :)
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  14. Denise Covey 29 March 2011 at 12:56

    Deniz: Twitter has its place.

    Jules: The link is:

    Patricia Cornwell's Port Mortuary Book Review

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  15. Anonymous29 March 2011 at 15:02

    Interesting infor about Twitter. I had an account for a couple years before I started doing anything with it.

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  16. Sylvia29 March 2011 at 22:39

    I've been on twitter for ages.

    Also love the term hashtag!

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  17. Hart Johnson30 March 2011 at 00:09

    interesting details. I've been there almost 2 years, but I am still a bit of a twit... just can't commit to another vast time suck and haven't bothered to learn all the tricks to keep up efficiently...

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  18. KatheeJantzi30 March 2011 at 01:19

    I love Twitter - thanks for the history (especially now that I finally watched The Social Network and know the history of Facebook). I'm a fan of hashtags too (that's how I found you!) so you can get a real person's view on what's really happening. Twitter - not just for celeb gossip anymore :)

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  19. Francine Howarth30 March 2011 at 05:10

    Hi,

    Interesting post.

    NO NO NO. I will not, cannot, must not Twitter. That's my mantra.

    If I did, plus blogging, plus walking the dog, plus eating (meal preparation), plus drinking/living etc., then I might as well chuck up writing. I simply wouldn't have time for the fourth greatest love in my life: writing novels! ;)

    best
    F

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  20. M Pax30 March 2011 at 07:49

    I luvs the Twitter. I used to not get it, but now I love it as much as blogger. It's my preferred social media. Twitter is about communication if you use it right. I've met so many great people on Twitter.

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  21. Arlee Bird30 March 2011 at 08:28

    I've got enough on my hands trying to figure out blogging and haven't taken the twitter plunge yet. I suppose I might someday, but maybe it will be awhile. I have looked at it recently when Alex added the A to Z hashtag, but it made no sense to me. I have been advertising the hashtag in my signatures of late for those who are interesting.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out
    Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

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  22. Anonymous30 March 2011 at 09:37

    Very interesting information.

    I use it sometimes. Maybe I'll use it more. I'm kind of with Arlee (above); but I HAVE met some new friends through Twitter. And there is a lot of information out there. You just have to pick and choose.

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  23. Anonymous30 March 2011 at 09:37

    p.s. Wow! Thanks for posting my cover on your sidebar. It still kind of freaks me looking at those "strange" faces. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  24. Denise Covey 30 March 2011 at 11:46

    I get the message. There's still a lot of ambivilence about Twitter and I totally get that.

    With hashtags we can add it to the search and it brings up all the like-minded people who we want to find. Awesome. (It's a lot quicker than facebook or blogging. But I loves dem all!)

    Denise<3

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  25. Michelle in a shell30 March 2011 at 12:35

    Ohhhhh I strongly dislike twitter! I feel like it's another step towards the deconstruction to language and interaction. I've had one since about when they started, but I only use it to follow food-trucks in my city. I think that's the only thing its good fro

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  26. Jai Joshi30 March 2011 at 13:15

    I haven't tweeted yet. Just as I haven't facebooked. I refuse. Call me old fashioned but I like to think of myself as being practical. I've got too many things to keep track of as it is.

    Jai

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  27. Lynda Lee Schab1 April 2011 at 22:02

    Interesting stuff. I do use Twitter, but not as often and productively as I'd like to. I wonder sometimes how some of those Tweeters can get any work done. Seems like they're tweeting 24/7.

    ReplyDelete

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