A source of information

At the age of 14, this IT expert was developing his first free software. 32 years old today, he is relishing in the success of his community web site Twitter, no doubt the Web phenomenon of the year. Twitter even enjoys the luxury of being able to refuse, in November 2008, a take-over offer from Facebook, which valued the company at 500 million dollars (350 million euros)… According to the Hubsport agency, already between 2007 and 2008, between 5,000 and 10,000 new accounts opened each day, making Twitter into the fastest growing social network on Internet. In January 2009, it was said that frequentation rates increased by 343%!
How is such success to be explained? First up: Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that is very easy to use. In broad terms, it is a light version of Facebook. Second: Twitter has, from the outset, been very open to other platforms, and therefore allows users to interact easily.
The principle consists in posting short information blurbs and simultaneously alerting all of one’s contacts. The enthusiasm of millions of cybernauts is such
that personalities from showbiz, business and even politics, notably during the American campaign, use Twitter to address their publics. For example, Steve Jobs transmits his latest product information live in this way. In Iran, during the post-election demonstrations, Twitter even became a flux point for eyewitness accounts from newspapers all over the world. From a simple messaging tool, Twitter has thus gradually transformed into a source of information. Still, despite its astonishing progress rate, Twitter has not reached the status of Facebook. The latter is still way ahead and going strong: in July 2009, Facebook registered 10 million new visitors, as opposed to 1 million for Twitter. Cyber-attacks are also multiplying on the web site, each of them highlighting the tool’s numerous failings. Can it be that Jack Dorsey’s masterpiece has reached its limits? The creator doesn’t seem to think so… even if he has already announced that he is in the process of launching a new company in New York City.