Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long)
via SMS, instant messaging,
email, to the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in March 2006 by San Francisco start-up company Obvious Corp.
Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive
them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can
receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an
application. For SMS, currently three gateway numbers are available: short codes for the
USA and Canada and a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.
Due to Twitter's success, a large number of sites imitating its concept have sprung up around the world, offering
country-specific services (e.g. frazr) or combining the
micro-blogging facilities with other ideas, such as filesharing (e.g. Pownce). In May, 2007, one
source counted as many as 111 such "Twitter-lookalikes" internationally.[2]
History
Twitter began as a research and development project inside of Odeo, Inc. by
Noah Glass and Jack Dorsey, and debuted in March 2006. The
Twitter team won the 2007 South by Southwest Web Award in the blog category.[3] Dorsey gave the following playful acceptance speech: "We'd like
to thank you in 140 characters or less. And we just did!"
Twitter is experiencing numerous challenges related to its growing user base. The Wall Street Journal wrote, "These social-networking
services elicit mixed feelings in the technology-savvy people who have been their early adopters. Fans say they are a good way to
keep in touch with busy friends. But some users are starting to feel 'too' connected, as they grapple with check-in messages at
odd hours, higher cellphone bills and the need to tell acquaintances to stop announcing what they're having for dinner."[4]
Prominent Twitter users include U.S. presidential candidates John Edwards and
Barack Obama[5], and
author and journalist Anna David[6] (as well as many others).
The first Twitter security vulnerability was reported on April 7, 2007 by Nitesh Dhanjani. The problem was due to Twitter
using the SMS message originator as the authentication of the user's account. Nitesh used fakemytext.com to spoof a text message, whereupon
Twitter posted the message on the victim's page. This vulnerability can only be used if the victim's phone number is
known.[7] Within a few weeks of this discovery, Twitter
introduced an optional PIN that its users can specify to authenticate SMS-originating messages.
Twitter is written in Ruby on Rails.[8]
References
- ^ "Incorporating Twitter" March 18th, 2007 Twitter Official Blog, retrieved May 29th, 2007
- ^ Article on thws.cn. A Chinese site, but the article is in English. Retrieved August 22nd, 2007.
- ^ "We Won!" March 14th, 2007 Twitter Official Blog, retrieved March 16th, 2007
- ^ "Friends Swap Twitters, and Frustration - New Real-Time Messaging Services Overwhelm Some Users With Mundane
Updates From Friends" March 16th, 2007 Wall Street Journal, retrieved March 16th, 2007
- ^ Barack Obama on Twitter Official Twitter Page
- ^ Anna David on Twitter Official Twitter Page
- ^ Twitter and
Jott Vulnerable to SMS and Caller ID Spoofing April 7, 2007: Nitesh Dhanjani Blog Entry
- ^ 5
Question Interview with Twitter Developer Alex Payne March 29, 2007
See also
External links
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