Twitter web site
and service that
lets users send
short text messages
up to 140 characters
in length from their
cell phones/ Twitter
page to a group of
people. Launched in
2006, Twitter
was designed to keep
friends and
colleagues informed
about one's daily
activities. However,
Twitter is also
increasingly used
for commercial
purposes such as
companies telling
customers "what's
new." In addition,
politicians and
celebrities use
Twitter to keep
constituents and
fans informed.
Twitter messages
("tweets") are not
sent
indiscriminately;
they are only
distributed to
recipients who have
elected to become
followers. Messages
can also be sent via
instant messaging,
the Twitter Web site
or a third-party
Twitter application.
A MySpace account
can also be updated.
Since its creation
in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained
notability and popularity worldwide. It is sometimes
described as the "SMS of the Internet" since the use
of Twitter's application programming interface for
sending and receiving short text messages by other
applications often eclipses the direct use of
Twitter.
Jack Dorsey ( Creator of Twitter )
Jack Dorsey
(born November 19, 1976) is an American software
architect and businessperson best known as the
creator of Twitter. BusinessWeek called him
one of technology's "best and brightest". MIT's
Technology Review named him in the TR35,
an outstanding innovator under the age of 35
Dorsey
grew up in
St. Louis,
Missouri. By
age 14, he
was
interested
in dispatch
routing.
Some of his
open source
software in
this genre
is still in
use by
taxicab
companies.
He attended
University
of
Missouri–Rolla
and New York
University.
While
working on
dispatching
as a
programmer
he later
moved to
California.
In Oakland
in 2000,
Dorsey
started his
company to
dispatch
couriers,
taxis, and
emergency
services
from the
Web.
When he
first saw
implementations
of instant
messaging,
Dorsey had
wondered if
the
software's
user status
output could
be shared
among
friends
easily. He
approached
Odeo, who at
the time
happened to
be
interested
in text
messaging.
Dorsey and
Biz Stone
decided that
SMS text
suited the
status
message
idea, and
built a
prototype of
Twitter in
about two
weeks.The
idea
attracted
many users
at Odeo
Dorsey, Stone and Williams co-founded Obvious which then spun off Twitter, Inc.As chief executive officer, Dorsey saw the startup through two rounds of funding by the venture capitalists who back the company.On 16 October 2008Williams took over the role of CEO, and Dorsey became chairman of the board. His three guiding principles, which are shared by the whole company and through its culture, are simplicity, constraint and craftsmanship.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a
service for friends, family, and co–workers to
communicate and stay connected through the exchange
of quick, frequent messages. People write short
updates, often
called "tweets" of 140 characters or fewer. These
messages are posted to your profile or
your blog, sent to your followers, and
are searchable on Twitter search.
Do I need anything
special to use it?
All you need to use Twitter is an internet connection or
a mobile phone. Join
us here! Once you're in, type your first update into
the web box. To get an idea of what other people are
saying or doing on Twitter, check out
Twitter search
to see what Twitter's all about. You can search by
keyword or just check out the trending topics to see
what's hot on Twitter right now.
How do I find my
friends?
When you create an
account, you can search
for people by name or user name, import
friends from other networks, or invite
friends via email. If you don't want to do that,
follow some of the people we've
suggested. Once you've found your friends,
follow them to start getting their updates.
What does it mean to
follow someone on Twitter
Following someone simply means receiving their
Twitter updates. When you follow someone, every time
they post a new message, it will appear on your Twitter
home page. New messages are added to your home page as
people post them, so you always get the updates in real
time. When you log in, you can see what the latest
updates are. Twitter offers other ways to follow people
too: you can get updates from certain people on your
phone!
How do I know who I'm
following?
After you click the
follow button on someone's profile, you're following
them. The follow button will change to a green check
mark next to the word "Following" with an actions button
on the right to remove a person if you want to. If
you've
registered your phone with Twitter, you can set up
text preferences for a person as well. See a list of
people you're following by clicking on the
following link
on your profile or your home page's sidebar.
How do I know who is
following me?
Twitter sends you an
email when someone new follows you. Set up your
email preferences to notify you when you have a new
follower. The
followers link on your profile page or home page's
sidebar will also tell you how many followers you have.
What are follow
limits?
Twitter recently added
follow and update limits for stability and abuse
control. You can read more about this
here.
Who reads my updates?
It's up to you. Your
followers read your updates, and anyone else who comes
across them in a search. Your Twitter profile is public
by default; if you're hesitant to have strangers read
your updates, protect
your profile to approve followers and keep your
updates out of search.
Can I block people from
following me?
Yes, you can. If you block someone, they wont be
able to follow you or send you any messages. If your
account is public, they'll still be able to view it, but
they wont show up on your followers list, and you wont
be on their following list. If it's a spammer you're
blocking, thanks! Twitter Support keeps an eye on block
reports to see who's getting in trouble on Twitter.
How can I send updates to
Twitter?
Twitter offers many ways
to post updates: from
the web in the update box, from
your phone, from your mobile web browser using
m.twitter.com, or from any third
party application made by the talented folks who've
utilized our API.
Why is there a star at
the end of updates?
The star is a way for you
to mark an update as favorite. People can view your
favorites, and you theirs, by clicking on the
Favorites
link in the profile page.
Can I put my Twitter
updates on my blog?
Yep! Put a
Twitter widget on your blog, website, MySpace...
anything that accepts Javascript or HTML. You can even
customize your Twitter badge to match!
What are @Replies?
An @reply is a public
message sent from one person to another, distinguished
from normal updates by the @username prefix. If a
message begins with @username, we collect it as a reply.
Reply publicly to any update on Twitter by using the
@username format. Following is not necessary to reply
to someone, and all of your replies are visible in the
@username tab in your home page sidebar. (Tweets with
@username elsewhere in the tweet are also collected in
your sidebar tab; tweets starting with @username are
replies, and tweets with @username elsewhere are
considered mentions.) Please note that if your account
is private, users who are not following you will not see
your @replies or mentions.
What are Direct Messages?
Direct messages are
private messages sent from one Twitter person to
another. You can only send a direct message to a person
who follows you. When you receive a direct message, we
save it in your
direct
message inbox, accessible from the Direct Message
tab in the sidebar in your home page. Set your
email preferences to notify you by mail if you have
a new message.
Can I edit a tweet once I
post it?
Nope. Once it's out there,
you can't edit it. You can delete an update by clicking
the trash icon on the right end of the update, but you
can't make changes.
What is the difference
between an @reply and a direct message?
An
@reply is a public message sent regardless of
follow-ship that anyone can view. A
direct message can only be sent by someone you
follow, and is a private message that only the author
and recipient can view.
What does RT, or retweet,
mean?
RT is short for retweet,
and indicates a re-posting of someone else's tweet.
This isn't an official Twitter
command or feature, but people add RT somewhere in a
tweet to indicate that part of their tweet includes
something they're re-posting from another person's
tweet, sometimes with a comment of their own.Check out
this
great article on re-tweeting, written by a fellow
Twitter user, @ruhanirabin.
Why can't I see all my
tweets? My tweet count is _,___. Are they lost?
The good news is
they're not lost or gone! We have all your tweets. The
bad news is that we currently only allow you to see the
3200 most recent tweets (this could also be construed as
good news, as that number could be lower than 3200).
The other good news is that we are eventually going to
build something that will allow you to see ALL your
tweets. Among the gazillion things we want to do to
make Twitter better, this hasn't yet reached the top of
our list, which is largely based on what we hear from
people like you. At some point, you'll be able to get
on a twime machine, visit your twistory, and tweminisce.
That will be a fun day!
How do I post a
picture to Twitter?
Twitter doesn't offer
an official picture posting feature of its own, however,
most people use a third party application (a popular one
is
TwitPic)
to post pictures to Twitter accounts. Check out
other photo and video apps on the Twitter Fan Wiki
here! Note: Twitter doesn't officially support
Twitpic or other third party applications, but you can
usually find them on Twitter (follow
Twipic here) to get help or find out the latest
updates!
Why wont my feed
reader take my @reply RSS feed?
The @replies RSS feed
requires authentication; most web-based feed readers
don't support authentication. If yours doesn't, you
wont be able to see your @replies via rss feed. Try the
feed in a desktop feed reader, which usually supports
authentication.
Is there a Twitter
API?
Yes, complete with
documentation and an active developer group to help you
with common API questions. You can find it at the
bottom of your logged-in homepage,
here.
I'm an app developer,
how do I get white listed?
Send a request to white
list your application from the API Wiki,
here.
Does Twitter allow html in
web updates?
No. We escape all html
for security purposes. However, if you paste in a link
that is less than 30 characters, we'll post it in its
entirety. If it's longer than 30 characters, we'll
convert it to a shorter URL.
How do I report spam?
Report spam by
following Twitter's
spam account, and sending us a direct message
containing the username of the spammer. Also, we
encourage you to always block any spammers you find.
Twitter Support keeps an eye on block reports to see
who's getting in trouble on Twitter.
Why are accounts
suspended?
Accounts are suspended
for Terms of Service violations or spam investigation.
Read more about this
here.
Where can I find out more
information about Twitter's Terms of Service?
Twitter's
Terms of Service
is posted on the site, and the
Twitter Rules are posted in the Support home page.
Check out Twitter's Terms of Service and Rules
policies here.
How do I submit a
complaint about copyright, impersonation, trademark, or
other Terms of Service issues?
Review our
Terms of Service section to find out what
constitutes a violation, and how to go about fixing a
related problem.
What is Get Satisfaction?
Get
Satisfaction is a great site that people use to help
each other figure out problems on Twitter. They call it
"people powered customer service" because people are
there, helping each other out. If you're looking for
help using Twitter from other Twitter users, this is a
great resource. If you're looking for official Twitter
Support, you'll find it by clicking on the Help link
from twitter.com.
Is there a place where I
can find out if there are problems with Twitter?
Yes. Check (and subscribe
to!) Support's
Known Issues page, read the
Twitter Status Blog,
or follow @twitter.
To unsubscribe, click on the link from the email, or
visit the forum again and unsubscribe there.
Still wondering about something? Check out our
help resources
for more information!
