Today In History: Twitter Launches
On July 15th, 2006, Twitter launched. A microblogging and social networking service, Twitter was created by technology entrepreneurs Jack Dorsey, Noach Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams and is considered the SMS (short message service) of the Internet, with over 330 million active users per month. Users range from presidents to musicians, journalists to teachers, actors to athletes. As of June 2021, former President Barack Obama became the most followed account holder, having over 129 million Twitter followers.
Who would have imagined that the platform which encouraged "short bursts of inconsequential information" , similar to "chirps from birds" (i.e. tweets), would have such a signifiant impact on human thought, culture, politics, education -- even libraries, which take advantage of this popular social media to promote resources and services? Tweets might be informational or often mis-informational, prone to "fake news" with power to influence. Educational awareness of how we leverage and interact with people when we create, share, or exchange information or opinion in virtual communities or networks has never been greater, as we remember today in history.
The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.
- Collins, J. (2009, Mar 20). Twitter Hugely Popular But Where's the Payoff? The Irish Times (1921-Current File)
- Boutin, P. (2009, May 07). All You Need To Know To Tweet On Twitter. New York Times (1923-Current File)
- Lohr, S. (2010, Apr 15). It's History So Be Careful Using Twitter. New York Times (1923-Current File)
- Collins, J. (2010, Nov 01). Follow That: Twitter Founder Tells Forum About His Next Big Idea. The Irish Times (1921-Current File)
- Linehan, H. (2013, Aug 03). Time To Think About Protecting Twitter Users. The Irish Times (1921-Current File)
- O'Brien, C. (2013, Sep 26). Early Days For Twitter In Dublin As It Prepares To Spread Its Wings: A Walk Around Twitter's HQ In Dublin Shows It's No Beanbags and T-Shirts Start-Up. The Irish Times (1921-Current File)
- Bilton, N. (2013, Oct 13). All Is Fair In Love and Twitter: The Sweet, Innocent Ideas and Ruthless Power Plays That Created Twitter. New York Times (1923-Current File)
- Rehak, M. (2014, Aug 10). Who Made That?: (Twitter Bird). New York Times (1923-Current File)
- Manjoo, F. (2015, Oct 08). A Twitter Feature Aims To Tame the Chaos. New York Times (1923-Current File)
- O'Brien, C. (2016, Mar 21). Twitter Reaches Its 10th Birthday With 332m Users. The Irish Times (1921-Current File)
Tips:
- Dixon, Brian. Social Media For School Leaders: A Comprehensive Guide To Getting the Most Out of Facebook, Twitter, and Other Essential Web Tools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012. e-book
- Parmalee, John. Politics and the Twitter Revolution: How Tweets Influence the Relationship Between Political Leaders and the Public. Lanham, MD: Lexington Book,s c2012. e-book
- Seo, Kay Kyeong-Ju. Using Social Media Effectively In the Classroom: Blogs, Wikis, Twitter, and More. New York: Routledge, c2012. e-book
- Zappavigna, Michel. The Discourse of Twitter and Social Media. London: Continuum International, c2012. e-book
Images:
- Twitter Logo, Courtesy of Maxpixel
- Special News Slide, Courtesy of the Gottesman Libraries
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