(CNN) -- How would you like to have to pay a fee to be able to stream YouTube videos at full speed? What if you liked downloading music from, say, Last.fm or Soundcloud, but those sites suddenly became infinitely slower than bigger sites like Amazon or iTunes?
Those are the kind of major changes to the Internet some folks are envisioning after a federal court ruling this week on what's come to be called "net neutrality."
This stuff can get really confusing, with all the government jargon, Internet lingo and competing arguments mixed up in it.
But it's also really important and could rework the Web as we know it -- like allowing the hypothetical situations above become realities.
Here's a breakdown of what this week's ruling could mean to you.
What is "net neutrality?"
Generally speaking, when folks talk about neutrality, they're referring to the ideas that led to a set of rules the Federal Communications Commission approved in 2010. The point of the rules was to keep the companies that hold the keys to the Web from playing favorites.
The "open Internet" rules prevent Internet service providers from blocking or "unreasonably discriminating" against any legal website or other piece of online content.
The philosophy behind it all, preached vociferously by Web activists, is that, in 2014, Internet access is a human right. Denying access, even in part, or giving preferential treatment to one user over another, violates that right, they say.
(The term itself was coined by Columbia law professor Tim Wu.)
What happened this week?
A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the FCC doesn't have the right to enforce those rules. The court said that the government is tasked with overseeing crucial utilities like telephone service and electricity, but that the Internet isn't considered to be one of those utilities under current law.
The decision harks back to statements and decisions made by the FCC and other government agencies in the early 2000s, when molasses-slow dial-up connections were the norm and Web access wasn't nearly as common or, some would say, necessary as it is today.
The FCC has suggested it will appeal the ruling.
So what?
Everybody who accesses the Internet does so through an Internet service provider. And these providers have been pushing for the ability to dole out that access to us on their own terms.
What does that mean? For one, companies like Verizon, who sued the FCC over the rules, would be able to pick and choose who gets the best access.
So, for example, they might start charging big fees for websites to get in the "fast lane." Those fees presumably would be no problem for the Web's monster moneymakers but tougher to take for the little guys.
Then, all of a sudden, you're starting to get two Internets -- a quick, smooth highway for the major players and a slow, bumpy trail for everybody else.
The providers could also just blatantly play favorites. So imagine AT&T, a major provider, making traffic quicker on the websites of smartphone companies that use its mobile service and slower on the sites of phone makers who don't. We're not saying they'd do that, of course. But, theoretically, they could.
Has this ever actually happened?
In 2007, Comcast started blocking some peer-to-peer networks -- the kind customers use to transfer data-heavy files like entire movies and the like.
The FCC ordered them to stop. Comcast sued the FCC. An appeals court ultimately sided with the FCC, but by that time, the backlash had been enough for Comcast to quit on its own (after paying $16 million to settle a lawsuit, that is).
For what its worth, the Web's major service providers put out statements Tuesday saying they don't have plans to change anything based on the court's decision. Of course, it would probably be bad business to make a multimillion-dollar move before the case has played itself all the way out to the Supreme Court, which is where this one might ultimately be decided.
What's the argument against the rules?
The service providers and their supporters essentially say this is a free-enterprise issue. They say they provide a service and, therefore, should be able to decide how to deliver it and how they charge customers for it.
When the FCC approved net neutrality on a 3-2 party-line vote, Commissioner Robert McDowell, one of two Republicans who opposed it, called the vote a "radical step."
"Nothing is broken in the Internet-access market that needs fixing," he said at the time.
Randal Milch, a Verizon executive vice president, said in a statement that Tuesday's ruling "struck down rules that limited the ability of broadband providers to offer new and innovative services to their customers."
Bottom line -- could it cost me money?
It's possible.
If providers start charging a premium to websites for services, you can bet those sites will turn around and pass the cost on to their customers.
Netflix, whose movie streaming is one of the Internet's biggest bandwidth hogs, already took a ding to its stock price after the court ruled. The presumption by some investors was that providers are most likely to charge more to sites like Netflix that use so much data.
For fee-based services like Netflix, it's hard to imagine monthly fees not increasing if their cost of doing business increases. And while it's obviously all still speculation, it's possible that currently free services like Google-owned YouTube -- which already offers paid subscriptions -- could adopt adopt more pay models to make up the difference.
What's next?
The ruling wasn't a complete blasting of the FCC's position. In fact, it said the body still has the right to make rules for the Web, so the commission could possibly try again with a new set of rules.
Congress could settle the issue once and for all with a new, clearly worded law. And there's always the Supreme Court if the FCC does, in fact, decide to appeal.
Source: Edition.CNN.com/2014/01/15/tech/web/net-neutrality-explained
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Sunday, 24 March 2013
The Internet is a Surveillance State
(CNN) -- I'm going to start with three data points.
One: Some of the Chinese military hackers who were implicated in a broad set of attacks against the U.S. government and corporations were identified because they accessed Facebook from the same network infrastructure they used to carry out their attacks.
Two: Hector Monsegur, one of the leaders of the LulzSac hacker movement, was identified and arrested last year by the FBI. Although he practiced good computer security and used an anonymous relay service to protect his identity, he slipped up.
And three: Paula Broadwell,who had an affair with CIA director David Petraeus, similarly took extensive precautions to hide her identity. She never logged in to her anonymous e-mail service from her home network. Instead, she used hotel and other public networks when she e-mailed him. The FBI correlated hotel registration data from several different hotels -- and hers was the common name.
The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we're being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads. One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period.
Increasingly, what we do on the Internet is being combined with other data about us. Unmasking Broadwell's identity involved correlating her Internet activity with her hotel stays. Everything we do now involves computers, and computers produce data as a natural by-product. Everything is now being saved and correlated, and many big-data companies make money by building up intimate profiles of our lives from a variety of sources.
Facebook, for example, correlates your online behavior with your purchasing habits offline. And there's more. There's location data from your cell phone, there's a record of your movements from closed-circuit TVs.
This is ubiquitous surveillance: All of us being watched, all the time, and that data being stored forever. This is what a surveillance state looks like, and it's efficient beyond the wildest dreams of George Orwell.
Sure, we can take measures to prevent this. We can limit what we search on Google from our iPhones, and instead use computer web browsers that allow us to delete cookies. We can use an alias on Facebook. We can turn our cell phones off and spend cash. But increasingly, none of it matters.
There are simply too many ways to be tracked. The Internet, e-mail, cell phones, web browsers, social networking sites, search engines: these have become necessities, and it's fanciful to expect people to simply refuse to use them just because they don't like the spying, especially since the full extent of such spying is deliberately hidden from us and there are few alternatives being marketed by companies that don't spy.
This isn't something the free market can fix. We consumers have no choice in the matter. All the major companies that provide us with Internet services are interested in tracking us. Visit a website and it will almost certainly know who you are; there are lots of ways to be tracked without cookies. Cellphone companies routinely undo the web's privacy protection. One experiment at Carnegie Mellon took real-time videos of students on campus and was able to identify one-third of them by comparing their photos with publicly available tagged Facebook photos.
Maintaining privacy on the Internet is nearly impossible. If you forget even once to enable your protections, or click on the wrong link, or type the wrong thing, and you've permanently attached your name to whatever anonymous service you're using. Monsegur slipped up once, and the FBI got him. If the director of the CIA can't maintain his privacy on the Internet, we've got no hope.
In today's world, governments and corporations are working together to keep things that way. Governments are happy to use the data corporations collect -- occasionally demanding that they collect more and save it longer -- to spy on us. And corporations are happy to buy data from governments. Together the powerful spy on the powerless, and they're not going to give up their positions of power, despite what the people want.
Fixing this requires strong government will, but they're just as punch-drunk on data as the corporations. Slap-on-the-wrist fines notwithstanding, no one is agitating for better privacy laws.
So, we're done. Welcome to a world where Google knows exactly what sort of porn you all like, and more about your interests than your spouse does. Welcome to a world where your cell phone company knows exactly where you are all the time. Welcome to the end of private conversations, because increasingly your conversations are conducted by e-mail, text, or social networking sites.
And welcome to a world where all of this, and everything else that you do or is done on a computer, is saved, correlated, studied, passed around from company to company without your knowledge or consent; and where the government accesses it at will without a warrant.
Source: CNN.com
Monday, 6 February 2012
CNN: 5 ways Twitter changed how we communicate
Happy birthday, @twitter. The groundbreaking microblogging site, which has alternately been
called a powerful tool for democracy and an emblem of all that's wrong
with our short-attention-span digital age, turns 5 years old today. On March 21, 2006, CEO Jack Dorsey wrote the post that started it all:
"just setting up my twttr." (For the record, Twitter, on its official blog, describes a message
from Dorsey that appears to have been posted a few minutes later,
"inviting coworkers," as the first official tweet.) Since then, the site has picked up about 200 million users, making it
one of the most-visited services on the Web. In honor of its fifth birthday, here's a look at five ways Twitter has
changed the digital communication game. 1. Made a fast flow of information faster It's decade-old news that the internet helps information -- some of it
good, some of it Snopes.com rumors -- spread fast. With Twitter, it's fast on steroids. In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big
follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers
share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze. As a result, news spreads faster than ever. Twitter's real-time news
flow has been cited as a tool in citizen uprisings in Iran and Egypt
and as invaluable for fundraising efforts for crisis situations like
last year's floods in Haiti. But it also means internet hokum can go viral before anyone can put
the brakes on it. No shortage of celebrities have "died" on Twitter, so far. And the
casualties will most likely continue to mount. 2. Removed the celebrity filter For as long as the concept of "celebrity" has existed, there have been
people paid to keep those celebrities from looking like jackasses in
public. Thankfully for us, Twitter ended all that. OK, not completely. But musicians, actors, athletes and other stars
who have taken to Twitter tend to share a lot more about themselves
than most publicists would endorse. (We're looking at you, Charlie
Sheen.) And not just scandalous stuff (although we enjoyed Kanye West's
bizarre round of self-flagellation just like everybody else). Writers share tips and give fans a glimpse at their process. Lots of
stars chat with their followers, giving fans unprecedented access.
Photos, or even just updates on their everyday lives, let fans see
stars in a way they never could before. The downside? You're liable to realize that at least one of your
favorite people has terrible grammar and can't spell. 3. Created "thought leaders" Twitter's list of 100 most popular accounts is dominated almost
entirely by celebrities and traditional media outlets. (We're fond of
No. 19.) But nestled not terribly far below are hundreds of bloggers,
podcasters and online journalists who have found a bigger audience on
Twitter than they probably would have without it. When a single tweet puts your thoughts in front of hundreds of
thousands of people, you're able to help set the agenda in your
community. 4. Strengthened the "second screen" With Twitter, nobody has to watch a TV show by themselves again. There are mobile apps that are tailored for TV, movies and other
entertainment. But for real-time chatter, it's hard to match Twitter. The advent of DVRs and streaming services like Hulu and Netflix was
threatening to kill the idea that people needed to watch a show as it
aired. But with Twitter (particularly thanks to hashtags), watching a
show during air time lets you have a real-time conversation with
thousands of fellow fans. "TV shows become events, meaning people watch them as they happen,"
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said last month. "We're so used to creating
experiences for our users, but now our users are creating experiences
for each other." A telling detail? Twitter traffic increases by a factor of 30 whenever
"Glee" is on. And during this year's Super Bowl, there were 4,000
tweets sent per second. 5. (Over)simplified the conversation Some thoughts just can't be summed up in 140 characters. For all its ability to provide quick blasts of information, critics
have argued that Twitter dumbs down Web conversations that deserve to
be fuller and more fleshed out. Some self-aware bloggers have admitted that since the site emerged,
they're more likely to shoot out a couple of tweets on a topic than
write a full post. And more than a few high-profile tweeters have had to come back and
explain themselves after a post on the site was misinterpreted -- or
just to correct their sloppy grammar and spelling. Sometimes, they
make up words). One flip side of Twitter's increased celebrity access is that it
allows politicians and others in the spotlight to fire off tweets
without opening themselves up to follow-up questions or having to
fully explain their messages. Remember all the members of Congress who tweeted during President
Obama's 2009 economic speech instead of even pretending to pay
attention? When the leaders of a nation are debating important issues the same
way we share a link to the latest comic from The Oatmeal, we might
have a problem.
called a powerful tool for democracy and an emblem of all that's wrong
with our short-attention-span digital age, turns 5 years old today. On March 21, 2006, CEO Jack Dorsey wrote the post that started it all:
"just setting up my twttr." (For the record, Twitter, on its official blog, describes a message
from Dorsey that appears to have been posted a few minutes later,
"inviting coworkers," as the first official tweet.) Since then, the site has picked up about 200 million users, making it
one of the most-visited services on the Web. In honor of its fifth birthday, here's a look at five ways Twitter has
changed the digital communication game. 1. Made a fast flow of information faster It's decade-old news that the internet helps information -- some of it
good, some of it Snopes.com rumors -- spread fast. With Twitter, it's fast on steroids. In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big
follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers
share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze. As a result, news spreads faster than ever. Twitter's real-time news
flow has been cited as a tool in citizen uprisings in Iran and Egypt
and as invaluable for fundraising efforts for crisis situations like
last year's floods in Haiti. But it also means internet hokum can go viral before anyone can put
the brakes on it. No shortage of celebrities have "died" on Twitter, so far. And the
casualties will most likely continue to mount. 2. Removed the celebrity filter For as long as the concept of "celebrity" has existed, there have been
people paid to keep those celebrities from looking like jackasses in
public. Thankfully for us, Twitter ended all that. OK, not completely. But musicians, actors, athletes and other stars
who have taken to Twitter tend to share a lot more about themselves
than most publicists would endorse. (We're looking at you, Charlie
Sheen.) And not just scandalous stuff (although we enjoyed Kanye West's
bizarre round of self-flagellation just like everybody else). Writers share tips and give fans a glimpse at their process. Lots of
stars chat with their followers, giving fans unprecedented access.
Photos, or even just updates on their everyday lives, let fans see
stars in a way they never could before. The downside? You're liable to realize that at least one of your
favorite people has terrible grammar and can't spell. 3. Created "thought leaders" Twitter's list of 100 most popular accounts is dominated almost
entirely by celebrities and traditional media outlets. (We're fond of
No. 19.) But nestled not terribly far below are hundreds of bloggers,
podcasters and online journalists who have found a bigger audience on
Twitter than they probably would have without it. When a single tweet puts your thoughts in front of hundreds of
thousands of people, you're able to help set the agenda in your
community. 4. Strengthened the "second screen" With Twitter, nobody has to watch a TV show by themselves again. There are mobile apps that are tailored for TV, movies and other
entertainment. But for real-time chatter, it's hard to match Twitter. The advent of DVRs and streaming services like Hulu and Netflix was
threatening to kill the idea that people needed to watch a show as it
aired. But with Twitter (particularly thanks to hashtags), watching a
show during air time lets you have a real-time conversation with
thousands of fellow fans. "TV shows become events, meaning people watch them as they happen,"
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said last month. "We're so used to creating
experiences for our users, but now our users are creating experiences
for each other." A telling detail? Twitter traffic increases by a factor of 30 whenever
"Glee" is on. And during this year's Super Bowl, there were 4,000
tweets sent per second. 5. (Over)simplified the conversation Some thoughts just can't be summed up in 140 characters. For all its ability to provide quick blasts of information, critics
have argued that Twitter dumbs down Web conversations that deserve to
be fuller and more fleshed out. Some self-aware bloggers have admitted that since the site emerged,
they're more likely to shoot out a couple of tweets on a topic than
write a full post. And more than a few high-profile tweeters have had to come back and
explain themselves after a post on the site was misinterpreted -- or
just to correct their sloppy grammar and spelling. Sometimes, they
make up words). One flip side of Twitter's increased celebrity access is that it
allows politicians and others in the spotlight to fire off tweets
without opening themselves up to follow-up questions or having to
fully explain their messages. Remember all the members of Congress who tweeted during President
Obama's 2009 economic speech instead of even pretending to pay
attention? When the leaders of a nation are debating important issues the same
way we share a link to the latest comic from The Oatmeal, we might
have a problem.
CNN: 5 ways Twitter changed how we communicate
Happy birthday, @twitter. The groundbreaking microblogging site, which has alternately been
called a powerful tool for democracy and an emblem of all that's wrong
with our short-attention-span digital age, turns 5 years old today. On March 21, 2006, CEO Jack Dorsey wrote the post that started it all:
"just setting up my twttr." (For the record, Twitter, on its official blog, describes a message
from Dorsey that appears to have been posted a few minutes later,
"inviting coworkers," as the first official tweet.) Since then, the site has picked up about 200 million users, making it
one of the most-visited services on the Web. In honor of its fifth birthday, here's a look at five ways Twitter has
changed the digital communication game. 1. Made a fast flow of information faster It's decade-old news that the internet helps information -- some of it
good, some of it Snopes.com rumors -- spread fast. With Twitter, it's fast on steroids. In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big
follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers
share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze. As a result, news spreads faster than ever. Twitter's real-time news
flow has been cited as a tool in citizen uprisings in Iran and Egypt
and as invaluable for fundraising efforts for crisis situations like
last year's floods in Haiti. But it also means internet hokum can go viral before anyone can put
the brakes on it. No shortage of celebrities have "died" on Twitter, so far. And the
casualties will most likely continue to mount. 2. Removed the celebrity filter For as long as the concept of "celebrity" has existed, there have been
people paid to keep those celebrities from looking like jackasses in
public. Thankfully for us, Twitter ended all that. OK, not completely. But musicians, actors, athletes and other stars
who have taken to Twitter tend to share a lot more about themselves
than most publicists would endorse. (We're looking at you, Charlie
Sheen.) And not just scandalous stuff (although we enjoyed Kanye West's
bizarre round of self-flagellation just like everybody else). Writers share tips and give fans a glimpse at their process. Lots of
stars chat with their followers, giving fans unprecedented access.
Photos, or even just updates on their everyday lives, let fans see
stars in a way they never could before. The downside? You're liable to realize that at least one of your
favorite people has terrible grammar and can't spell. 3. Created "thought leaders" Twitter's list of 100 most popular accounts is dominated almost
entirely by celebrities and traditional media outlets. (We're fond of
No. 19.) But nestled not terribly far below are hundreds of bloggers,
podcasters and online journalists who have found a bigger audience on
Twitter than they probably would have without it. When a single tweet puts your thoughts in front of hundreds of
thousands of people, you're able to help set the agenda in your
community. 4. Strengthened the "second screen" With Twitter, nobody has to watch a TV show by themselves again. There are mobile apps that are tailored for TV, movies and other
entertainment. But for real-time chatter, it's hard to match Twitter. The advent of DVRs and streaming services like Hulu and Netflix was
threatening to kill the idea that people needed to watch a show as it
aired. But with Twitter (particularly thanks to hashtags), watching a
show during air time lets you have a real-time conversation with
thousands of fellow fans. "TV shows become events, meaning people watch them as they happen,"
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said last month. "We're so used to creating
experiences for our users, but now our users are creating experiences
for each other." A telling detail? Twitter traffic increases by a factor of 30 whenever
"Glee" is on. And during this year's Super Bowl, there were 4,000
tweets sent per second. 5. (Over)simplified the conversation Some thoughts just can't be summed up in 140 characters. For all its ability to provide quick blasts of information, critics
have argued that Twitter dumbs down Web conversations that deserve to
be fuller and more fleshed out. Some self-aware bloggers have admitted that since the site emerged,
they're more likely to shoot out a couple of tweets on a topic than
write a full post. And more than a few high-profile tweeters have had to come back and
explain themselves after a post on the site was misinterpreted -- or
just to correct their sloppy grammar and spelling. Sometimes, they
make up words). One flip side of Twitter's increased celebrity access is that it
allows politicians and others in the spotlight to fire off tweets
without opening themselves up to follow-up questions or having to
fully explain their messages. Remember all the members of Congress who tweeted during President
Obama's 2009 economic speech instead of even pretending to pay
attention? When the leaders of a nation are debating important issues the same
way we share a link to the latest comic from The Oatmeal, we might
have a problem.
called a powerful tool for democracy and an emblem of all that's wrong
with our short-attention-span digital age, turns 5 years old today. On March 21, 2006, CEO Jack Dorsey wrote the post that started it all:
"just setting up my twttr." (For the record, Twitter, on its official blog, describes a message
from Dorsey that appears to have been posted a few minutes later,
"inviting coworkers," as the first official tweet.) Since then, the site has picked up about 200 million users, making it
one of the most-visited services on the Web. In honor of its fifth birthday, here's a look at five ways Twitter has
changed the digital communication game. 1. Made a fast flow of information faster It's decade-old news that the internet helps information -- some of it
good, some of it Snopes.com rumors -- spread fast. With Twitter, it's fast on steroids. In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big
follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers
share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze. As a result, news spreads faster than ever. Twitter's real-time news
flow has been cited as a tool in citizen uprisings in Iran and Egypt
and as invaluable for fundraising efforts for crisis situations like
last year's floods in Haiti. But it also means internet hokum can go viral before anyone can put
the brakes on it. No shortage of celebrities have "died" on Twitter, so far. And the
casualties will most likely continue to mount. 2. Removed the celebrity filter For as long as the concept of "celebrity" has existed, there have been
people paid to keep those celebrities from looking like jackasses in
public. Thankfully for us, Twitter ended all that. OK, not completely. But musicians, actors, athletes and other stars
who have taken to Twitter tend to share a lot more about themselves
than most publicists would endorse. (We're looking at you, Charlie
Sheen.) And not just scandalous stuff (although we enjoyed Kanye West's
bizarre round of self-flagellation just like everybody else). Writers share tips and give fans a glimpse at their process. Lots of
stars chat with their followers, giving fans unprecedented access.
Photos, or even just updates on their everyday lives, let fans see
stars in a way they never could before. The downside? You're liable to realize that at least one of your
favorite people has terrible grammar and can't spell. 3. Created "thought leaders" Twitter's list of 100 most popular accounts is dominated almost
entirely by celebrities and traditional media outlets. (We're fond of
No. 19.) But nestled not terribly far below are hundreds of bloggers,
podcasters and online journalists who have found a bigger audience on
Twitter than they probably would have without it. When a single tweet puts your thoughts in front of hundreds of
thousands of people, you're able to help set the agenda in your
community. 4. Strengthened the "second screen" With Twitter, nobody has to watch a TV show by themselves again. There are mobile apps that are tailored for TV, movies and other
entertainment. But for real-time chatter, it's hard to match Twitter. The advent of DVRs and streaming services like Hulu and Netflix was
threatening to kill the idea that people needed to watch a show as it
aired. But with Twitter (particularly thanks to hashtags), watching a
show during air time lets you have a real-time conversation with
thousands of fellow fans. "TV shows become events, meaning people watch them as they happen,"
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said last month. "We're so used to creating
experiences for our users, but now our users are creating experiences
for each other." A telling detail? Twitter traffic increases by a factor of 30 whenever
"Glee" is on. And during this year's Super Bowl, there were 4,000
tweets sent per second. 5. (Over)simplified the conversation Some thoughts just can't be summed up in 140 characters. For all its ability to provide quick blasts of information, critics
have argued that Twitter dumbs down Web conversations that deserve to
be fuller and more fleshed out. Some self-aware bloggers have admitted that since the site emerged,
they're more likely to shoot out a couple of tweets on a topic than
write a full post. And more than a few high-profile tweeters have had to come back and
explain themselves after a post on the site was misinterpreted -- or
just to correct their sloppy grammar and spelling. Sometimes, they
make up words). One flip side of Twitter's increased celebrity access is that it
allows politicians and others in the spotlight to fire off tweets
without opening themselves up to follow-up questions or having to
fully explain their messages. Remember all the members of Congress who tweeted during President
Obama's 2009 economic speech instead of even pretending to pay
attention? When the leaders of a nation are debating important issues the same
way we share a link to the latest comic from The Oatmeal, we might
have a problem.
CNN: 5 ways Twitter changed how we communicate
Happy birthday, @twitter. The groundbreaking microblogging site, which has alternately been
called a powerful tool for democracy and an emblem of all that's wrong
with our short-attention-span digital age, turns 5 years old today. On March 21, 2006, CEO Jack Dorsey wrote the post that started it all:
"just setting up my twttr." (For the record, Twitter, on its official blog, describes a message
from Dorsey that appears to have been posted a few minutes later,
"inviting coworkers," as the first official tweet.) Since then, the site has picked up about 200 million users, making it
one of the most-visited services on the Web. In honor of its fifth birthday, here's a look at five ways Twitter has
changed the digital communication game. 1. Made a fast flow of information faster It's decade-old news that the internet helps information -- some of it
good, some of it Snopes.com rumors -- spread fast. With Twitter, it's fast on steroids. In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big
follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers
share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze. As a result, news spreads faster than ever. Twitter's real-time news
flow has been cited as a tool in citizen uprisings in Iran and Egypt
and as invaluable for fundraising efforts for crisis situations like
last year's floods in Haiti. But it also means internet hokum can go viral before anyone can put
the brakes on it. No shortage of celebrities have "died" on Twitter, so far. And the
casualties will most likely continue to mount. 2. Removed the celebrity filter For as long as the concept of "celebrity" has existed, there have been
people paid to keep those celebrities from looking like jackasses in
public. Thankfully for us, Twitter ended all that. OK, not completely. But musicians, actors, athletes and other stars
who have taken to Twitter tend to share a lot more about themselves
than most publicists would endorse. (We're looking at you, Charlie
Sheen.) And not just scandalous stuff (although we enjoyed Kanye West's
bizarre round of self-flagellation just like everybody else). Writers share tips and give fans a glimpse at their process. Lots of
stars chat with their followers, giving fans unprecedented access.
Photos, or even just updates on their everyday lives, let fans see
stars in a way they never could before. The downside? You're liable to realize that at least one of your
favorite people has terrible grammar and can't spell. 3. Created "thought leaders" Twitter's list of 100 most popular accounts is dominated almost
entirely by celebrities and traditional media outlets. (We're fond of
No. 19.) But nestled not terribly far below are hundreds of bloggers,
podcasters and online journalists who have found a bigger audience on
Twitter than they probably would have without it. When a single tweet puts your thoughts in front of hundreds of
thousands of people, you're able to help set the agenda in your
community. 4. Strengthened the "second screen" With Twitter, nobody has to watch a TV show by themselves again. There are mobile apps that are tailored for TV, movies and other
entertainment. But for real-time chatter, it's hard to match Twitter. The advent of DVRs and streaming services like Hulu and Netflix was
threatening to kill the idea that people needed to watch a show as it
aired. But with Twitter (particularly thanks to hashtags), watching a
show during air time lets you have a real-time conversation with
thousands of fellow fans. "TV shows become events, meaning people watch them as they happen,"
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said last month. "We're so used to creating
experiences for our users, but now our users are creating experiences
for each other." A telling detail? Twitter traffic increases by a factor of 30 whenever
"Glee" is on. And during this year's Super Bowl, there were 4,000
tweets sent per second. 5. (Over)simplified the conversation Some thoughts just can't be summed up in 140 characters. For all its ability to provide quick blasts of information, critics
have argued that Twitter dumbs down Web conversations that deserve to
be fuller and more fleshed out. Some self-aware bloggers have admitted that since the site emerged,
they're more likely to shoot out a couple of tweets on a topic than
write a full post. And more than a few high-profile tweeters have had to come back and
explain themselves after a post on the site was misinterpreted -- or
just to correct their sloppy grammar and spelling. Sometimes, they
make up words). One flip side of Twitter's increased celebrity access is that it
allows politicians and others in the spotlight to fire off tweets
without opening themselves up to follow-up questions or having to
fully explain their messages. Remember all the members of Congress who tweeted during President
Obama's 2009 economic speech instead of even pretending to pay
attention? When the leaders of a nation are debating important issues the same
way we share a link to the latest comic from The Oatmeal, we might
have a problem.
called a powerful tool for democracy and an emblem of all that's wrong
with our short-attention-span digital age, turns 5 years old today. On March 21, 2006, CEO Jack Dorsey wrote the post that started it all:
"just setting up my twttr." (For the record, Twitter, on its official blog, describes a message
from Dorsey that appears to have been posted a few minutes later,
"inviting coworkers," as the first official tweet.) Since then, the site has picked up about 200 million users, making it
one of the most-visited services on the Web. In honor of its fifth birthday, here's a look at five ways Twitter has
changed the digital communication game. 1. Made a fast flow of information faster It's decade-old news that the internet helps information -- some of it
good, some of it Snopes.com rumors -- spread fast. With Twitter, it's fast on steroids. In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big
follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers
share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze. As a result, news spreads faster than ever. Twitter's real-time news
flow has been cited as a tool in citizen uprisings in Iran and Egypt
and as invaluable for fundraising efforts for crisis situations like
last year's floods in Haiti. But it also means internet hokum can go viral before anyone can put
the brakes on it. No shortage of celebrities have "died" on Twitter, so far. And the
casualties will most likely continue to mount. 2. Removed the celebrity filter For as long as the concept of "celebrity" has existed, there have been
people paid to keep those celebrities from looking like jackasses in
public. Thankfully for us, Twitter ended all that. OK, not completely. But musicians, actors, athletes and other stars
who have taken to Twitter tend to share a lot more about themselves
than most publicists would endorse. (We're looking at you, Charlie
Sheen.) And not just scandalous stuff (although we enjoyed Kanye West's
bizarre round of self-flagellation just like everybody else). Writers share tips and give fans a glimpse at their process. Lots of
stars chat with their followers, giving fans unprecedented access.
Photos, or even just updates on their everyday lives, let fans see
stars in a way they never could before. The downside? You're liable to realize that at least one of your
favorite people has terrible grammar and can't spell. 3. Created "thought leaders" Twitter's list of 100 most popular accounts is dominated almost
entirely by celebrities and traditional media outlets. (We're fond of
No. 19.) But nestled not terribly far below are hundreds of bloggers,
podcasters and online journalists who have found a bigger audience on
Twitter than they probably would have without it. When a single tweet puts your thoughts in front of hundreds of
thousands of people, you're able to help set the agenda in your
community. 4. Strengthened the "second screen" With Twitter, nobody has to watch a TV show by themselves again. There are mobile apps that are tailored for TV, movies and other
entertainment. But for real-time chatter, it's hard to match Twitter. The advent of DVRs and streaming services like Hulu and Netflix was
threatening to kill the idea that people needed to watch a show as it
aired. But with Twitter (particularly thanks to hashtags), watching a
show during air time lets you have a real-time conversation with
thousands of fellow fans. "TV shows become events, meaning people watch them as they happen,"
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said last month. "We're so used to creating
experiences for our users, but now our users are creating experiences
for each other." A telling detail? Twitter traffic increases by a factor of 30 whenever
"Glee" is on. And during this year's Super Bowl, there were 4,000
tweets sent per second. 5. (Over)simplified the conversation Some thoughts just can't be summed up in 140 characters. For all its ability to provide quick blasts of information, critics
have argued that Twitter dumbs down Web conversations that deserve to
be fuller and more fleshed out. Some self-aware bloggers have admitted that since the site emerged,
they're more likely to shoot out a couple of tweets on a topic than
write a full post. And more than a few high-profile tweeters have had to come back and
explain themselves after a post on the site was misinterpreted -- or
just to correct their sloppy grammar and spelling. Sometimes, they
make up words). One flip side of Twitter's increased celebrity access is that it
allows politicians and others in the spotlight to fire off tweets
without opening themselves up to follow-up questions or having to
fully explain their messages. Remember all the members of Congress who tweeted during President
Obama's 2009 economic speech instead of even pretending to pay
attention? When the leaders of a nation are debating important issues the same
way we share a link to the latest comic from The Oatmeal, we might
have a problem.
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