Dave & Biz chat about Twitter
In our spotlight-crazy age, it’s hard to imagine an individual relatively unknown to that spotlight engaging an audience as much as a celebrity. But that’s what happened Friday night on the Indiana campus of Ball State University.
The relative unknown was Biz Stone, not exactly a household name but who nonetheless is co-founder and creative director of a Web 2.0 enterprise with a name you may have heard of: Twitter.
The celebrity was David Letterman.
David Letterman and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone discuss Twitter at Emens Auditorium Friday night at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Although Letterman occasionally ribbed Stone, the late night entertainer turned serious when talking about Twitter and its impact. (AP Photo/The Star Press. Chris Bergin.
An intimate chat
Ball State’s most famous alum and the boyish-looking Stone were on campus to have an intimate conversation (with some 3,500 students, faculty, and staff listening in) about the impact that the three-year-old Twitter and the rest of the social media are having on all of us. The event was part of the Late Night entertainer-funded program called the David Letterman Distinguished Professional Lecture and Workshop Series.
“We had a vision of a flock of birds grouped around a bird in flight,” Stone, 36, said of his start-up venture Twitter. If you’ve wondered why the Twitter logo is a bird, that’s the reason. It’s an image that mirrors the human essence of that interactive service.
Boredom pays off
“I was working on a different startup at Google,” Stone explained. “I was getting a little bored and we took two weeks off to work on something else.”
That was in 2006, and that something-else evolved into Twitter and grew out of Stone’s focus interest in combining texting into an interactive Web service. Stone, together with friends Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams, worked on the prototype for nine months and realized they were having a lot of fun doing it, so they must be on the right track.
Today Twitter has some 160 million users around the world, and its owners turned down a purchase offer of $500 million for it last year. Stone himself was named one of Vanity Fair’s 10 most influential people and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential.
A site about nothing?
Not bad for the co-founder of a service that many discount as meaningless and who are confounded about its popularity. Even Stone acknowledges that.
“Twitter has been called the Seinfeld of the Internet,” Stone said, referring to the immensely popular TV series of the 90s with little plot structure but great characterizations. “It’s about nothing. Right on!”
About nothing? Really? If so, then how do you explain Stone’s assertion about how helpful it has been to people around the world?
Not about technology
“Twitter is not about a triumph of technology,” Stone said. “It’s a triumph of humanity.” He told Letterman, “In Silicon Valley there is this thinking that technology is a solution to all our problems. But it’s not. It really has to do with what people are going to do with technology.”
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone feels Twitter is more about a triumph of humanity than one of technology. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
Stone added meat to that appetizer by noting that, “People have used Twitter in ways we never anticipated.” For example:
• In the earthquake that rocked Haiti, the only communication many people had with victims in that country, and vice versa, was through Twitter. It helped greatly in getting news in and out of the island nation about who was alive, who was missing, who was dead, and what was needed.
• People from around the world were tweeting messages like, “Keep hope alive,” to the victims in the devastated areas.
• The same has been true with the more recent flooding of Pakistan.
• Last fall, when the world was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Germans established a “Twitter Wall” where people from around the world could post tweets about other walls of oppression that still need to fall. Many Chinese were the first to post such Tweets, before the Chinese government blocked access by their people to that site.
• Some of the 2008 presidential debates incorporated real-time tweets from the public in a crawl along the bottom of the screen, showing what America was thinking about the give-and-take of the candidates.
When Twitter is used to aid disaster victims, it may be showing its most valuable feature, Stone believes.
“We get in touch with our empathy … and think of ourselves as global citizens who care about others,” he said.
Mixed opinions
Nevertheless, the amount of time people spend on Twitter on a day-to-day basis causes many critics to wonder if all the short blurbs about who is doing what when, is really necessary or just a waste of time.
In his on-stage conversation with Stone, Letterman admitted he does not tweet, nor is he sure he understands why he should.
“I would be tweeting but I feel I don’t have anything to say,” Letterman said. “Moreover, why should I care that Justin Bieber is at the 7-Eleven right now?”
Find your own interest
Stone replied that people don’t need to tweet to get value out of Twitter. He suggested using it to get the information that is relevant to you. If you’re interested in baseball or, more specifically, the Red Sox, dig out those tweets to see what people have to say about your team.
“Twitter is not a social network,” Stone said. “It’s an information network.”
Public information
Stone also surprised the audience by noting that 90 percent of all tweets are accessible by the public and that all tweets are archived by the Library of Congress. Other stats he revealed are that 78 percent of all Twitter usage is through Twitter.com, while the other 22 percent come through mobile phone usage. In fact, if you’ve ever wondered why Twitter messages are kept to 140 characters, it is to keep it within the 160-character maximum length of cell phone text messages, allowing for the adding of a username.
Dave couldn't resist being Dave as he doffs his "borrowed" sox on stage as the event ended. (AP Photo/Chris Bergin/The Star Press)
Although Letterman couldn’t resist being Dave – he once noted he was wearing socks he had borrowed from the husband of BSU President Jo Ann Gora and took them off on-stage at the end of the program – he did turn serious in displaying his interest over Twitter.
Damage to language?
One of his more serious questions to Stone was asking whether such heavy usage of Twitter would affect people’s use of the English language and subtract for their ability to write well.
Stone responded, “When you’re given less to work with, you often have to be more creative.” He noted that Twitter forces users to come to the point and be concise in their writing. He also noted that many people provide links in their tweets to longer-form messages.
No boredom here
As interesting as the on-stage conversation was, however, it was just as fascinating to watch how the audience of young people responded. It is rare that a speaker event on campus doesn’t result in scattered groups of students talking among themselves and seeing several of them get bored and leave before the end.
But few did that on Friday night, and the silence during the program and standing ovation welcoming Stone and Letterman to the stage showed the degree of interest college students have in the social media phenomenon.
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Comments
So intriguing! I was most drawn to the comment that “Twitter is not a social network, it is an information network.” What a concept! Twitter is a social science researcher’s playground; an over-abundance of information, capturing the pulse of public opinion. True, there is a lot of “noise” to sort through, but imagine the development of Twitter research methods being the next frontier in social science research!
Have you noticed the “Wheat Thins” commercials lately, that respond to people’s Twitter posts about their product by showing up to their house with a camera crew and life-time supply of Wheat Thins? Although extreme, it is a concrete example of how Twitter is being used as a source of information.
I too wished I could have been at that event! Like many people, I do have a Twitter account. Yet, I am in the mixed feelings crowd concerning this 2.0 technology. I got my Twitter account to see what all my friends where blabbing about. I found Twitter be a good source of information, an “information network” if you will, as state by Stone. On the other hand I do feel like majority of Twitter users are not approaching it with I am going to provide information to the world but rather I am going to “share” my thoughts, opinions, or even my randomness. I feel Twitter falls in the false sense of privacy and courage. Twitter, like Facebook, is also used a tool for people to put their personal issues and those causing those issues in the spotlight in a public forum.
Going back to the other hand, lol, I do agree there is value from Twitter. People are able to support causes and gain up to date information about worldwide occurrences and show empathy. Yet… again majority of people’s true usage for Twitter is not for information seeking. See why I am in the mixed feelings camp!
I find it interesting that Stone referred to Twitter as the Seinfeld of the internet because it is about nothing. Marshall McLuhan theorized that the best television would be that with a casual nature where a person’s quirks and experiences would capture the viewer. He may have been referring to TV, however, his vision most definitely relates to the success of Twitter.
It may not matter in the grand scheme of things to the general public that Justin Beiber is at Seven Eleven, however his 5.3 million followers might tell you otherwise.
I’m intrigued that Stone referred to Twitter as an “information network” in the sense that you can personalize it to your own preferences. I believe he accurately predicts the future of news media. As our modes and channels communication become more splintered and segmented, we will choose to be part of those communities in which we more closely identify. The central role of journalism as we use to know it, will diminish (though not be eliminated completely) as we coalesce around our own personal idea of what constitutes news and information.
As much as I work hard to avoid certain online applications, I can’t help but be aware of their presence. Twitter has certainly had it’s effect felt around the internet and media overall. There’s even a session at an upcoming conference for Solid Waste Districts focusing on using Twitter and Facebook to increase your organizations presence. I view that as a sign of the huge influence that Web 2.0 has had on our lives.
What an amazing event this must have been to attend. Truly it is amazing what a hit Twitter has become. The fact that millions of people are connected to this “information site” and connected to others who have things to say and to share. The most amazing part about Twitter and I love that Biz commented on it is that “it’s about nothing”. What if you were to describe the content value or the purpose of Twitter would you describe. It is random status updates from people all over the globe that are aloud to say or announce anything they deem worthy of readers knowing. Of course not everyone has something interesting or important to say but the fact that it is possible is what makes it an important agent in creating global citizens. People from all over the world, from different cultures, race, ethnicity, languages are able to hear the trials and triumphs of people that they would never hear from otherwise. Devastating natural disasters and political unrest are made known so that aid can be give- this is in the form of charities, donations, aid, prayer, or a tweet of encouragement or praise. Twitter, though about nothing, can change everything.
In Silicon Valley there is this thinking that technology is a solution to all our problems. But it’s not. It really has to do with what people are going to do with technology.”
I found this quote interesting because it does seem that many different people do many different things with Twitter. One of the most common pass times has been journalists posting articles and news stories on Twitter. We saw an example of this in our second video posted for Module Three.
This quote should be posted in every journalist office,notepad and/or computer screensaver. When journalists are following the Code of Ethics Twitter is just another piece of technology but when they are not the question should be asked, “What am I going to do with this?”
It’s interesting to look at some of the things Biz Stone talked about regarding the limitations of Twitter and, in that, how those limitations might create ethical issues with how news organizations then use it. The explosion of text messaging and Twitter has led to the development of a separate “Twitter” language that has lead to some blatant grammatical mistakes. The most common would be ‘your/you’re’ and ‘their/there/they’re’. How is credibility affected with the use of ‘Twitter-speak’ and grammatical errors? Our General Manager recently issued a building-wide memo regarding office policies where he used ‘your’ when he should have used ‘you’re’. He has quietly become the laughing stock of the building. Also, with the limited number of characters allowed, and the volume of tweets to sort through, what sort of ethical dilemmas might arise over the temptation to over-sensationalize to garner more attention?
“A service that many discount as meaningless and who are confounded about its popularity.” This statement makes me chuckle because I still tend to think this about Twitter. I think in regards to ethics and effects of online media, twitter fits right in with privacy and need to know vs want to know information. People are now sharing where they are, what they’re doing, writing in slang, posting links to longer messages, etc. They are becoming accustomed to sharing some extremely private information, which is kind of scary! I think Letterman says it right when he says that he has no idea why he would start Tweeting to begin with. It can go against media and ethics as much of what’s posted on Twitter may not be for the well being of others or just plain and simple too much information. Those ethical ideas seem a little more important now that we’ve learned that all Tweets are archived by the Library of Congress. I had no idea! It may make one consider their ethics in the media lesson once or twice before posting their next tweet.
This was extremely eye opening into the impact that twitter has had upon society, up untuil this point, I had always thought that twitter was a pathetic excuse for preteens to stalk what color shoes one of the jonas brothers were wearing at that point in time. I am however intriqued why Letterman was the man to receive this interview, perhaps an attempt to erase some negative vies after his little office “scandal” this past year. What a better way to throw out importaint public areas of discussion such as the earthquake in Haiti.
I love that there are still people that want to think of twitter as “meaningless” or “a place to say what you’re eating”. The major point of what twitter CAN be is even more exciting than what it is now. We’re starting to see the major impact that twitter can have, and it’s even more evident with what is happening in Egypt. I’ve been too busy to sit and watch the happenings in Egypt but have been kept abreast of the events via twitter. There are other uses for twitter that I think we are going to see emerge within the next few years that will truly turn it into a news outlet as well as a “social-information” network.
Twitter is an interesting phenomenon placed within the realm social media. Its categorization with other social media is due to the interactivity of the network; however, Twitter is much different than its counterparts such as Facebook, Youtube and myspace. Rather than the JUST the opportunity to interact with peers, Twitter will soon be distinguished as an information sharing network – the potential impact of which was highlighted in the article.
However, Twitter will not only change the way information is shared, but it is important to note its impact of the information gathering process. The impact of Twitter on journalists is evident. With diminished resources and staffing, Twitter is the newest source for stories. Traditionally journalists have been hesitant to rely on others; however, Twitter is the new benchmark which must be embraced. It provides an opportunity to help find important stories, but also the ability to interact with the public regarding information pertinent to their interests.
Categorization Twitter as a social media may fit the definition but where the real phenomenon lies is in the overwhelming ability to share information among one other.
While I do agree with Biz on the idea of 140 characters requiring people to be more creative with their language, I do feel like texting and Twitter are slowly murdering the English language. I know when I try to throw a “zinger” or “one-liner” onto a Tweet, I sometimes have to think of ways to trim some fat off it. I think this is better for my writing, because it forces me to not only be creative, but to be more concise and clear with my writing.
I am one of those people who refuse to write “u” when I mean “you.” I think part of me died the first time I used the @ instead “at.” I don’t think some middle-schoolers actually know how to spell some basic words because they are so used to using “text” language. It’s a shame, really. And there is really no feasible way to undo the damage it has done.
I too was an early Twitter skeptic. I refused to sign up. I didn’t understand why people were wasting their time. Then after months of harassment from some friends, I signed up. I followed a few people, then I followed more, and more, until finally, Twitter made sense. For me, it’s a way to stay up-to-date on the news or keep up on my favorite musical artists. I read about what is important to friends and classmates.
I think I originally overlooked and discredited the foundations of Twitter. Because I have a Blackberry, I have access to the internet, email, etc. whenever I need it- but people without smart phones may have limited access to these things. Because Twitter was primarily founded as a text messaging service, people without smart phones have the capability to stay up-to-date with news, weather, and other important information. The “snowpocalypse” happening now is a great example – if the electricity were to go out, people with and without smart phones would still be able to get weather and news on their phone through the use of Twitter.
I was lucky enough to attend this event. I went with friends, and was surprised at how captivating the presentation was. One of my favorite moments was watching social media in action. Someone asked Biz who his favorite person to follow was, and he replied “badbanana” because he’s hilarious. As I quickly searched for him on my Blackberry, the number of followers went up one by one. I looked around and saw faces lit up across the auditorium, on their phones, following badbanana. It really was incredible to be a part of it.
I must say that I was slightly shocked when I read, ‘Twitter is not about a triumph of technology,’ Stone said. ‘It’s a triumph of humanity.’ He told Letterman, ‘In Silicon Valley there is this thinking that technology is a solution to all our problems. But it’s not. It really has to do with what people are going to do with technology.’ It seems the cliche is to say that technology is going to solve human problems However, Stone’s quote speaks volume and truth: the way that technology changes the world is the way that humanity chooses to utilize it–that means there is the potential for technology to also be abused by humanity.
I also could not believe that Stone would actually admit to the fact that, ‘Twitter has been called the Seinfeld of the Internet,’ Stone said, referring to the immensely popular TV series of the 90s with little plot structure but great characterizations. ‘It’s about nothing. Right on!’
The pattern I’ve seen with people like Stone is to defend their products with all sorts of excuses hiding them behind often valid, but ironically contradictory. In this case, Stone seems honest and even himself does not Tweet! This is unusual and rather enlightening. His comment about not tweeting further enhances his credibility and candice.
I was at this discussion with Biz Stone and Dave Letterman. It was one of the most fascinating things and it was an honor to witness it. I was actually inspired by Biz and immediately followed him on Twitter after leaving. (Since I have Twitter, I should at least follow one of the co-founders.)
Many people always feel that things like Twitter are a waste of time. Biz showed the people in the crowd, that Twitter is what you make of it. You do have those people that tweet what may be pointless to some. There is also good that comes from Twitter. Twitter is not just another social media site it is filled with information. It is a way for people all around the world to connect, especially in a time of need.
I agree with Biz when he says, “Twitter is triumph of humanity.” I was able to use Twitter to aid in some of the disasters that were mentioned. I got to witness people posting inspirational comments to the victims of Haiti.
I understand that some people think it is pointless and irrelevant. To me, Twitter as a Web 2.0 media is a good thing. It’s so much more than another social media website. It is what the user makes of it. I believe that this is what media is evolving into. With Twitter you can choose who you follow, which means that you see stories that you find interesting. This gives us the opportunity to only focus on what we deem important. The media does change with the people.
Depending on how the user decides to use Twitter, it an effect us in many ways. I have had an awesome experience with Twitter. It is informative and entertaining. I can’t wait to see what Biz or anyone else comes up with next.
After reading the conversation Biz Stone and David Letterman had, I still am not convinced that Twitter is necessary. I do not have a Twitter account, and do not plan on getting one any time soon. I don’t think it is necessary to post what I am doing every five minutes. And even if I did, I could just post this information on Facebook instead where there isn’t a word limit to my post as short as Twitter’s. Words of encouragement and help were offered over Facebook for the victims of Haiti’s earthquake as well. Twitter was not unique in this way. I feel as though Twitter is just a rip off of Facebook with a new name slapped on it. Many of my friends have a Twitter account and I still do not understand why. However, as much as I may not like Twitter, I still agree with Stone in that it probably will not decrease people’s abilities to write properly. I have been using social networking sites for a few years now, and although I write with slang on those sites, I am still able to write a professional paper for class with ease. Although it was said that Twitter is an information network and not a social network, I am not sure this is entirely true. So much of the posts I see on Twitter are all about people’s lives and what they are up to at that moment in time. As it stands currently, to me Twitter simply seems like a glorified way of stalking people. And until Twitter gives me a better reason to join their website, I will not be a part of the 160 million users.
I really wish I could have made it to this campus event! I admit to being connected to several online social networks, Twitter being one of them. Although Twitter isn’t the main social network that I am connected with, I have enough experience with it to know that social networks such as this have almost created a new era of technology users. I feel as though my generation has lived in and created an era that is highly associated with online social networking. I can remember the emergance of Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter the Big 3 online social networks into mass media and pop culture. It is almost impossible to imagine how we communicated daily without social networks. I find it intrigueing that “tweets” are being referenced in the Library of Congress.
As mentioned in your blog, Stone suggests that people have used Twitter as a source for information network. People use this network for multiple purposes. Some people use it to let out emotion, others as some sort of tool to fame, twitter is also used to follow friends, celebrities, or even strangers. Its funny how one of the first lessons we learn in life is not to talk to strangers, but with online networks we do. Not only are we talking, but exposing some of our deepest thoughts, opinions, and ideas to hundreds, thousands, and millions of “followers” daily.