Twitter, the Power of People

Some people say that texting and tweeting is bad for the youth. This statement arose because the youth has found their own way to express their messages. The most fundamental thing about Twitter is that it opens up the opportunity to be heard, in 140 characters or less. This enables the world of linking and sharing, the basic tenet of social networking.

"Twitter is actually a happy accident, it is a way to track our project and update on our status without having to do a reporting. But when everybody enjoying and getting so much fun using it, that's when we realize we hit onto something," says Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter. He is the first speaker at Youth Engagement Summit 2009 that is organized at Putrajaya Convention Center, Kuala Lumpur.

"Opportunity is something that you created", Biz shares his early experiences in high school when he suggested Lacrosse as a new sport so everybody has equal opportunity to win compares to common sport. Here’s the model Twitter use today, opening up its platform and API, so that a garage developer can compete equally with major corporations. It’s the ecosystem that makes Twitter great. It given so many people a way to use the data and even makes money out of it.

When challenged on how Twitter makes money, Biz smartly answer, "We want to create values for our users first. There's so much potential on monetizing, major corporations has asked to utilize Twitter data. But we want to give value to the corporation before we ask them for money."

Most major Internet innovation answers a basic and fundamental question. Google answer the WHAT, type anything and you will find the information. Facebook truly connects the WHO, just about everybody has got its own home there. Twitter prepares us to combine the WHEN, WHAT and WHO in real time. Anything happens real time and we see it unfold before our eyes. When the tools to visualize the data, information and knowledge readily available, you will see the true power of Twitter.

It already shows its muscle now, by giving away its power to the people. People use it for wide range of application. From giving real time information on anything, to organising a political campaign. It is not so much a technological revolution than empowering people to be able to self organize.