Twitter

hide

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. While the service costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

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.

Twitter is ranked as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide by Alexa's web traffic analysis. Although estimates of the number of daily users vary because the company does not release the number of active accounts, a February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network based on their count of 6 million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits. In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009. Twitter had a monthly growth of 1,382 percent, Zimbio of 240 percent, followed by Facebook with an increase of 228 percent. However, only 40 percent of Twitter's users are retained.

For more information about Twitter, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

News tagged with twitter

results timeline

Pay babysitter on iPhone, says Twitter

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

16 hours ago | 2.7 / 5 (3) | 1

Microblogging service Twitter has branched into the market for electronic payments, unveiling a mini credit card swiper that plugs into the iPhone, at a European internet fair on Wednesday.

Google search results to include 'real-time' data

Technology / Internet

Dec 07, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(AP) -- Fresh information from blogs, news sites, Twitter and other popular hangouts will appear in Google's search results more quickly as the company aims to give people a more comprehensive look at what's ...

Movieclips.com launches with studio deals

Technology / Internet

Dec 03, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(AP) -- Movieclips.com, an online movie clip-sharing service, launched in beta test mode on Wednesday touting the cooperation of six major Hollywood studios amid an industrywide slowdown in DVD sales.

Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Google has joined Twitter

Google CEO joins Twitter

Technology / Internet

Dec 07, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who took some flak earlier this year for calling Twitter a "poor man's email system," has joined the hot micro-blogging service.

Search results for twitter

How fake sites trick search engines to hit the top

Technology / Internet

Dec 08, 2009 | 3 / 5 (1) | 0

(AP) -- Even search engines can get suckered by Internet scams. With a little sleight of hand, con artists can dupe them into giving top billing to fraudulent Web sites that prey on consumers, making unwitting ...

Swipe Your Credit Card on a Cell Phone

Technology / Hi Tech

Dec 07, 2009 | 2 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- With a small card reader that attaches to a cell phone, a new company is making it easier for small businesses and even individuals to accept credit card payments. The San Francisco start-up, ...