Benjamin Valdez MIS 304 Professor Fang Fang Cal State University San Marcos

Background Founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams in March 2006 Launched publicly in July 2006 A social networking and micro-blogging service Allows users to post latest updates Update is limited by 140 characters and three forms: web form, text message or instant message

Background (Cont.) Features have been added such as Gmail import and search Explore (internal and third party tools for interaction) Twitter Blocks (visualization tools)

How Does It Work? Create an account for free at Complete a profile Upload a picture Link account with a web page, cell phone, or instant messenger program Send “tweets” Tweets are sent to others specified in the account

Pros and Cons Pros Free service Great for marketing Great for sharing articles/links Great for social networking Promotes website traffic to specific websites Connecting with others and staying in touch

Pros and Cons cont. Cons Unwanted spamming Lacks specific interest groups, i.e. Facebook Posts are limited to 140 characters Time-consuming Can become dangerous (i.e. Letting everyone know about where you are located can promote stalking) Phishing/Scamming (Be sure to change your password)

Has Twitter Peaked? Went from about 2.6 million visitors at the beginning of January 2009 to 17 million by the end of April Less than 51 percent of Twitter users were from the United States in December, compared to more than 61 percent in June. About 21.2 million visitors in July 2009 to 19.9 million in December

References ter.peaked/index.html#cnnSTCText phishing/index.html the-pros-and-cons-of-twitter/