9781422287231 Twitter®: How Jack Dorsey Changed the Way We Communicate

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Introduc ing Twi t ter

Make Connections: Short Messages Twitter has restricted users to 140 character messages since it first began. Jack always envisioned that Twitter should be restricted to short messages, but the real reason he limited Twitter posts to exactly 140 characters is so that they could be sent and delivered using just one text message. At the time, text messages were limited to anywhere between 140 and 160 characters each. Even though SMS messag- ing has changed since Twitter first began, Twitter’s restriction has not. All tweets are still only allowed to be 140 characters or less in length.

The developers of Twitter spent a lot of money testing the functionality of the website. Having an unlimited text message plan was almost unheard of at the time, so they were forced to pay for each individual text mes- sage that was sent or received during testing. They racked up thousands of dollars in SMS charges to their phones during this time. Fortunately, this investment would eventually prove that it was all worth it. Everything began to change starting in July 2006 when Twitter was released publicly. It took off very slowly at first, but it showed a lot of promise. Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams created a new company, which they named Obvious Corporation. They also acquired Odeo and every asset Odeo owned. One year later, Twitter branched

off as its own company. GAINING USERS

Jack and his team were finding it hard to get people to use Twitter, and the reasons were obvious. Evan Williams, one of Jack’s partners, explained why in a 2013 interview: “With Twitter, it wasn’t clear what