What is Twitter?

 Twitter is a social network and microblogging service for real-time communication used by millions of people and organizations. Twitter users stay interconnected by posting updates, known as “tweets,” to the site for sharing, exchanging and discovering information. Tweets consist of 140 characters or fewer and can contain ideas and various types of information, such as photos, videos and links to articles. Users can access these posted messages on Twitter via the Web or on a mobile device with an Internet connection. Once a user posts a tweet, the message is posted to their profile and sent to the homepages (or feeds) of the user’s followers who have subscribed to that user’s Twitter updates. Users can scroll through their feed to consume Twitter updates from followers that can be anything from a personal observation to a breaking news story. Users can follow or be followers of friends, family, co-workers, organizations, businesses and public figures.

Followers communicate with a user by replying to a tweet or “retweeting” the post to re-share the update with his or her own followers. Tweets and replies are public and visible to anyone, unless Tweets are protected. By responding to and sharing tweets, users engage with one another in real-time over interesting content, hot topics and current events.

Users are identified on Twitter by their handle, which is a designated username. Users mention followers or other users by using the @ symbol and their handle. Tweets can also be searchable by using a hasthtag and tagging the # symbol followed by a keyword.

Twitter launched in 2006 and originated as the Podcasting company Odeo. The platform has since grown into a global communication tool and digital social space, commonly referred to as the “Twitterverse,” that fosters conversations and information gathering through delivered and searchable tweets. Since its inception, the social platform has evolved into one of the world’s most popular social networks where people stay connected to one another through dialogue, search and discovery.