#TwitterIsBorn

In the early 2000s, social media was just barely over the horizon. Platforms like MySpace and Facebook have just begun and people were just starting to get used to posting online. Board members at the company Odeo were holding a brainstorming session for new ideas for a website. Jack Dorsey had the idea of individuals being able to use SMS to communicate with groups of people. Because of the shorthand typically used with SMS messages, 'Twttr" was born. Dorsey shared the first tweet on March 21, 2006, which read: "just setting up my twttr". The first users of "Twttr" were not completely sold on the idea and had a hard time understanding the concept. Besides, to effectively use "Twttr", you needed a strong group of followers.

In 2007, Twitter's popularity spiked from 20,000 tweets per day to almost 60,000. At the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, Twitter set up two huge TVs in the hallways streaming tweets. People would stop and read the tweets on the screens, and feel more compelled to tweet themselves. These users were the early adopters of Twitter and really saw the potential of the platform. The ease of being connected with everyone at the conference really appealed to these users and ultimately drove more people to the platform.

After this conference, Twitter blew up. In 2007, 400,000 tweets were shared quarterly over the service. By February 2010, 50 million tweets were being sent daily. At the time, Twitter had 70,000 registered users. By June of that year, 65 million tweets were being posted per day. Because of the boom of users, people were talking more than ever on the platform. Special trending events especially Twitter-friendly. The 2010 FIFA World Cup had fans tweeting about 2, 940 tweets per second. After the Lakers' victory in the 2010 NBA Finals, the record was then raised to 3,085 tweets per second. When Michael Jackson passed away, Twitter servers crashed because so many people were tweeting about Michael Jackson per hour. In 2012, Twitter celebrates its birthday with 140 million users and 340 million tweets being shared per day.

In the years to come, Twitter would take its power to new levels. In April of 2012, Twitter opened an office in Detroit with the goal of working with more automobile brands and advertising agencies. In January of 2013, Twitter launched the video-sharing service "Vine". Users were able to create 6-second clips and share them directly with their Vine profiles, as well as their Twitter feeds. Between 2011 and 2015, Twitter acquired several advertising agencies and increased its users and tweets exponentially.

After going public in 2013, Twitter has still been able to dominate social media and advertising. More and more users are joining the platform, but not at the incredible rates of 2010. Currently, Twitter has 330 million monthly active users (134 million daily users) with the average person spending about 3 minutes on the platform per session. 67% of all B2B businesses utilize Twitter as a marketing tool. 40% of users reported purchasing something that they have seen on Twitter. 500 million tweets are sent daily, with about 5 tweets being sent per second. 63% of Twitter users are between the ages of 35 and 65 years old, with 34% of users being female and 66% being male.

Twitter is definitely between its saturation to maturation phases. The average person already has an active Twitter account and uses it pretty regularly. The typical business or organization has a Twitter account that is used almost daily with updates and information. In order for Twitter to reach another monumental peak like in 2010 and 2014, Twitter will have to acquire another social media platform and bring some new innovative features to the platform. The acquisitions of Vine and Periscope gave Twitter a competitive edge that Facebook and Instagram could not quite compete with. If Twitter can stay ahead of other platforms, Twitter will always be an industry leader.

Sources
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/twitter-statistics

Help My Phone is Taking Over My Life

The advancements of technology in the 21st century have been remarkable. In a short span of twenty years, people have gone from watching prime-time shows once a week to binge-watching shows on streaming services, having to develop film over the course of a week to uploading albums of pictures by the second, and buying CDs from their favorite artists to streaming them on Spotify and Apple Music. These advancements have made life easier in some aspects, but in others, it has caused humans to devolve.

Young Millennials and Generation Zers have little to no recollection of life without technology. They always remember a TV being in the living room, at least one computer with internet access in the home, and maybe even a cell phone or two. The lives of those 30 years old and younger have quickly been impacted by the surge of technology. In this short time span, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, iPods, Blackberrys, Palm Pilots have all gone extinct and this group of people experienced every single change.

 Smartphones in 2019 do everything that several devices had that ten devices could do 20years ago. With this technology being so readily accessible, it is difficult to peel your phone out of your hand and let go. At any given time, you can check the news, listen to music, scroll through social media, check emails, review bank statements, play a game, order a package online, and take photographer worthy photos within seconds. By having all of these tools at our disposal, it has become clear that there is no real reason to break away from your phone, it does everything.

The problem with the smartphone epidemic of the 2010s is that it allows people to constantly share (and overshare) information throughout the day. Instagram influencers and VSCO girls have become the norm and what is acceptable by society. These people post without regard to anything but their self absorbed selves. With your phone being able to track so much information in such a small amount of time, it is virtually impossible to miss a beat.

In a world that revolves around technology, it is hard to unplug, especially if you've always had devices. The technology craze has driven the world crazy and there's no going back. What will the world become when technology reaches its peak?

The Innovation of Television

It's hard to imagine life without television. There was once a time where people had to gather all of their news and information by newspaper and radio and there was no way to show large audiences moving pictures with information.

Throughout the early 20th century, the TV made small steps in becoming what we know TV today. The first TV station, W3XK, was established in 1928, the first commercial premiered on BBC in 1930, and CBS, the first major network, is established. This allowed for messages to be shared with all audiences at the same time. Color TV is introduced in the 1950s and becomes common in the late 60s. This boom of color TV was just in time for the 1969 Moon landing which allowed nearly 600 million Americans to watch. In just a century, television has become a household item and changed the way people communicate.

With this new form of communication came new territory. A large battle that TV networks and producers struggled with was what to put on TV. In the 50s and 60, most shows shown on TV starred white actors. The only minorities seen were depicted as offensive stereotypes such as Black people being cast as slaves and servants, and Native Americans being cast as warriors in Westerns. The first show to have a 'regular' Black character was I Love Lucy, where the best friend was a black woman. The Nat King Cole Show utilized many black and minority performers throughout their run and is known for being one of the first integrated performance shows. Good Times and The Jeffersons were some of the first sitcoms starring average black families in the 70s.

With the push for more racial representation, women were pushing for more equal roles on television as well. Most women seen on TV were in stereotypical caretaker roles. For example, All In the Family starred Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker, who played the role of the subservient and stupid wife. She went along with her husband's bigotry and never stood up for herself. The National Organization of Women (NOW) fought continuously for better representation of women on screen.

The censorship of television relies heavily on the issues that society is facing at the time. Many of the scenes that were too scandalous for prime-time usually dealt with some of these sensitive topics. Star Trek had a scene banned because it showed an interracial kiss between a white man and a black woman. Several skits from Saturday Night Live were banned because they made jokes about race, drugs, and the disabled. Dynasty had episodes banned because the writers wanted to make the main character and openly gay man. More recently, shows like South Park and Family Guy have had scenes and episodes banned for offensive religious jokes, abortion jokes, racist and sexist jokes, and just jokes being made on sensitive topics (i.e. jokes being made about the JFK assassination or Osama Bin Laden). These shows dared to venture into territory that society was not yet ready to be and thus the government had these shows cut the scenes. Television programs are protected under the First Amendment because they are consumable media that the cable providers and networks have decided to share. That being said, all messages shown on TV are protected and cannot be controlled by the government.

The invention of television has revolutionized the way information is communicated around the world. Lives news can be broadcasted from any location around the world and at an instant. With the rise of the TV being so strong, the downfall will be deadly. With the increase of streaming services, online media outlets, and cable networks streaming online, there is no necessity for the TV anymore. Millennials and Generation Z are buying fewer TVs and blowing off cable to the point of possible extinction. With the fall of television on the horizon, its a wonder where the TV will go next.