WEBVTT - How Twitter Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff Works dot com. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to the podcast. This is Jonathan Strickland. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>a writer here and How Stuff Works and with me

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<v Speaker 1>is editor extraordinaire Chris Palette. Hi there, we got a

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<v Speaker 1>real tweet of a podcast for you. Dude. I'm sorry,

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<v Speaker 1>So we're talking about Twitter today. Yeah, we have an

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<v Speaker 1>article called how Twitter Works, but in a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>cases recently it's been sort of how Twitter doesn't work? Right?

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<v Speaker 1>There is there's a certain graphic that pops up when

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<v Speaker 1>Twitter is out of service. And I just got to

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<v Speaker 1>hear what the name of it was the other day, Chris,

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<v Speaker 1>come on share with us. It's the fail whale. Is

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<v Speaker 1>the fail whale. It's it's cheerful looking whale that tells

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<v Speaker 1>you that sorry, Twitter is not working just now. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>recently it's gotten a little bit better there. There haven't

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<v Speaker 1>been as many crashes, and we think that that might

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<v Speaker 1>have something to do with an a recent influx of

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<v Speaker 1>cash in the Twitter coffers. That's right. In May they

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<v Speaker 1>received fifteen million dollars in venture capital funding. Um, and

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<v Speaker 1>that increases there they're total to about twenty millions, so

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<v Speaker 1>that gives them a lot more capacity. And the reason

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<v Speaker 1>this is an issue is because people are starting to

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<v Speaker 1>take to these microblogs, which are basically a hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>sixty characters. Yeah. Yeah, and so basically you have to summarize,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, what you're saying in a very very short time.

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<v Speaker 1>And it gives people an opportunity to blurt out a

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<v Speaker 1>quick thought. Um. And it's very popular. It's taken off

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<v Speaker 1>so much that Twitter has been showing the fail whale

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<v Speaker 1>to many of us now right right, and and it

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<v Speaker 1>spans beyond just the internet. Uh. Twitter interfaces with cell phones.

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<v Speaker 1>It's using SMS technology, the short messaging service where you

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<v Speaker 1>you send these short messages. It's just like sending a

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<v Speaker 1>text message to someone else, except this case you're sending

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<v Speaker 1>a text message to a network of people. So when

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people are sending lots of text messages

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<v Speaker 1>to large networks, that puts a lot of strain on

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<v Speaker 1>the system. But um, it's it's another important thing to

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<v Speaker 1>note that the venture capital that's going into Twitter is

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<v Speaker 1>really the main source. In fact, the really the only

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<v Speaker 1>source of significant revenue that Twitter is. It's not even

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<v Speaker 1>really generating revenue, it's just coming in on investments because

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<v Speaker 1>Twitter is very proud of the fact that they don't

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<v Speaker 1>have a business plan. Well, you know, there are a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of competitors out there that are taking advantage of

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<v Speaker 1>the frequent fail whales, like um um Pounds, which is

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<v Speaker 1>uh something created by a number of people, including one

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<v Speaker 1>of the founders of dig Kevin Rose right right, um Clerk,

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<v Speaker 1>which is created by a group of people call who

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<v Speaker 1>call themselves the A Team. Um Identica, which is a

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<v Speaker 1>brand new version from Canada which is completely open sourced.

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<v Speaker 1>Um you know, and I can't I can't figure out

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<v Speaker 1>whether the j is pronounced ji q or hi q.

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<v Speaker 1>But they were gobbled up by Google right getting ready

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<v Speaker 1>to run themselves in the Google App Engine, and they

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<v Speaker 1>haven't released their new version. But all these people are

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<v Speaker 1>sort of waiting in line to be the next Twitter

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<v Speaker 1>if Twitter manages to uh if they if they collapse

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<v Speaker 1>under the weight of all the popularity. And it's actually

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<v Speaker 1>interesting some of the some of the biggest Twitter cheerleaders

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<v Speaker 1>have kind of moved on to talking about other services

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<v Speaker 1>after seeing the fail whale one too many times. So

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<v Speaker 1>this is definitely a real concern for Twitter. Um it's

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<v Speaker 1>also showing us that that this microblog thing, it doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>look like it's going away. It's really really popular. And

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<v Speaker 1>it kind of surprised me because the first time I

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<v Speaker 1>thought about it was like, why would I want to

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<v Speaker 1>know when my friends going out to shop for new shoes?

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<v Speaker 1>But people are using it for lots of things, to

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<v Speaker 1>to organize impromptu gatherings like Hey, who wants to go

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<v Speaker 1>see a movie tonight? Or or even following the news.

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<v Speaker 1>There are many news organizations that have Twitter feeds now

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<v Speaker 1>and they give breaking news on you You hear about

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<v Speaker 1>breaking news before it hits any websites. Oh sure, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean that gives you know, added venues for the

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<v Speaker 1>citizen journalists as they call them, to uh, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>to tweet there happened to be out on the on

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<v Speaker 1>the sidewalk while something happens, and someone can post it

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<v Speaker 1>to Twitter, and the news travels very quickly, faster than

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<v Speaker 1>the media outlets can broadcast it. At the speed of life.

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<v Speaker 1>You might say. As a matter of fact, I subscribe

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<v Speaker 1>on my Twitter account to a number of journalists and

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<v Speaker 1>photographers who happened to be out and when they see something,

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<v Speaker 1>they'll they'll post something to their Twitter and they can

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<v Speaker 1>even get you out of jail. Uh. James carl Buck

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<v Speaker 1>who was a grad student in Egypt, he got arrested

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<v Speaker 1>while photograph photographing an anti government demonstration. He tweet tweeted

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<v Speaker 1>the word arrested and sent it out to his followers,

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<v Speaker 1>and their response meant that he was freed shortly thereafter.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's definitely gots uses um for listeners out there

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<v Speaker 1>who are curious. I have a Twitter account. If you

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<v Speaker 1>want to follow me, it's Twitter dot com slash John

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<v Speaker 1>Strickland that's j O N S t R I c

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<v Speaker 1>K L A n D. And of course, if you

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff Works itself has a Twitter account. If you

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<v Speaker 1>follow how stuff Works underscore um, that's the official stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works Twitter. So I guess we'll have to tweet you

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<v Speaker 1>guys later in the meantime. If you want to learn more,

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<v Speaker 1>you can always read how Twitter Works at the website

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Thanks a lot for listening

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<v Speaker 1>for more on this and thousands of other topics. Does

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<v Speaker 1>it how stuff works dot com? Let us know what

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<v Speaker 1>you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com, Brought to you by the reinvented two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand twelve Camray. It's ready, Are you