Twitter and Diffusion

In 2006, the first Tweet ever was sent, and the rest, is history. In 2007, Twitter took off at the South by Southwest conference and in 2013, when the company went public, the company was worth over 31 billion dollars. (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/twitter-launches) Twitter grew at an astounding rate, and to this day is a huge source of news for as soon as something happens, and is typically the first to break huge stories. Also, it has a huge place in politics looking back on Donald Trump's Twitter run and ban during the downfall of his presidency.

The technology began to catch on at the conference in 2007 that Twitter had such a presence at. Early adopters began to realize how revolutionary the technology is, and now, there are around 500 million tweets every single day and around 186 million users on Twitter. (https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter-statistics/) 

Some people are certainly late adopters or not adopters at all to Twitter first because it is a fast paced technology. There can almost be "Too much" going on and too much to catch up on. It also can be similar to Facebook where it is a platform to personally share ideas, so people with other forms of social media may not feel the need to download it. 

Very interestingly, people may be turned away from Twitter now due to the brand new CEO. In a New York Post article, it cites Parag Agrawal saying in 2018 that Twitter should,

"Focus less on thinking about free speech, but thinking about how the times have changed.”

This is entirely concerning when free speech is already a major reason why people are turned away from the brand. Long time Twitter personality and memer as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk even went as far as photoshopping the new CEO into a photo of Josef Stalin following his statement that photos and videos without people's consent will no longer be allowed on the platform. As discussed in class, this is feasibly impossible and there is no real way to regulate this sentiment, however, it is also seriously concerning as news such as the videos from the George Floyd case as well as evidence from the Kyle Rittenhouse saga would not have been able to come into fruition under this law.

Twitter is potentially going down a scary path. The cost benefit is the privacy and free speech concerns in return of fast up to date news and keeping up with personalized content with the rest of the world. The choice is simple for many, but also many do not think of the possibilities and further implications of the Twitter world.