For my free post, I decided to write about the book I’m
currently reading: Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton. This is the true story
about how Twitter was founded and the drama that ensued when the four founders
clashed.
As a social media addict, when I started seeing reviews
about this book I was immediately interested. Where did they come up with the
idea? How did something so seemingly simple gain such intense popularity so
quickly? How was it that one element that other platforms already had (status
updates) could manage to hold its own so well? I picked up the book and
although I’m not finished yet, I’m hooked on the story and what I‘ve learned so
far.
The book starts off with one of the founders, Evan “Ev” Williams
being ousted as CEO of Twitter and replaced by Dick Costolo, the COO (Bilton
2013, 2). It then flashes back to the early days, when Ev became famous for
creating Blogger (Bilton 2013, 16). After selling out to Google, he then teamed
up with some guys working on early podcasting (Bilton 2013, 26). Not sure yet where it will evolve, but
ultimately I’m sure it turns into Twitter.
While I’ve never watched The
Social Network, I imagine it’s the same premise. Humanizing something like
a social media really puts it into perspective. Something we are so heavily
reliant on today started as a simple idea tossed around by a few young guys.
It’s also fascinating to learn how intertwined a lot of these platforms were,
that they were all the brainchild of only a few different individuals.
Source:
Bilton, Nick. Hatching
Twitter. New York: The Penguin Group, 2013.
