Users Innovated Twitter

Steven Levy has written a very informative article about Twitter called “Mob Rule! How Users Took Over Twitter.”  

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_twitter

 In it, he describes a good deal of the history and development of Twitter. The most interesting part is how Twitter users innovated many of Twitter’s conventions, such as hashtags and retweeting. Some of this was the intention of Twitter’s creators. They wanted to allow people to be able to make their own innovations. They are even leaving the development of cellphone apps to Twitter’s users, rather than doing it, themselves. Allowing users to upgrade and modify Twitter is a brilliant decision. Without allowing this, Twitter might not have exploded in popularity the way it has. Many other sites are copying certain aspects of Twitter, proving that it is becoming a staple. In the future, allowing users to modify sites like this might become standard, as it allows users to turn it into what they want, and puts less pressure on developers to come up with new ideas.