The magazine – a barometer of sorts about what’s important in the world – expounds on all things Twitter, ranging from the very basics about how it works, the power of real-time search, its application ecosystem, and its cultural significance, among other things. So how does Time explain the phenomenon to its audience of more than 20 million readers, median age 47.2? Here are a few choice excerpts:
On how Twitter works:
“As a social network, Twitter revolves around the principle of followers. When you choose to follow another Twitter user, that user's tweets appear in reverse chronological order on your main Twitter page.”
On overcoming the initial feeling that Twitter is mundane and pointless:
“We don't think it at all moronic to start a phone call with a friend by asking how her day is going. Twitter gives you the same information without your even having to ask.”
On the power of hashtags:
“Yes, it was built entirely out of 140-character messages, but the sum total of those tweets added up to something truly substantive, like a suspension bridge made of pebbles.”
On Twitter’s lasting influence:
“But the key elements of the Twitter platform — the follower structure, link-sharing, real-time searching — will persevere regardless of Twitter's fortunes, just as Web conventions like links, posts and feeds have endured over the past decade.”
And some hyperbole:
“There's a kind of resilience here that is worth savoring. The weather reports keep announcing that the sky is falling, but here we are — millions of us — sitting around trying to invent new ways to talk to one another.”