4 ms·

Evan Williams's Twitter talk at TED

43 points by mcxx 18y ago

mcxx 18y ago
My impression from the talk is that they still don't have any clue on what they've built.
godDLL 18y ago
What's intriguing to me is that they started with less features. I'll explain. When some new thing comes onto the scene, like IRC or KaZaA or whatever, it is usually very shaped, the creators have a specific use patten in mind. And so they stock up on all the features that they think you're going to want. Twitter seems different (not using it myself). It comes with less features. And now, having listened to that talk, I can see that originally it came with no "features" whatsoever beyond the starter "hunch", a sort of an objectified idea. That is what's worth a ponder, IMO.
- indiejade 18y ago
  Less can be more. How the 140 character limit was reached is also interesting; I don't think it's mentioned in the TED video, but it was discussed here: http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6575 http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6575
- diN0bot 18y ago
  i wouldn't call it less features, in general. it's more of finding a good design, an elegant solution. it's understanding the problem really well, distilling out the essential elements, and creating a platform that solves that problem really well, as in fast and easy, with as few obstacles as possible. it's this focus and lack of obstacles and elegance that actually makes good technology flexible. irc and kazaa add on all these features to solve many problems, which add obstacles to understanding and use, removing elegance, removing flexibility and usability.
- idiopathic 18y ago
  Actually, Clay Christensen's definition of disruptive innovation is new technology that has fewer features than existing technology. The new technology finds uses amongst a previously under-served constituency, and then improves in features until it serves existing users better than the old technology did. I seem to recall an interview discussing with Ward Cunningham his invention of wikis. What is interesting to me is not the fewer features but the intelligent selection of only the important ones. I am still amazed by the prescience of Cunningham and Williams.
- jamesbritt 18y ago
  I'm guessing you meant "fewer features" (but you might plausibly have meant "lesser features"). Careful use of few/fewer/less/lessor makes for useful distinctions.
  - godDLL 18y ago
    I did actually mean both. They have less of simpler features, a clear and focused solution to a problem that did not exist (or did exist, but wasn't obvious). I really love that, the "less is more" approach, the "do one thing and do it well" philosophy. Just like UNIX utilities can be piped together to form a new solution, their service is participating in similar "chains" to become a part of something more. That last sentence is there just to mess with you mate. :) Thanks for pointing out ambiguity in my writing.
ashleyw 18y ago
Twitter has a massive future...I just hope they continue to open up their API (public XMPP, etc.) so developers can tap into the ever growing resource! I'm not a big fan of the billion webapps created everyday which uses Twitter in some way which doesn't dig deep under the skin of the ecosystem, I'm more interested in the fact that twitter is (or will become) a live database of everything happening in the world.
- gnaritas 18y ago
  > I'm more interested in the fact that twitter is (or will become) a live database of everything happening in the world That's the first description of twitter I've seen yet that actually makes it sound like something interesting, however, I still don't see how it's any different that calling IRC or NNTP a live database of everything happening in the world. Twitter still seems to be like something kids are all excited about for no real reason other than they're too young know it's all been done before in various forms.
  - pjhyett 18y ago
    I was stuck in traffic driving home from Lake Tahoe the other week. I scanned the AM channels for 30 minutes trying to find a traffic report to figure out what was going on. Then it hit me, search twitter for "tahoe traffic" and sure enough the first tweet was a report that CHP had stopped traffic due to icy conditions. I got off the highway and took a different way home. Thanks Twitter.
  - ryanwaggoner 18y ago
    You're focusing on the technology of twitter, which isn't exciting or innovative at all. What's interesting about twitter is that they've made it extremely simple and accessible for non-techies, who have no idea what IRC or NNTP are, and don't care. As a result, it's breaking into the mainstream and rapidly becoming the "live database of everything happening in the world". Could this have been done with IRC? Probably. But it wasn't.
    - gnaritas 18y ago
gcheong 18y ago
Speaking of his experience with first blogger and now twitter: "I'd learned to follow hunches even though you can't necessarily justify them or know where they will go". Great take-away. I also thought it was interesting how the seeds for twitter had been a project Jack Dorsey had been apparently working on for a number of years.
ddelony 18y ago
Williams is right. Users will always find more creative ways of using your product than you can think of. The best thing to do is keep things open and stay out of their way. The other tech company I think is great at this is Mozilla.
voidfiles 18y ago
Anyone else feel he still learning how to present. His presentation was well written, but he needs to practice his delivery. In regards to not knowing what they have built, I think that's absolutely right. They built a platform for emergence. Its turned out wonderfully.
- cake 18y ago
  The conclusion was way too abrupt (Saying "Thank you" without pausing the previous sentence).
- cpr 18y ago
  C'mon, give the guy a break. He's presenting to a non-trivial fraction of the movers & shakers of the world, and probably doesn't have a lot of presentation experience. I think he did great.

43 points by mcxx 18y ago

mcxx 18y ago

My impression from the talk is that they still don't have any clue on what they've built.

What's intriguing to me is that they started with less features. I'll explain. When some new thing comes onto the scene, like IRC or KaZaA or whatever, it is usually very shaped, the creators have a specific use patten in mind. And so they stock up on all the features that they think you're going to want. Twitter seems different (not using it myself). It comes with less features. And now, having listened to that talk, I can see that originally it came with no "features" whatsoever beyond the starter "hunch", a sort of an objectified idea. That is what's worth a ponder, IMO.

indiejade 18y ago
Less can be more. How the 140 character limit was reached is also interesting; I don't think it's mentioned in the TED video, but it was discussed here: http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6575 http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6575
diN0bot 18y ago
i wouldn't call it less features, in general. it's more of finding a good design, an elegant solution. it's understanding the problem really well, distilling out the essential elements, and creating a platform that solves that problem really well, as in fast and easy, with as few obstacles as possible. it's this focus and lack of obstacles and elegance that actually makes good technology flexible. irc and kazaa add on all these features to solve many problems, which add obstacles to understanding and use, removing elegance, removing flexibility and usability.
idiopathic 18y ago
Actually, Clay Christensen's definition of disruptive innovation is new technology that has fewer features than existing technology. The new technology finds uses amongst a previously under-served constituency, and then improves in features until it serves existing users better than the old technology did. I seem to recall an interview discussing with Ward Cunningham his invention of wikis. What is interesting to me is not the fewer features but the intelligent selection of only the important ones. I am still amazed by the prescience of Cunningham and Williams.
jamesbritt 18y ago
I'm guessing you meant "fewer features" (but you might plausibly have meant "lesser features"). Careful use of few/fewer/less/lessor makes for useful distinctions.
- godDLL 18y ago
  I did actually mean both. They have less of simpler features, a clear and focused solution to a problem that did not exist (or did exist, but wasn't obvious). I really love that, the "less is more" approach, the "do one thing and do it well" philosophy. Just like UNIX utilities can be piped together to form a new solution, their service is participating in similar "chains" to become a part of something more. That last sentence is there just to mess with you mate. :) Thanks for pointing out ambiguity in my writing.

ashleyw 18y ago

Twitter has a massive future...I just hope they continue to open up their API (public XMPP, etc.) so developers can tap into the ever growing resource! I'm not a big fan of the billion webapps created everyday which uses Twitter in some way which doesn't dig deep under the skin of the ecosystem, I'm more interested in the fact that twitter is (or will become) a live database of everything happening in the world.

gnaritas 18y ago
> I'm more interested in the fact that twitter is (or will become) a live database of everything happening in the world That's the first description of twitter I've seen yet that actually makes it sound like something interesting, however, I still don't see how it's any different that calling IRC or NNTP a live database of everything happening in the world. Twitter still seems to be like something kids are all excited about for no real reason other than they're too young know it's all been done before in various forms.
- pjhyett 18y ago
  I was stuck in traffic driving home from Lake Tahoe the other week. I scanned the AM channels for 30 minutes trying to find a traffic report to figure out what was going on. Then it hit me, search twitter for "tahoe traffic" and sure enough the first tweet was a report that CHP had stopped traffic due to icy conditions. I got off the highway and took a different way home. Thanks Twitter.
- ryanwaggoner 18y ago
  You're focusing on the technology of twitter, which isn't exciting or innovative at all. What's interesting about twitter is that they've made it extremely simple and accessible for non-techies, who have no idea what IRC or NNTP are, and don't care. As a result, it's breaking into the mainstream and rapidly becoming the "live database of everything happening in the world". Could this have been done with IRC? Probably. But it wasn't.
  - gnaritas 18y ago

gcheong 18y ago

Speaking of his experience with first blogger and now twitter: "I'd learned to follow hunches even though you can't necessarily justify them or know where they will go". Great take-away. I also thought it was interesting how the seeds for twitter had been a project Jack Dorsey had been apparently working on for a number of years.

ddelony 18y ago

Williams is right. Users will always find more creative ways of using your product than you can think of. The best thing to do is keep things open and stay out of their way. The other tech company I think is great at this is Mozilla.

voidfiles 18y ago

Anyone else feel he still learning how to present. His presentation was well written, but he needs to practice his delivery. In regards to not knowing what they have built, I think that's absolutely right. They built a platform for emergence. Its turned out wonderfully.

cake 18y ago
The conclusion was way too abrupt (Saying "Thank you" without pausing the previous sentence).
cpr 18y ago
C'mon, give the guy a break. He's presenting to a non-trivial fraction of the movers & shakers of the world, and probably doesn't have a lot of presentation experience. I think he did great.