That's a big part of my point. Each distinct interface for a given share is resistance in parallel. The fact that IRC then was (and now is) a single point of co

That's a big part of my point. Each distinct interface for a given share is resistance in parallel. The fact that IRC then was (and now is) a single point of contact --you have to be on a network that both supports the only protocol that IRC uses and reaches from you to the server-- means sharing text remotely from anywhere in the world via IRC is more difficult than a heterogeneous system like Twitter because there is only one resistor in parallel here: the network from your computer (if you have a computer and are connected to such a network) to the IRC server.