The Twitter Revolution

But Twitter is much more than a novel way to share updates of one’s daily life with friends. It’s now evolved into a powerful new marketing and communications tool. Regional emergency preparedness organizations are looking at Twitter as a way to reach millions of people during a disaster. NASA is using it to regularly update interested parties about the status of space shuttle flights. And one journalist solicited help from fellow Twitterers to get himself out of an Egyptian jail. (It worked.)

The real Twitter revolution may prove to be much more everyday. When I stop for a latte at Peet’s Coffee on the way to the interview, the manager tells me that he plans to start sending out tweets to let regular customers know when a table is open. He isn’t alone. A Manhattan bakery twitters when warm cookies come out of the oven. „It’s those small stories that really inspire us,“ says Mr. Stone. „Those are the things that transform people’s lives.“

Michael Malone hat für das Wall Street Journal in San Francisco Biz Stone und Evan Williams getroffen. Sein Text trägt die Überschrift The Twitter Revolution