A general overview of how Twitter has evolved from 2006-2010 and become a source of news feeds and emergency management tool.

1. Chris Thompson
Communication, Technologies and Change
T2: Phil Cullen

2. What is Twitter?
 Free online and mobile social networking service that
enables linked micro-blogging
 Users send SMS style messages known as ‘tweets’ to subject
topics and people who sign up to your account
 Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz
Stone in 2006 while working at Odeo Co in the USA
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

3. How does Twitter work?
 People post 140 character messages – ‘tweets’ – to their user
profile page where they are read by ‘followers’
 A follower is someone who subscribes to your account and
receives your tweets
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

4. Twitter users
Currently 175 million users across the world
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

5. Australian Twitter users
 In Australia there are approximately 2.5 million Twitter
users making up 2.39% of worldwide users
 Over 50% of Australian’s will own a smartphone by the end
of 2010
 More than half of Australia’s Twitter users access their
accounts every day using their smartphone
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

6. Twitter evolving…
 Users wanting to group subjects and to allow non-followers
into the conversation created the use of hashtags
 Hashtags allow users to contribute to and track topics by
prefixing a word with a hash symbol #
 Users also defined a way to reply directly to other users by
placing the @ symbol before their account name
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

7. Potential reach of Twitter
 As of November 2010 the top ten accounts on Twitter all have
over 4.5 million followers. The top four alone have over 25
million followers
 The societal impact from these types of numbers can be
affiliated with the influence these people can potentially exert in
the same vein as media broadcasting organisations
 Lady Gaga has an unfiltered, subscribed communication to an
audience of over 7 million giving her, as an individual, double
that of any news broadcaster or programming within Australia
 The USA President used Twitter in his election campaign and
has continued to use the service to reach his audience. Nearly 6
million people are following his tweets
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

8. Mainstream media adoption
 In 2007 mainstream media starts running ‘soft’ stories on
the use of Twitter
 In 2008 the use of Twitter through citizen journalism
becomes more prevalent as news-leads due to real-time
information sharing
 In 2009 the world news networks use Twitter to report on
the Iranian election protests
 In 2010 all news networks in Australia have Twitter
accounts and ask viewers to send news tips via the service
 In 2010 news stories are about happenings on Twitter and
regularly use posted tweets to add emphasis to stories
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

9. The use of Twitter in disaster
management
 Public safety is at the foremost of national consciousness, both
in the face of onset natural hazards and human intervention
 Each year Governments spend enormous amounts of funding
and resources trying to mitigate the impacts on public safety
 Disaster management requires real-time communication to help
save lives and infrastructure
 As Twitter allows users to send and receive information with
mobile devices to a wide audience in real time, it seems a
readymade tool to assist disaster management
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

10. The use of Twitter in disaster
management
Case Study 1: Victorian Bushfires, Australia - February 2009
 The Country Fire Authority (CFA) used Twitter to send out
regular alerts and updates on the status of the fires, danger areas,
and locations of response centre’s and first aid assistance points
 Information shared on Twitter helped to coordinate meeting
points and redirect messages from authorities to those who were
unable to get access to the message on other mediums
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

11. The use of Twitter in disaster
management
Case Study 2: Red River Valley flood threat, USA - March 2009
 The Red River between North Dakota and Minnesota were
subject to flood alert between March and April 2009
 Twitter was advertised and used as a constant way to update
citizens of the likely flooded areas
 Users were tweeting requests for assistance to safeguard their
homes and were posting messages in real-time on the direction
and height of the flood water
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

12. The use of Twitter in disaster
management
Case Study 3: Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand
September 2010
 Tweets were posted during the actual earthquake
 Citizens were using Twitter to inform their followers where they were and if
they were safe
 Authorities were able to instantly access and assess the extent of the
damage as people posted damage reports and electricity outages across the
city
 The New Zealand geological organisation Geonet collected tweets from
those who experienced the earthquake and used the location data in
conjunction with seismological data to triangulate the extent of how
widely the earthquake was felt
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter

13. References
 Della Cava, M R (2010). Twitter power – Learning from ourselves in real time. USA Today:
25/5/2010
 Johnson, S (2009). How Twitter will change the way we live. Time Magazine. Vol. 173,
Issue 23, 15/6/2009, p32-37
 Mazzarella, J (2009). Twitter for Public Safety & Emergency Management. Emergency
Preparedness Today: 28/4/2009.
 Palen, L; Starbird K; Vieweg, S; Hughes, A (2010). Twitter-based information distribution
during the 2009 Red River Valley Flood Threat. Bulletin of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology: Vol. 36, Issue 5, June/July 2010, p13-17.
 Sagolla, D (2009). How Twitter was born. Online Publishing: 30/1/2009.
 Strickland, J (2008). How Twitter Works. www.howstuffworks.com (accessed 28/10/2010)
 www.neilsenwire.com
 www.Twitter.com
 www.twitaholic.com
The evolution and digital revolution of Twitter