April 2009

Om Malik is the most recent of many people to ask why Twitter is such a big deal.

Many ask why Twitter is such a big deal.

Om Malik is the latest of many to ask why Twitter is such a big deal.

The reason is that it's a new messaging protocol, where you don't specify the recipients.

New protocols are rare.

Or more precisely, new protocols that take off are.

There are only a handful of commonly used ones: TCP/IP (the Internet), SMTP (email), HTTP (the web), and so on.

So any new protocol is a big deal.

But Twitter is a protocol owned by a private company.

That's even rarer.

It's a new messaging protocol where you don't specify recipients. New protocols that take off are rare — only a handful exist: TCP/IP, SMTP, HTTP.

But Twitter's protocol is owned by a private company. That's even rarer.

It's a new messaging protocol where you don't specify recipients. New protocols that take off are rare, and a protocol owned by a private company is rarer still.

Curiously, the fact that the founders of Twitter have been slow to monetize it may in the long run prove to be an advantage.

Because they haven't tried to control it too much, Twitter feels to everyone like previous protocols.

One forgets it's owned by a private company.

That must have made it easier for Twitter to spread.

Being slow to monetize may prove an advantage. By not controlling it too much, Twitter feels like previous protocols; one forgets it's privately owned, which helped it spread.

Being slow to monetize may prove an advantage: by not controlling it too much, Twitter feels like the old open protocols, which helped it spread.