In April 2008, journalist James Buck was arrested in Egypt while documenting police activities, prompting him to send a distress message via Twitter that alerted his contacts worldwide. The document traces the origins and growth of Twitter as a significant communication tool, initially meant for personal updates but evolving into a means for political activism and real-time news dissemination globally. Key events like the Iranian protests and the integration of Twitter by businesses showcase its broad impact on social, political, and commercial communication.

1. Medium
By Brett Ruffenach
@JamesBuck: Arrested. [9:33 PM 10 April, 2008]
In April of 2008, James Buck, a journalist and graduate student at the University of California
Berkley, was standing outside of a police station in Mahalla, Egypt. He was photographing the
facility that was known for its undocumented detainment of prisoners, questionable interrogation
techniques, and unethical treatment of its convicts. Both James and his friend, Arabic translator
Muhammad Salah Ahmed Maree, knew that it was common for prisoners to be denied food or
water for prolonged periods of time. James and Maree worked to successfully organize a protest
in front of the facility. The Egyptian police ultimately shut down the protest, and approached
Maree and James to arrest them for being the organizers. It was at this point that James made a
seemingly small, but very important decision – he pulled out his phone and sent a text message to
the number 40404, containing one single word: “Arrested.” Instantly friends, acquaintances,
colleagues, and bloggers all around the world received this message. Aware of James’s efforts
over in Egypt, his colleagues knew that James was in danger, very serious danger.
40404 is the number to message Twitter, a short message-based system that lets users update
what they are doing in real time, as long as that update is less than 140 characters. These
updates, known as “tweets,” are sent to Twitter’s server, immediately relayed via text message to
other users that choose to subscribe to, or “follow,” that person. These followers are therefore
kept aware of whatever information, big or small, is considered to be worthy of sharing by the
user. The followers can forward, delete, store or respond to the tweets. These factors have led
Twitter to grow quickly. According to Sysomos, a social media analytics group, since Twitter’s
inception in 2007, Twitter has experienced a 1382% increase in subscribers and there is no letting
up in sight. And of those subscribers, 72.5% of all users on Twitter today joined in the first five
months of 2009.
@Jack: just setting up my twttr [12:50 PM 21 March, 2006]
Originally conceived in 2001, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, was fascinated by the
burgeoning forms of communication found in urban areas. Radio, TV, and internet sources
seemed to be broadcasting whatever was going on at that very second to whomever was listening,
“But it’s missing the public. It’s missing normal people,” said Dorsey, in a Los Angeles Times
interview with David Sarno. The true technological inspiration, which led to the original concept
of Twitter, named “my.stat.us,” was a feature within instant messenger (IM). Dorsey noticed that
his friends (“buddies”) could leave “away” messages when they weren’t near their computer,
letting Dorsey know at a single glance where they are and what they’re up to. Along with IM,
Dorsey became very interested in a service called LiveJournal, an early blogging service that was
gaining substantial popularity throughout the Internet community. Dorsey thought, “What if you
have LiveJournal, but you just make it morelive? You have these people watching your journal, but
it all happens in real time, and you can update it from anywhere.” This concept, however, could
not be put into action in early 2001; his ideas were ahead of the hardware and software needed to
make it work. It wasn’t until the rise of Short Message Service (SMS), that Dorsey’s “life work,” as
he calls it, really began to take form. The beauty of the utilization of SMS was twofold: it let users
of this new service both send and receive tweets without having to purchase new technology or

2. install new software, and its maximal length of 140 characters has forced its users to create a
community with its own language and style.
As the system began to develop, Dorsey, along with the other two co-founders of Twitter, Evan
Williams and Biz Stone, had to focus on another important issue in developing a business, namely
deciding on a name, a logo, and a brand. They needed to put a face on their new idea. While it
was originally named “Status”, Dorsey thought that it didn’t capture the action well enough; it
didn’t bring to mind the image and feeling of what they were trying to create. When they came
across the word “twitter” in the dictionary, they knew it would be perfect. The definition was “a
short burst of inconsequential information,” and “chirps from birds.” Dorsey thought that was
exactly what they were aiming for. It was then, in 2006 that Twitter was born.
@Sculptur: ‫ﺏبﻩه‬ ‫ﺱسﻭوﯼی‬ ‫ﺁآﺯزﺍاﺩدﯼی‬ ‫ﺏبﺭرﺍاﻥنﺩدﺍاﺯزﻱي‬ ‫ﺩدﻱيﻙكﺕتﺍاﺕتﻭوﺭرﻱي‬ ‫ﺝجﻡمﻩهﻭوﺭرﻱي‬ ‫ﺍاﺱسﻝلﺍاﻡمﻱي‬ #IranElection [3:45
PM 18 January, 2009]
Two major events, separated by 8 months and 8000 miles, have led Americans, and the rest of the
world, to realize and embrace Twitter’s true capabilities. The first occurred in the spring of 2007,
at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin. Twitter, as a newly established company,
chose to strategically place 60-inch plasma screen TV’s around the conference, exclusively
displaying messages from Twitter participants. As Steven Levy, a reporter for Newsweek, put it,
“Soon everyone was buzzing and posting about this new thing that was sort of instant messaging
and sort of blogging and maybe even a bit of sending a stream of telegrams.” After this
sensational display of Twitter’s potential, celebrities, politicians, and famous bloggers jumped in,
quickly launching Twitter into the limelight of American society.
Eight months later, Twitter prominently moved into the international community when the
citizens of Iran staged mass protests against an allegedly fraudulent presidential election. Twitter
was used throughout the nation as a medium to organize protests that were ultimately unethically
suppressed. Twitter’s biggest advantage was its inability to be regulated by the government. As
Lev Grossman of Time magazine noted, “While the front pages of Iranian newspapers were full of
blank space where censors had whited-out news stories, Twitter was delivering information from
street level, in real time.” In fact, Twitter was so popular during this movement, that the United
States government approached Twitter’s headquarters and requested that they reduce their
downtime so that the Iranian people could continue using their service.
Slightly ironic, actually; Twitter was notorious for crashing on an almost daily basis
through mid-2008; it still has problems today, but less often.
@JamesBuck: Alive and ok. Still in jail [12:36 AM 11 April, 2008]
Meanwhile, James Buck remained in a jail cell. Luckily, he was still in possession of his cell phone.
“One thing that kept me sane was communicating with more seasoned activists than myself who
have been in that position before, telling me “Don’t fall for their bluffs” because what the police
do in that situation is try to intimidate you and I wouldn’t have been able to realize they were
bluffing,” said James. Since James’ main reason for being in Egypt was to research for his master’s
thesis, his school hired a lawyer immediately after receiving word of what had happened to him.

3. Unlike the Iranians, James and his followers while in Egypt used the service in its most basic form;
text messaging within a small group of people. “It wasn’t used to broadcast information to world,
it was used to communicate with a group of colleagues to say, “Hey this is happening at thee
o’clock today.” It was the same thing as sending out a text message to multiple people at the
same time, or like send a carbon copy email, to keep the conversation going.” James’s
followership was very small, however tools like retweeting would spread his message around the
world, especially in dire situations. Iranian citizens, on the other hand, managed to fully utilize
Twitter through a specific tool known as hash tags, a unique Twitter feature that allows users to
quickly identify and organize mass numbers of tweets by typing a “#” symbol followed by a string
of words.
Like the Iranians, James and his fellow activists utilized Twitter in Egypt to collaborate and
proliferate political activism. “I thought it was something that was used just for gossip, so I didn’t
really think that it was serious tool…until I got to Egypt and they told me, “No, you really have to
use this to know what’s going on.” My introduction to Twitter was as a political tool, not a social
tool.”
@ASU: ASU has H1N1 vaccines for people in high-risk groups. Times and dates
here: http://bit.ly/23yJ4z (RT @asunews) [1:03 PM 13 November,
2009]
Indeed, Twitter is not just a social tool; it crosses political, personal, and professional boundaries.
Julie Espinosa is a web editor for the Arizona State University Public Relations Office. Her most
recent responsibility is taking on the massive task of integrating ASU’s image into Social Media. If
ASU wants to be “The New American University,” then Julie has to bring a lot to the table. Social
media integration will be pivotal in achieving this status. She isn’t alone though; a whole team at
ASU’s Public Relation’s office is working towards integrating and generating followers of ASU, and
producing an in-depth ASU application on Facebook, letting other students connect to each other
by cataloging them in schools, majors, classes, even clubs. ASU’s twitter account (@ASU) was
created in February of 2008. As of now it has 10,082 follows, actually a small percentage of the
school’s 68,000 students. However, while ASU does want as many followers as possible, is isn’t
specifically meant to appeal to only its students. “There are a lot more alumni, parents, and
community members,” said Espinosa. “Were not really taking advantage of the aspect of customer
service, like Best Buy’s Twelpforce, where a customer would go to twitter to resolve a certain
issue. Were taking advantage of it more as what is the buzz about ASU, and what do we want to
promote about ASU, and if a question pops up…we like to be tuned into the conversation about
ASU.”
@Twelpforce: @AaronMSB Is there anything that I can help with? Via
@ApplExpert50 [8:52 AM 14 December, 2009]
That’s exactly what businesses are trying to do: be tuned into the conversation with their
customers. Last year, after @ASU tweeted an article about a student being diagnosed with the
H1N1 Flu Virus, some students asked if finals were cancelled. Julie lightheartedly responded to
their questions over Twitter, informing them that finals were still in fact on. This year’s Black
Friday was America’s first meaningful experience with businesses being available on Twitter.

4. Stephanie Rosenbloom of the New York Times reported of a woman who, after purchasing a
navigation device at 6 a.m. from Best Buy, received assistance via Twitter from Best Buy employees
within 5 minutes of her having posed a question. In fact, Best Buy has started an account titled the
Twelpforce, a group of people hired to post answers to questions posted over Twitter by
customers. Other information, like parking availability at the Mall of America in Bloomington,
Indiana, was broadcasted over Twitter. “Retailers hope that if they send Twitter messages,
consumers will come. About 47 percent of retailers said they would increase their use of social
media this holiday season, according to a study by Shop.org,” said Rosenbloom. Twitter’s
proliferation to the professional world is becoming so massive, that the some wonder if the basic
design of Twitter will have to begin being modified and adapted for such a large user base.
@GAPScottsdale: I know it’s Arizona, but everyone needs a coat! Get yours at
Gap, BabyGap and Gap Kids for 50% off until Tuesday!
[10:58 AM 29 November, 2009]
What is most striking about Twitter is how it has morphed into a tool that that is now
utilized in ways that many, including the founders, have never envisioned. What was a means for
simply updating friends and families on small social details has become a powerful method for
communicating both benign and important issues. Successful political, social, and commercial
event organizers now count this powerful utility as an important part of their campaign. And it
isn’t only what is “tweeted”, it is how the messages are deployed; instantly, accurately, and with
the cachet of being carried on the new and cutting edge system called Twitter. When the famous
20th century philosopher and visionary Marshall McLuhan stated in1964 that “The medium is the
message” he was referring to the exact kind of phenomena that Twitter has become. In the digital
village that the world is evolving into, posts carried over such new and exciting pathways have, to
many, a higher degree of credence and immediacy than similar information, carried in more
pedestrian ways such as newspapers, cable TV, or word of mouth.
Loved by millions, and perhaps hated by just as many, the main product of Twitter really is
personal, often pointless, babble. But buried deep within that babble could be messages that
could change a life, or a world. Daren Harsanyi of Reason.com claims, “Twitter’s popularity and
usefulness are mysteries to me. Pressed by personal, professional, and cultural forces, I
sporadically deploy short missives for fear of becoming one of those cantankerous technophobes
who is too dense to recognize the miracle of letting “followers” know he hates raisins or that he
loved the finale of Mad Men.” Harsanyi like many others are quick to find the futility in Twitter,
because it is so ripe for parody. After all, the absolute concept behind it is letting everyone know
what you’re doing every second of every day, theoretically. Throughout our daily lives we are
incessantly sending and receiving information, be it useful or not. And while face-to-face
communication remains constant, instant, and important, it doesn’t compare to the broadcasting
ability of Twitter. David Pogue of the New York Times, in a video commenting on Twitter, noted
that he is able to ask the 1.2 million people that follow him on Twitter any question he wants and
literally within seconds get a feel for the over arching opinions of his large readership.
At its foundation growth, speed, and ease of use have led Twitter to become a major worldwide
communication tool. Steve Levy of Wired magazine noted that in a February 2009 Twitter strategy
meeting, one key bullet point said, “If we had a billion users, that will be the pulse of the planet.”
In reality, that is exactly what Twitter has become, the pulse of our society. That pulse can be

5. strong, regular, powerful and, if harnessed correctly, a medium for positive political and social
change. Of course the pulse can become erratic and even malevolent if its use is limited or its
content corrupted. In 1984, American writer Steward Brand famously said “Information wants to
be free.” Free means accurate, unfettered and even unwieldy, and these characteristics must be
fundamental to what is carried on Twitter.
@BrettRuffenach: Dinner at home with @CRuffenach,
@SRuffenach, Mom, and Dad. Been a long since we’ve
all sat down together #nostalgia
[7:52 PM 16 November, 2009]
I sit at the dinner table; my left hand is conspicuously placed on my lap, out of sight. Not paying
attention to the conversation going on between my brothers and parents, my phone tells at me a
joke made by Bo Burnham, about something involving the LAX airport. My phone displays at a
photo of Danny DeVito’s foot and Venice’s Grand Canal in the background. My phone relays my
friend’s complaints about how cold it is in San Francisco, and how she misses her home in the
desert. CNN informs me that Tiger Woods has been in a car crash. Another friend is at Hayden
library, worrying about an upcoming test. John Mayer is in D.C. Jack Dorsey is in Paris.
Suddenly, My mom yells at me to put my phone away, and asks me, “Why can’t you kids today just
sit and talk? Why do you have to constantly be on your phones?”
I instantly dismiss the question. But then, like a double take, I reconsider it. What kind of
society do we live in today? Even now, as I sit on my laptop writing this paper, I am watching the
upper-right corner of my screen, waiting for the Tweetie icon to turn blue, alerting me that new
information - be it funny, informative, trivial- has just arrived. It occurs to me that in this new
information age, it’s not getting information that is the challenge; it’s sorting out what is
important and what is not. When friends playing the online game “Cops and Robbers” tweet they
are “Arrested”, it is quite different than the same message sent out by James Buck from the streets
of Mahalla, Egypt.
@JamesBuck: Free. [6:27 AM, 11 April, 2008]
James Buck is now a free man. His lawyer successfully worked to get him released from prison,
and he is now home safe. After gaining a small amount of fame in the Internet community (going
from six followers at the time he was arrested to 1,274 today), James continues to utilize his
Twitter as a political tool. After all, that is why he created his account in the first place. “The
people that follow me follow me because they are interested in my story and using technology in
activism and Egyptian politics. My followership is interested in my professional life, not personal,”
said James. James sits in his home, knowing his friend, Muhammad, is still in Egypt, his

6. whereabouts unknown. James takes out his phone, punches 40404 in the recipient line, and with a
knot in his stomach, writes “Home safe in Oakland. No word on Mohammed Maree.”