Twitter creator reflects on how the service can evolve [UPDATED]

Twitter creator Jack Dorsey at a Washington cafe. Credit: Mark Milian

Keep it down! It's not easy for Twitter creator and Chairman Jack Dorsey to focus on ways to improve the product when everyone won't stop chirping about it.

Every celebrity from Ashton to Zac Efron (though, this may not be his real account -- thanks, readers) is Twittering, and it was even the subject on Oprah last month. Dorsey and his co-founders, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, have been featured in countless profiles in practically every major publication. And now there's talk of a Twitter TV show.

Will the hype ever die down?

"I hope so," Dorsey said over lunch at a sidewalk cafe in Washington this month.  "I think Twitter succeeds when people don't talk about it as much and just use it."

Don't get Dorsey wrong; he's flattered by all the excitement over his brainchild. But the publicity could be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"The buzz is definitely good right now, but it's also potentially dangerous," Dorsey said. "It may put us into a fad."

He's hoping Twitter can transition from this really cool thing that everyone feels pressured into trying to that thing you need to use in order to stay in the loop and be successful.

"It should just become second nature," Dorsey said. "It becomes something like an e-mail, where it's just used on a daily basis because it's just the most efficient way to communicate."

However, almost since Twitter's conception about three years ago, its efficiency has been hindered by its reliability.

"We had a terrible first year and a half," Williams told Charlie Rose in February, referring to stability issues (or the "fail whale," as early adopters called it). "That almost killed us."

But after feverish work on keeping the service accessible and a recent redesign that puts search at the forefront, Twitter, the service, could soon transform in ...

... unexpected ways. And we're not talking about new revenue models -- though they are thinking about that too.

In fact, some Twitter users are begging to pay in exchange for additional features -- one of the most commonly requested being more than 140 characters per message.

While that's not likely to happen soon, Dorsey said he was considering other changes to how tweets are transmitted. For one, Web addresses may eventually not be counted as part of a tweet. Instead, the URL along with info -- like GPS coordinates, pictures or weather data -- would be delivered separately from the core message, saving users precious characters.

When viewing on the website or in software like TweetDeck or Tweetie, that data can be presented in a variety of ways.

"The essence of Twitter is [that] it's just an envelope," Dorsey said. "You could see all these various attributes being added on top of the update itself, and that becomes much richer."

Basically, that's metadata -- additional information sent alongside data that helps computers figure out how to process it. E-mails and Web pages, for instance, include header data separate from the subject and body.

"That, to me, is a very fascinating aspect of the technology that I'd like to see," Dorsey said.

But if Twitter does begin cramming in more data per tweet, Dorsey, who uses Twitter primarily via text message, says the stripped-down version must always work, even if bells and whistles are added later.

"If you're crafting a message on SMS, then it doesn't have all those other things," he said. "It should always degrade gracefully back to the lowest common denominator, which is text messaging."

So if they add all these new features, should we still call Twitter a micro-blog?

"We don't consider Twitter to be a social network. We don't consider it to be a micro-blog," Dorsey said. "It's a new way to communicate."

Updated, 7:20 p.m.: It's unclear whether the Zac Efron Twitter account is genuine or not.

-- Mark Milian [follow]

Comments

[Wright]

I know the A to Z reference is cute, but Zac Efron doesn't Twitter. He's made a point of stating that multiple times so his online fans won't follow or believe in the posers and their misinformation. Can you please fix that so as not to confuse the issue?

[Wright]

http://www.eonline.com/videos/v19716616001_No_Tweets_for_Efron.html

[Zac fans]

Zac most certainly does not have a twitter. Get your facts in order. Don't promote fake twitters.

You'd think the LA Times would fact check....

[Olivia]

I guess even basic fact checking is too much for the LA Times. That's an awesome proof of journalistic excellence.

There are dozens of recent interviews with Zac Efron on the Internet where he clearly states that he doesn't have a Twitter. One simple search would have revealed that.

But that's probably asking too much...

I hope the rest of the LA Times editors aren't as gullible as Mark but just in case I would have some fantastic ocean-side property in Kansas I'd like to sell you.

[Lilly]

Zac Efron does not have a Twitter or Facebook or MySpace accoun. He said so when he was doing an interview with Ellen Degeneres.

[Lily]

Zac doesn't Twitter, he's made that clear a few times. Can you remove this reference? Because it only empowers Zac Efron posers on the net. And I really don't think it's safe for kids to be talking to someone they think is Zac Efron...

[Dave One]

When everyone and their grandma is twittering..trust me it's a fad and it 's not cool.. Old people think their hip because they say they twitter... I think it's a joke... and there aint nobody I want to follow that close other then GOD.

[Mike S]

I have a Twitter account but I don't really understand what it's about. Well I guess it's about me, that's what they all seem to be about, a bunch of housewives at home saying 'look at me'.

If only I could be a woman and a housewife, then I would probably get it.

[Wright]

I appreciate the amendment to the article but, no offense, there isn't really anything unclear about Zac Efron using Twitter or not.

E! Online - Daily 10 with Ben Lyons (~:30):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1qMbc0LbHI

Ellen Show (~4:46)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK6ec8PXAjY

People Magazine interview:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20270290,00.html

E! Online - 17 Again Red Carpet

http://www.eonline.com/videos/v19716616001_No_Tweets_for_Efron.html

At least four different times Zac's said he has no Twitter.

[Seb]

Err.. It's already a fad..

[Uncle Bernie]

I finally signed up for twitter, but aside from constant stream of news, it is worthless. following people is boring and none of them post anything interesting.
It would work for a tight group of friends who constantly interact-teenagers-but that's all.

[Paul Solomon]

My Twitter account has been suspended. It seems I violated the Terms of Service and Rules policy, specifically, "You may not use our service for any unlawful purposes or for promotion of illegal activity." In my defense, I was referring to a news story that was reported on most Internet news services, including time.com. Red Bull Cola was pulled from store shelves in Germany because trace amounts of cocaine were found in the drink. Yesterday, in my blog, I estimated that it would take at least 400 cans of the popular energy drink to get high on the cocaine. In my Twitter comment, I wrote: "Red Bull Cola is pulled from the stores in Germany; 0.13 micrograms of cocaine found in drink. I just bought 400 cans." Then I sent out another message with a link to my web page: "I'm getting high on Red Bull." Within a half hour I was informed on my Twitter page that my account had been suspended due to "strange activity." If you would have read my blog yesterday, you would have learned that although the amount of cocaine found in the drinks was insignificant, because of the high sugar and caffeine content, anything close to 25 cans would have caused cardiac arrest.

[Ed]

Everyone can make great use of Twitter. Everyone.
It is unobtrusive and minimal by design. It stays out of your
way unlike platforms. You can focus simply on the messages between
you and friends.
It's for everybody.

- @Ed

[Jose]

Between phone calls, emails, text messaging, voice mails, instant messaging, and social networking sites, did we really need another medium for communication. Here is an old fashion idea if you really need to communicate with someone try talking to them.

[Andrea]

The only main cast member of "High School Musical" that tweets is Ashley Tisdale. Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman do not have public Twitter accounts. Anyone claiming to be them on Twitter is a poser. All it takes is a simple email to their reps to confirm this. Fact-checking = Journalism 101.