9781422277324

Introduction: What’s in a Tweet?

about right now. On Twitter, live comes to life as conversations unfold, showing you all sides of the story. From breaking news and entertainment to sports, politics and everyday interests, when things happen in the world, they happen first on Twitter.” Sounds impressive, and the numbers back it up. According to Omnicore, a digital marketing agency, here are some stagger- ing statistics regarding usage of Twitter, and the numbers con- tinue to grow: • 330 million monthly active Twitter users Here’s a number that might be the most staggering, and certainly the most important to the more than 3,000 employees of the company: The business world says the value of Twitter, Inc., exceeds $25 billion. Twitter is unique among the major social media networks in that it truly brings together “social”—everyday people sharing thoughts and experiences—with “media”—news organizations and their reporters telling us what is happening in the world in real time. As of late 2017, Twitter.com was among the top 15 most popular websites on the internet overall and second only behind Facebook among social media networks. • 500 million tweets sent per day • 100 million daily active users

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