How #Twitter’s text messaging roots shaped mobile-first social media
Twitter is designed for the screen in your pocket. Most of the posts are now done on mobile phones. Desktop posting is dying.
The founders did not expect this. They designed it. They have been using the Short Message Service (SMS) protocol since the beginning. This allows you to send text messages between phones and services such as email and voicemail.
Sending text messages on Twitter is not magic. This is infrastructure. The message arrives at the Mobile Switching Center (MSC ). The MSC sends it to the Signal Transfer Point (STP ). It is then sent to the Short Message Service Center (SMSC ). SMSC sends text to Twitter. Answers are also returned. Reverse path. Same steps.
Text messaging has hard limits. This was the reason for Twitter’s early restrictions. The text message length is limited to 160 characters. There are no pictures. No links. Just words. Other protocols send more information. They are not widely supported by carriers. Limiting to SMS kept the user base huge.
Even if you tweet from your desktop, Twitter pushes the tweet to your phone. You tell Twitter to syndicate the message. Send a message containing the link number to each member of the network. Others just see it on the web.
Global SMS Code and Account Control
A US user sends an SMS to 40404. In Canada, use 21212. The UK code is +44 7624 801423.
It’s not just about sending. Text to subscribe to feeds. Turn them off. Add friends. Delete your account. All through text.
Business change
Twitter originally had no ads. There is no advertising revenue. Now it has “promoted tweets.” These are paid ads. They make hundreds of millions.
Twitter went public in November 2013. At the end of the day, its market capitalization exceeded 25 billion dollars.
