Twitter's Soaring Popularity

Twitter, a microblog which lets people send 140-character text messages to groups of "followers," is one of the fastest growing internet social media companies in the world.

According to survey, worldwide visitors to its site hit 44.5 million in June, up 15-fold from a year earlier. And in the last three months its popularity has been soaring very high.

Last Tuesday evening, Twitter has been the focus of Indonesian online media networks when Film Director & Screenwriter Joko Anwar walked to a Circle-K minimarket completely naked.
It all started with a message he posted on Twitter: “If I got my 3000th follower today, I’ll go into a Circle-K naked.” Joko posted earlier in the day when he had 1,800 followers. Words spread very fast on Twitter that in about one hour Joko gained 3,000 followers.

Last June, Twitter was the only operational online media network during the violent protest against the result of general election in Iran. Twitter conveyed messages and photos/video from protesters in the street of Teheran.

And earlier today, I read a media report about investors pouring US$ 100 million into Twitter last Friday, valuing the Web company at $1 billion, as investors bet that its explosive growth will yield actual revenue or a lucrative deal.

For details on the above media reports, please click here, here and here.

As a user, I am glad with Twitter's growth, because it will surely attract many more people to become users.
However, it would be very interesting to know whether or not Joko Anwar's naked appearance is a violation of the Anti Pornography Law and/or Electronic Information & Transaction (ITE) Law. Maybe Anggara and/or Rob can provide me with the answer.

Photo: Courtesy of The Jakarta Globe.