By Jamie Diamond
May 8, 2009
“NO one knows what we look like,” said Biz Stone, a 35-year-old college dropout who’s dressed like a high-school student, in a shapeless black T-shirt, jeans and high tops, and is one of the three co-founders of Twitter. “So no one treats us like celebrities.”
Evan Williams, 37, also a Twitter founder, seemed astounded by the venture’s success. Referring to his sister, who works as a waitress, he said: “A customer asked, ‘Can you explain this Twitter thing?’ If she said, ‘My brother is the C.E.O.,’ no one would believe her.”
Mr. Stone weighed in. “They’d say, ‘Why do they need a C.E.O. at Twitter? To tell people, Oops, your tweet went over 140 characters?’ ”
Twitter is the public’s latest fascination. Mr. Stone and Mr. Williams made Time magazine’s new list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
But Twitter has come under fire. The company doesn’t make much money. People complain that the service is trivial and solipsistic. Asked about the criticism, Mr. Stone smiled and said, “That’s like people saying, ‘Why would I ever carry a phone around when I have one in my kitchen?’ ”
News link: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/fashion/10nite.html