Twitter的诞生毕业论文外文翻译.docx

英文原文How Twitter Was BornTwitter was born about three years ago, when Jack, Biz, Noah, Crystal, Jeremy, Adam, TonyStubblebine, Ev, me (Dom), Rabble, RayReadyRay, Florian, TimRoberts, and Blaine worked at a podcasting company called Odeo, Inc. in South Park, San Francisco. The company had just contributed a major chunk of code to Rails 1.0 and had just shipped Odeo Studio, but we were facing tremendous competition from Apple and other heavyweights. Our board was not feeling optimistic, and we were forced to reinvent ourselves “Rebooting” or reinventing the company started with a daylong brainstorming session where we broke up into teams to talk about our best ideas. I was lucky enough to be in Jacks group, where he first described a service that uses SMS to tell small groups what you are doing. We happened to be on top of the slide on the north end of South Park. It was sunny and brisk. We were eating Mexican food. His idea made us stop eating and start talking.I remember that Jacks first use case was city-related: telling people that the club hes at is happening. “I want to have a dispatch service that connects us on our phones using text.” His idea was to make it so simple that you dont even think about what youre doing, you just type something and send it. Typing something on your phone in those days meant you were probably messing with T9 text input, unless you were sporting a relatively rare smartphone. Even so, everyone in our group got the idea instantly and wanted it.Later, each group presented their ideas, and a few of them were selected for prototyping. Demos ensued. Jacks idea rose to the top as a combination of status-type ideas. Jack, Biz, and Florian were assigned to build version 0.1, managed by Noah. The rest of the company focused on maintaining O, so that if this new thing flopped wed have something to fall back upon.The first version of Jacks idea was entirely web-based. It was created on March 21st, 2006. My first substantive message is #38:We struggled with a codename and a product name. “Its FriendStalker!” joked Crystal, our most prolific user. The userbase was limited entirely to the company and our immediate family. No one from a major company of any kind was allowed in. For months, we were in Top Secret Alpha because of competing products like the now-defunkt Dodgeball.  The original product name / codename “twttr” was inspired by Flickr and the fact that American SMS shortcodes are five characters. We prototyped with “10958 as our shortcode. (We later changed to “40404 for ease of use and memorability.) Florian was commuting from Germany, so in order to operate with him we secured a “long code”, or a full 10-digit phone number linked to a small-potatoes gateway. Twttr probably had about 50 users in the 10958 days.I was following everyone on the system. We had an admin page where you could see every user. As Head of Quality for the company, it seemed like my duty to watch for opinions or issues from our users. This caused confusion, though, when family members of our team were suddenly being followed by a seemingly random person. Thus, Private Accounts were born. Jack and Florian created a means for users to mark themselves private, and we admins had the ability to tell who wanted to be private so wed know not to follow them. Actual, real privacy with secure protection came a bit later. Id say there were about 100 users when Private was invented.The interaction model and the visual metaphor for the service were constantly in flux. The meaning of being someones “Friend” versus “Following” someone changed regularly. At that point, you could either get all SMS messages or get none. There was no Twictionary back then; data in the system were referred to as “posts” or just “messages”. The lack of clear terminology led to some pretty spirited debates leading up to the Spring of 2006.We launched Twttr Beta on Evs birthday. We could now invite a slightly larger circle of friends, but still excluding any large companies (with a few trusted exceptions within places like Google). Ill never forget the family-friendly feeling of that day. We all knew that we were going to change the world with this thing that no one else understood. That day stands out in memory as the deep breath before a babys first cry.Meanwhile, Odeo and the corporate board were at a tension point. Not only was the value of Twttr difficult to describe, the relevance of Odeo was declining monthly. Drastic cuts were recommended. One day in early May 2006, Ev let four of us go: Adam, TonyStubblebine, me, and Rabble. Noah and TimRoberts would later be asked to leave as well. It was a tough decision and huge shock to each of us. We all handled it differently. Looking back on it, I think Twitter allowed us to stay connected when we might not have otherwise been. After all, we werent even public with the site yet, so each of us continued to add value just by using it with each other.During this transition, T launched to the public. Still, very few people understood its value. At the time most people were paying per SMS message, and so wouldnt Twttr run up our bills? Also, how were we supposed to use this thing and who cares what Im doing? Each one of us original users became a kind of personal evangelist for Twttr, trying to get our coworkers and friends to use it. At this point, Obvious Corp was born as an incubator with Twttr as its sole project.Jack was still just an engineer, and the service was only a few months old when the group acquired T and re-branded. Back then, we had no character limit on our system. Messages longer than 160 characters (the common SMS carrier limit) were split into multiple texts and delivered (somewhat) sequentially. There were other bugs, and a mounting SMS bill. The team decided to place a limit on the number of characters that would go out via SMS for each post. They settled on 140, in order to leave room for the username and the colon in front of the message. In February of 2007 Jack wrote something which inspired me to get started on this project: “One could change the world with one hundred and forty characters.”Just in time for SxSW, RayReadyRay rigged a very sweet Flash-based visualizer that ended up on display on the halls of the conference. I wasnt working there, but I used to visit regularly to see how our baby was doing. I happened to be at the office in SF when the visualizer went live on site in Austin. I remember finding a bug just before showtime, as Biz and Jeremy talked over the phone. Everything miraculously fell into place by the time people filtered out of the sessions to see their comments floating along the hallway screens. Boom #1: Twitter won an award in the Blog category, and Jack thanked everyone in 140 characters.MTV Music Awards: Boom #2.Apple WWDC 2007, and then TV, and then print and pretty soon Cable news: Boom #3.Jack became the CEO of a newly spun-off Twitter, Inc. during the Boom Times. People still didnt quite “get it” but at least some people had heard about it. The team created permalinks and RSS feeds. Blaine pushed for IM integration. Each major feature added tremendous gains in users, and in usage per user. Still small by social networking standards, Twitter delivered something immediate and vital that no other service could attain.For a lot of people, the entire API launch was really the time when Twitter first left the nest. But that is another story, for another time.If you liked this post, you might enjoy following me: Update: An expanded form of this History is now available as the Introduction to “140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form”.Product Description：Make the most of your messages on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites. The advent of Twitter and other social networking sites, as well as the popularity of text messaging, have made short-form communication an everyday reality. But expressing yourself clearly in short bursts-particularly in the 140-character limit of Twitter-takes special writing skill.In 140 Characters, Twitter co-creator Dom Sagolla covers all the basics of great short-form writing, including the importance of communicating with simplicity, honesty, and humor. For marketers and business owners, social media is an increasingly important avenue for promoting a business-this is the first writing guide specifically dedicated to communicating with the succinctness and clarity that the Internet age demands.Covers basic grammar rules for short-form writing.The equivalent of Strunk and Whites Elements of Style for todays social media-driven marketing messages Helps you develop your own unique short-form writing style.140 Characters is a much-needed guide to the kind of communication that can make or break a reputation online.Get your copy of “140 Characters” today from these fine booksellers:Amazon ,Barnes & Noble Borders ,Books-A-Million ,Digg this post.附录二：英文译文Twitter的诞生Twitter的诞生大约在三年之前。那时候，杰克·多尔西，比兹·斯通，诺亚，克里斯特，杰里米，亚当，托尼·斯塔布尔宾，埃文·威廉姆斯，我（道姆），莱勃， 雷·莱迪·雷，弗洛里安， 蒂姆·罗伯茨和布莱恩，还在旧金山南园，Odeo公司的一个播客公司工作。那时的公司刚刚贡献了代码到导轨1.0的主要来源，并且，刚刚运行了Odeo的工作室。但是，我们也面临着来自苹果以及其他重量级公司的巨大竞争。我们的董事会并不感到乐观，我们为此被迫彻底改造自己。“重新启动”或者重塑公司的讨论进行了整整一天，在这一天中持续进行着头脑风暴的会议。当时，我们分散开来，加入组合到各自的团队中，分组讨论最佳的创业思路。很幸运地，我当时加入到杰克所在的讨论小组中，在这个小组中，他首先描述了可以推出一种服务，这种服务可以通过使用发送短信的方式去告诉你的小圈子你正在做什么事情。我们的办公室恰好就在南公园北端幻灯片大厦的顶部，这里阳光普照、生机勃勃。我们当时正在吃墨西哥菜，他的主意使我们停止吃东西，并且开始就此展开讨论。我还记得，杰克使用的第一个案例是与城市相关的：他告诉人们，他所在的俱乐部正在发生的事情。“我想可以有一种调度服务，通过手机，采用短信的方式来连接我们。”他的想法是如此地简单而容易操作，你甚至不需要考虑自己在做什么事情，你只需要把事情记录下来，然后将其发送出去。在当时的那个时代，把一些事情输入到你的手机意味着你很有可能会搞乱你的手机的T9文字输入法，除非你用的手机是一种当时比较少见的运动型智能手机。但是即便如此，在我们团队当中的每一个成员仍旧立即地接受了杰克的想法，并且都想要尝试这个想法。在那之后，各个小组都来演示他们各自的想法，这些小组的讨论成果大多数都倾向于根据原型样机的研究改进而演变产生的项目。在各个小组的想法都演示出来以后，杰克的主意一种整合了输入者状态的想法，上升成为创业思路的首选。杰克、比兹与弗洛里安被分配开始筹划相关服务的0.1版本，由诺亚管理，公司的其他人则仍然专注于Odeo服务。因此，即便这个新事物的创业思路完全失败，我们仍旧可以有能够依靠的东西重新再来。当时，杰克想法的第一个版本是完全依赖于Web的。它于2006年3月21日创建完成。我收到的第一条实质性的消息是：我们陷入了在研发代码与产品名称之间的挣扎。“这简直是个朋友跟踪者！”我们最资深的用户克里斯特开玩笑地说。这项新服务最开始的用户群，被限制在公司员工以及员工的亲属中间。这些用户，没有一个来自于大公司，大公司的员工被拒绝加入这项新服务。由于竞争的原因，在几个月的时间里，我们的这项新服务都处于最顶级的绝密阿尔法状态之中，这就犹如是在打躲避球一样。最原始的产品名称或者研发代码“twttr”的灵感，是来自于Flickr。而事实上，那个时候美国所采用的短信代码是有五位字符组成。我们一开始使用“10958”作为我们的简码。（后来，我们改为使用“40404”作为我们的简码，这是为了方便使用和记忆。）弗洛里安是在德国连接到这项新服务中来。为了与他连接，使他能够顺利运转，我们固定使用一套“长码”，或者使用一套总共为十位数的电话号码通过一个微不足道的网关连接。在最初的一万零九百五十八天里，Twttr大概只有五十个用户。我追踪了在这整个系统中的每一个成员。我们有一个管理页面，你可以看到每一个用户。作为公司的质量主管，我的主要职责几乎就是为我们的公司去留意我们的用户的意见或问题。不过，当我们团队中的家庭成员突然被一个人随意跟随的时候，就引起了混乱与纠纷。因此，隐私的私人账户诞生了。杰克和弗洛里安创立起一种方法，可以使用户标记他们的个人隐私，然后我们能够有能力来管理，去获知哪些属于用户的个人隐私，我们就会知道，这些部分我们就不再去追踪。事实上，真正意义上的安全保护是在随后才做到的。当隐私保护真正出现的时候，Twttr的用户已经大约为100人。具有互动性的模式以及可视的具有象征性的服务源源不断地通过流量流出。这意味着，成为某一个人的“朋友”，与“追踪”某一个人之间，产生了某种有规律的变化。在这一点上，你既可以得到所有的短信息，也可以一条短信都不获得。在“推特词典”还没有出现的时候，在系统中的数据被称为“职位”或者仅仅是“信息”。 制定明确的术语的缺乏导致了一些非常热烈的讨论，这样的情况一直延续到2006年春天。我们在埃文·威廉姆斯的生日推出了Twttr的测试版。当时我们已经可以邀请稍大一些的朋友圈子的朋友加入这个测试，但是，大公司的成员仍旧被限制在外（除去一些值得信赖的地方，像谷歌例外）。我永远都不会忘记那天的那种如同家庭朋友般的感觉。我们都知道，我们正在试图用这项新事物来改变世界，尽管其他别的人并不能完全理解。那一天的印象深刻，就像面对刚出生的婴儿第一次哭泣般需要深深呼吸。与此同时,Odeo和公司董事会正处于一个紧张的节点。不仅仅是Twttr的真正价值比较难以去描述，而且也与Odeo逐月下滑的境况有关。大幅裁员的计划被提出来。2006年三月初的一天，埃文·威廉姆斯裁减了包括我在内的四名员工：亚当，托尼·斯塔布尔宾，我，还有莱迪。蒂姆·罗伯茨和诺亚后来也被裁减掉。对于我们每一个人来说，这都是一个艰难的决定和巨大的冲击。我们处理这件事的方式方法都不同。现在回过头再来看，我认为，在Twitter使我们能够保持连接时，我们可能无法在其他方面做的更好。毕竟，我们甚至没有利用网络把它发布在网站上，所以我们每一个人仅仅是用互相联络的这种方式来持续增加它的价值。在这里过渡一下，T面向公众启动。然而，仍旧只有很少的人了解它的价值所在。当时，大多数人为每一条短信支付费用，所以是否不会运行Twttr以把钱增加到我们的账单上来呢？而且，我们应该如何使用这个东西，谁会在乎我在做什么事情呢？每一个我们的原始用户都成为一条传播Twttr的个人渠道，试图让我们的同事和朋友都来使用它。在这一点上，突出的集团诞生，让Twittr作为其唯一的项目孵化器。在服务开展只有几个月时间的时候，杰克仍然只是一名项目工程师，团队打算收购T而且重树品牌，将Twittr更名为Twitter。在那个时候，我们的系统中并没有对于字数的限制。信息字数超过一百六十字（普通短信运营商的限制）被分成多个文本交付（稍微有点）顺序。还有其他的错误，以及不断攀升的短信账单。我们的团队决定限制字符数，将每一条通过的短信都作出了字符数上的限制。他们确定了一百四十个字的字符数，以保证为用户名或短信前面的标点符号预留出空间。在2007年2月，杰克曾经写到：“人们可以通过一百四十个字符来改变世界”，这件事启发了我开始做这个项目。就在SXSW期间，雷·莱迪·雷在会议的大厅展示了一个非常可爱的基于Flash的可视化的装置。当时我已经不在这个公司工作了，但是我仍然会定期访问那里，以知道我们的孩子正在做什么事情。碰巧在办公室被可视化的时候，我就在旧金山的奥斯汀的办公地点。我还记得，就在展示开始之前，还发现了一个错误漏洞，比兹·斯通和杰里米通过电话进行了交谈。一切都奇迹般地恢复了正常，当人们从办公室里出来，看到他们的同事沿着走廊走下去，都能惊奇地看到大厅墙上屏幕上漂浮的评论。繁荣：Twitter赢得了博客类大奖，杰克感谢大家对一百四十个字符的支持。 景气：MTV音乐奖，苹果的WWDC 2007，然后电视，然后打印，很快有线电视新闻。 杰克在Twitter公司中脱颖而出成为新的首席执行官，带动公司进入了经济繁荣的时期。人们仍旧不是非常“了解”它，但是至少有一些人曾经听说过它。这个团队建立起固定链接和RSS提要。布莱恩推出了即时信息集成。每一个主要功能，都增加了用户的巨大收益，并在每一个用户中得到使用。不过以社交网站的标准来看，Twitter的规模仍然很小，但Twitter可以提供直接和重要的信息，而这一点是其他社交网站所无法比拟的。对很多人来说，Twitter的启动，正是整个API研发的时刻。但是这是另外一个故事，在另外一个时刻。如果您喜欢这个岗位，你可能会喜欢跟着我：更新：对这段历史的扩展形式，现在的引言可以这样标识：“一百四十个字符：一种规范的缩写形式”。产品描述： 充分利用你在Twitter、Facebook，以及其他社交网站上的信息。Twitter和其他社交网站的出现，以及文本信息的普及，取得了短格式沟通的日常实现。但是在较短的时间内要清楚地表达自己，特别是Twitter的一百四十个字符数的限制，需要特殊的写作技巧。在一百四十个字符中，Twitter的联合创始人Dom Sagolla概括了短格式书写方式的基本知识，包括了简洁，诚实，与幽默沟通的重要性。对于营销人员和企业主、社会媒体，是促进企业日益发展的重要的途径，这是第一个专门用于怎样写作可以达到简洁和清晰的写作指导，而这是通信网络时代的要求。涵盖了短格式书面形式的基本语法规则。对于今天的社会媒体，推动营销信息，相当于文体施特龙克和怀特的元素，帮助你开发自己独特的短格式的写作风格。一百四十个字符是非常有需要的指南类的有助于沟通的书籍，它可以提高或者破坏你在网上的声誉。得到你的“一百四十个字”，这就是这些优秀书商今天的副本：亚马逊、Barnes & Noble Borders、Books-A-Million以及Digg。