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Who knew Bill Gross has a blog?

April 18, 2010 By

Barcelona
Creative Commons License photo credit: Bert K

Who knew that Idealab founder Bill Gross has a blog? I didn’t and I have had a technology crush on Gross since he founded Idealab back in 1996 to “create  and operate pioneering technology companies.” Gross has been blogging since 2008 and his most current entry “Ted 2010 in 100 Tweets” provides readers with an insider look at the feel of the conference.

This has been a busy week for Gross. On Monday Idealab’s company Tweetup announced a new Twitter marketplace designed to showcase the world’s best tweeters and enable them to grow a highly targeted following. According to Gross:

“Twitter has such tremendous potential as a real-time information network far beyond what has been realized to date. For most people, though, 80% or more of the tweets that fly by them when they’re searching for something are useless noise. For serious tweeters, the task of attracting interested and relevant followers is equally daunting. TweetUp will change all of that.”

TweetUp is just another example of Gross leading with innovation.

Filed Under: best blogs, Best tech products, Startups, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Twitter’s Evan Williams Describes Ideas Behind Explosive Growth at Ted

March 13, 2009 By

Last month Evan Williams, the founder of Twitter, returned to the stage at Ted exactly fours years after founding Odeo. Williams described how back in 2006 Jack Dorsey, one of the lead engineers at Odeo, came to him with a side idea he was playing with–Twitter. Williams was intrigued just as he had been intrigued a few years before with another hunch he had–Blogger. What both ideas have taught him is that it is important to follow your hunches even if they don’t seem to align with your current business.

During his Ted speech, Williams discussed that originally Twitter was intended to share moments of your life, both the momentus and the mundane, with family and friends. He has been surprised that Twitter has taken on a life of its own and is constantly evolving as users find even more interesting uses for Twitter. Back in the fall of 2007, Twitter took a big leap when it was used to broadcast news of the San Diego fires and then a year later was used by the hostages in India to give real time alerts of the terrorist attacks. Back in January, Twitter was again used to broadcast the pictures as they occurred of the miracle on the Hudson.

The talk is fascinating. Are you using Twitter in a new way?

Filed Under: social media, twitter Tagged With: , , ,