Talking with Twitter's Inventor

Twitter's Creator Jack Dorsey is a Business and Tech Celebrity at Just 32; And He's Planning a New Business This Year

(CBS)  Wall Street recently put a value on the social network Twitter -- $1 billion - even though the company has yet to make a dime. As its leaders try to figure out how to get revenue, Twitter has become a household word and an addiction for some.

CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell reports on the rise of Twitter - and the young man who helped invent it.

Jack Dorsey started with five tweeters. Now he's got around 40 million.

"I knew the concept would be huge," Dorsey said. "But we did not know that it would be adopted so suddenly in under three years. That's what's amazing."

Here's what else is amazing: Jack Dorsey was only 29 years old when he invented Twitter. And now, at 32, he's helped change the way we communicate.

Related: Co-Founder Evan Williams on the Future of Twitter

At its most basic level, Twitter is an instant messaging system that allows users to text to a single user or thousands of other users at once. Messages - nicknamed "tweets" - can only use up to 140 characters and always start by answering the question, "What are you doing?"

Politicians use Twitter to communicate with voters: Hillary Clinton once said "I wouldn't know a Twitter from a tweeter, but apparently it's very important."

It was even used by protesters during the recent elections in Iran to get their message out to the world.

And it is really taking off with companies - like a mobile bakery in New York City - who find it a perfect way to get close to their customers.

"We use it to get reviews and comments about our cupcakes," said the store's owner. "We use it for pretty much any and everything."

"What you have there is the ultimate democratic process where everybody is connectable in this device - where it's one-on-one, but it's infinite," said Benjamin Akande dean of the Webster University business school. "It's transformational."

So why do people like it?

"It makes every thing I interact with more human. it makes everything i interact with more approachable," said Dorsey.

Dorsey has become a superstar. He was honored last month in his hometown of St. Louis where he spoke at Webster University. He got the key to the city from the mayor, and threw out the first pitch at the St. Louis Cardinals game.

Dorsey says his proudest moment came during President Obama's speech to congress earlier this year as lawmakers gave their own running commentary, via Twitter, during the address.

And yet much of Twitter revolves around the mundane - a stream of updates about life's little moments.

"Do I really need to know that Joe in Seattle is having oatmeal for breakfast?" Mitchell asked Dorsey. "Is there such a thing as too much information?"

"There is such a thing as too much information but it's all in how you approach it," Dorsey replied. "The best thing about this technology is that it's recipient-controlled. So, yes, Joe is having oatmeal. Or I'm having oatmeal. It's meaningless to the rest of the world. But it's very meaningful to my mom. Even for someone like Barack Obama to update 'I'm eating oatmeal' - it makes him more human. Those small details of life really bring him down to everyone else's level and allows people to relate to him."

Dorsey says he came up with Twitter because he was always fascinated by maps and how cities work.

He remains chairman of Twitter - but says he'll announce plans for a new company later this year.

[yogeshgp]

i invent the twitter and i have patent (july 6 2005)

[alphaa10000]

The tribal culture of The Next Generation demands that each member be electronically linked to every other member.

For an electronic future, this is both awesome, and maybe a bit ominous for its abandonment of face-to-face norms.

[cgulbran]

Twitter actually makes people less human. They rudely type while talking to others, ignore questions while preoccupied by twittering, and do not look you in the eye during conversation. And what they type is less than human. Twitter is producing a group of blank-faced robots.

[ryetallon]

i think that inventions like twitter and people like joe are a big part of what made this country as great as it is and one of the biggest things that made us human is are endless interest in other human beings and lets face it we are all born nozey we dont know what joe had for breakfast because we have e.s.p.