Twitter co-founder talks of 26/11, Indian farmers in new book

NEW DELHI: At a time when Twitter is playing a big role in campaigning process of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, here is a book from its co-founder that talks about what drives the micro-blogging site's success across the world and in India.

"There was a series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India (November 26, 2008). People in the middle of the crisis used Twitter to report what was happening in real time, and in some cases Twitter served as a lifeline," writes Biz Stone in his book "Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind".

He also talks about how even a farmer in India can depend on Twitter.

"A farmer in India with a crappy phone posts a Tweet asking what a certain grain is trading for at the market 50 miles from his home. The answer is double what he was planning to charge. This changes his life and the life of his family for a year," Stone says.

According to Stone, once named one of Time's most influential people in the world, "People everywhere were finding the reasons Twitter was relevant in their lives - from reading movie reviews to helping the homeless to spontaneously raising money for world causes. While we were buckled down, focusing on performance, the rest of the world was figuring out what Twitter was for."

The book, published by Pan Macmillan India, discusses Stone's innovation, creativity and the secrets of being a successful entrepreneur, through stories from his life and career.

Talking about the role of Twitter in the 2008 US Presidential elections, he writes, "The week of the election was a big week for Twitter, not to mention for the United States, and the world. I sent the team a rallying email with the header: 'Adding a New Feature to Democratization of Information'.