Microblogging—the term given to short status messages reporting on the details of one’s life—arrived on the scene as a major communication channel in March 2007 when Twitter became the hit of the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas. The young company set up large screens to display content provided by conference attendees, who signed up for the service in droves. Site creator Evan Williams didn’t invent communication through text, but his company did construct a scaffolding that gave new power to short messages.