THE NEW SOCIAL NETWORK
So you’ve watched the The Social Network and are convinced that Mark Zuckerberg is a real jerk. You may soon be thinking the same thing about Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, only this time, it’s not just a movie.
The official version of Twitter’s conception begins in Williams’ apartment. Williams, along with former Google employee Biz Stone and investor Jack Dorsey set out to build a podcasting platform called Odeo, but after Apple launched iTunes, the company quickly became obsolete. Instead, Williams bought out Odeo’s investors and shifted the focus toward a little idea about 140 character status updates.
However, Business Insider reports that the real story is not that simple, or innocent. Notably, it leaves out one of the social media giant’s co-founders, Noah Glass.
Nicholas Carlson reports, “According to interviews with about a dozen early investors and employees, the story of how Twitter was actually founded begins with an entrepreneur named Noah Glass, who started Odeo in his apartment.”
The longer, “real” version goes like this.
Odeo began in Glass’ apartment, it later moved into Williams’. Eventually, it expanded to an office building and 14 employees.
In 2005, Odeo’s expansion was halted when Apple announced iTunes. Williams, who by now was Odeo’s CEO, asked his employees for a new direction to salvage the company. That’s when Jack Dorsey’s light bulb went one and he came up with the a social networking site based on a person’s “status.” Noah Glass developed the concept with Dorsey and presented the idea to the company.
“After that February presentation to the company, Evan Williams was skeptical of Twitter’s potential, but he put Glass in charge of the project,” Business Insider reporter. “From time to time, Biz Stone helped out Glass’s Twitter team.”
Odeo investor George Zachary told Business Insider “there were two people who were really excited [about Twitter], Jack and Noah Glass. Noah was fanatically excited about Twitter. Fanatically! Evan and Biz weren’t at that level. Not remotely.”
Almost a year after Williams asked his employees for ideas, he told investors about Odeo’s Twitter project. In those early days, nobody knew that the company would one day be worth over $5 billion, and Williams, hoping to save investors a loss, offered to buy back Odeo’s stock. Odeo’s investors accepted the deal, though some believe they got conned, believing Williams knew more about Twitter’s potential than he let on.
After taking ownership, Williams first order of business was to change the name to Obvious Corp, his second was to fire Noah Glass.
The most common explanation among the company’s early employees was that Glass’ boisterous personality clashed with the quiet and contemplative Williams. Other suggest Glass’ push to run Twitter himself didn’t sit well with the chief executive.
In any case, Williams remained at the helm of one the of the most successful social media companies, and Glass’ name was largely erased from the history books.
Glass, whose Twitter page says “I started this,” admits he didn’t do it alone. He credits Dorsey and others, saying the site’s genesis happened through “conversations.” Though Twitter’s biggest advocate, who gave the site its name, insists that the story given by Evan Williams and Biz Stones does not acknowledge the contributions he made. He said, “I do know that without me, Twitter wouldn’t exist. In a huge way.”
READ MORE ABOUT EVAN WILLIAMS HERE.
In a small recognition of that fact, after Business Insider published the story, Williams wrote on Twitter “It’s true that @Noah never got enough credit for his early role at Twitter.”
But who’s fault is that?
