How Trump helped Twitter find its true purpose | John Naughton
For years, people wondered what the platform was for, but now we know – it was to help the Donald control the global news agenda
There is a famous story about the great 19th-century statesman Gladstone on the campaign trail. During one of his trademark three-hour speeches, a little girl posed a question to her mother. “Mummy,” she supposedly asked, “what is that man ?” Since Twitter appeared in July 2006, people have asked the same question about it. An incredulous asked it and received no satisfactory answer. I mean to say, what possible utility could attach to a service enabling people to publish 140-character “tweets”?
