Reporter: Why do you think Twitter has had this extraordinary sort of not only growth, but popularity and visibility and talk?
记者：你认为为什么推特网现在不仅仅 发展很快，而且受欢迎程度和知名度也 在快速提升？
Williams: It’s something to tell you the truth that I can’t fully explain. And I think the product is great. I think it’s compelling. The level of attention has been a little surprising.
威廉姆斯：说实话，我并不能解释得很 清楚。我认为产品很好，对人们很有吸 引力。受关注的程度让人有点吃惊。
Reporter: All of us want—you’re on our show, all magazines want to write about you, all newspapers want to profile you.
记者：我们都想——你现在参加我们的 节目，所有的报纸和杂志都想报道关于 你的事迹。
Williams: I think Twitter combines a lot of-it distills a lot of what makes the Internet exciting into a very simple form. And it is about people connecting, and it really provides people with a new way to communicate that didn’t exist. And as my co-founder Biz Stone likes to say, it gives us a way that we didn’t know we needed.
威廉姆斯：我认为推特网结合了很多东 西——它把互联网上令人兴奋的点都提 取出来，做成一种很简单的模式。它给人们提供了一种全新的沟通方式。和我 一起创办推特网的比兹?斯常说，它让 我们找到了一条我们从未想过的自己需 要的路.
Reporter: Exactly right.
记者：没错。
Williams: Twitter is asynchronous relationship model. It looks a lot like a social network, but it is actually fundamentally different in how the relationship structures work. So a social network, like Facebook being the classic example, is about finding and encapsulating real-world connections, where if we know each other, we say we’re friends on the social network, and then we can communicate. And it’s two-way. So I can be interested in you and you are sending updates. You don’t know who the heck I am, or you just don’t care about my updates, and you ignore me. Whereas if I was on social networking and you wanted to be my friend, I would have to. You’d have to confirm. But here, I don’t know who is getting it. Just the people who want it can get it
威廉姆斯：推特网采用的是异步关系模 式，它非常像社交网站，但它在构建人 际关系结构时，却有着根本的不同。脸 谱网是社交网站的“典型例子”。脸谱 网可以用来维持现实中的人际关系。两 个在现实生活中彼此相识 的人，在社交网站上成为 好友，就可以通过脸谱网 交流，这是双向的。所以， 我可以对你的页面进行关 注，你不断地更新。你不 知道我是谁，或许你根本 不关心我的更新，你完全 忽视我。但是如果我在社 交关系网络，你要成为我 的好友，我需要同意。你 需要确认。但是在这里，我不知道谁会 收到，只有想要的人才会得到。
Reporter: Yeah. But here, I don’t know who is getting it. Just the people who want it can get it.
记者：是的，但是在这里，我不知道谁 会收到。想要的人才会得到。
Williams: Right. So it’s much more open. And it creates a different kind of dynamic. So what you are doing is you are just一you’re kind of putting stuff out there, and sort of like you would put stuff out on the Web or on a blog, but it’s much faster and more constrained than that. Constrained because it’s only 140 characters, and no pictures, nothing but pure text. That is one of the—the other phenomenon of Twitter is there一you can actually post pictures through third party. What you do is you post a link. You post a link to anything, so it can be a Web site, it can be a picture.
威廉姆斯：因此，推特网更为开放。它 创造的是一种另类的动态。你所做的就 是对外发布信息，就像你通过网页或 者博客发布信息一样，但是推特网更 加“迅速”，也更具“约束性”。比如， 你只能发送140字以内的信息，而且无 法利用推特网发送图片，只是单纯的文 字。这是推特网的一个现象，你可以通 过第三方来传递图片。你可以发送一个 网络链接，可以是一个网站，也可以是—张图片。
Reporter: Right. Right.
记者：是的，没错。
Williams: There is a service called TwitPic, which is one of many一there are at least 2,000 different programs that can send Twitter updates. And they use our一they are third-party developers who have completely on their own built software that plugs into Twitter. And they have done it for posting pictures, twittering from an iPhone or a BlackBerry or from a Windows or Mac or Linux computer. Almost anything you can imagine now has a Twitter interface and all built by third-party developers. So that’s one of the phenomenon that Twitter has tapped into, I think because again, it’s so simple, that people just build all kinds of things around it.
威廉姆斯：有一项服务叫做TwitPic。现 在已经有约2000个不同的程序可以帮 助用户发送推特网更新。这都是由第三 方开发的，他们在自己的软件中插入推 特网。用户可以通过第三方程序来发送 图片，而且这些程序也遍及几乎所有 平台，包括iPhone、黑毒、Windows、 Mac或者Linux等。几乎所有你可以想 象到的事情，现在都有推特网界面，这 些全部由第三方开发商来建立。这是推 特网引发的另一种现象， 我想着同样是因为推特 网的界面很简洁，人们 可以围绕它创建各种事 物。
Reporter: What I love about it —is instant—it’s instant. I mean, you had a senator twittering while the president was addressing the Congress.
记者：我喜欢的正是它 的即时性。我是说，总 统正在国会上演讲的时 候，会有议员使用推特 网。
Williams: Twitter, the real-time aspect is really one of the main benefits. And that partial—part of that is because the content is so short, it can both be written and sent instantly. And we use SMS and other technologies to really take advantage of that. And that’s what makes it interesting even in the mundane stuff, when it’s not the president, it’s not a senator. But it’s—it’s your brother who lives across the country, you know, saying they are painting the garage. That’s—it’s not interesting to hear later that he painted the garage. But to hear in the moment that that is happening.
威廉姆斯：推特网的主 要价值之一就在于即时 性。这只是一部分—— 还有一部分是因为，内容很简短，可以 即刻写并发送。我们吸收了短信息和其 他技术的优势。这让普通百姓也会觉得 很有趣，而不仅仅是总统和议员。但是 如果你的兄弟住得很远，他跟你说他们 正在给车库刷漆。如果你事后听说了他 们给车库刷漆的事情并不会觉得好玩。 但如果是当时听说，就很有趣了。
Reporter: The instant quality of it is the genius for me. And—and but at the same time, the president did use it when he won. Didn’t he send out a tweet? How many people got it—he sent out a tweet that said，thank you all, this is a glorious day for all of us, and you deserve the credit, something to that effect.
记者：我太喜欢它的即时性了。但是同 时，总统获选的时候他确实也用了推特网。他发了一条消息吧？有多少人收到 了——他用推特网发了一条消息说，感 谢所有的人，这是属于我们所有人的辉 煌的一天，你们理应受到赞扬，差不多 是这样的效果。
Williams: Exactly.
威廉姆斯：确实如此。
Reporter: What’s magical about 140 characters? You needed a number?
记者：140个字有什么魔力吗？你需要一个数字？
Williams: Well, the original reason it’s 140 characters is because we wanted to support SMS, and we put a lot of focus on that at first. And SMS, text messages normally are limited to 160 characters, so we needed some room for the name, and we decided on 140.
威廉姆斯：嗯，最开始 限定为140个字是因为 我们想要支持短信息， 首先就考虑到了这一点。 短信息的字数一般限制 为160字，我们需要为 用户名预留一些空间， 所以我们决定140字。
Reporter: What is in your DNA that has enabled you to start blogger.com? And Twitter? I mean, what is it about you?
记者：是什么原因让你创立了博客网和推特网？我的意思是你的初衷是什么？
Williams: Well, first of all，I didn’t invent the idea of Twitter. And I didn’t really invent the idea of Blogger. I saw an opportunity. And in both cases, what drove me to pursue it was experiencing it myself. And I have been an entrepreneur since birth, at least in my mind. And I like creating things that are new. I like working things that are new. And I felt a similar thing when I created Blogger, and then was part of the team that created Twitter, that this is really fun. I don’t know where it’s going, but there is something very fundamental about what this can do. And of course, when Twitter came out, it had all the Blogger experience, so it was based on a lot more experience. And I thought, well, people will like this.
威廉姆斯：嗯，首先，推特网并不是我 的创意。博客网也并不完全是我发明 的。我看到了机会。在这两个例子中促 使我去做的都是我想要自己先体验。我 自出生以来就是一名企业家，至少我自 己是这样认为的。我喜欢创造新的事 物。喜欢新颖的东西。我在创建博客网 和推特网时感觉到了类似的东西。我觉 得这非常有趣。虽然我不知道它们将会 如何发展，但这都是我基于经验作出判 断。当然，当推特网诞生之时，我已经 有了博客网的相关经验，所以推特网是 建立在经验之上的。我当时想，大家一 定会喜欢。
Reporter: Where is blogging today?
记者：博客的现状怎样？
Williams: Blogging is an interesting place today, I think, because it’s still actually a huge part of the Web. There are millions of people who blog daily. But what it is, it’s kind of morphing, I think. So it depends on how strict you define it.
威廉姆斯：它现在处于一个很有意思的 位置。我想是因为它仍然是互联网的很大一部分。数百万的人每天登录博客。 但我想这是一种“变异”，要看你怎样 去定义。
Reporter: Morphing, yeah.
记者：变异，嗯。
Williams: So, blogging has always been hard to define, which is why that question is a difficult one. Because is what一a lot of the motivations to blog and the same acts are that people—what has started on Blogger, com for are tapped by people’s participation in Facebook or MySpace or Twitter now. So I think as a-if you look at it generally, it’s bigger than ever and pretty much growing, but it’s definitely evolving.
威廉姆斯：是的，博客一直很难定义， 所以这个问题很难回 答。人们原先只在博客 网这样纯粹的博客网站 上写博客，但是现在却 都通过脸谱网、聚友网 和推特网来写博客。从 总体上看，博客的规模 的确比以往更大，确实 也在发展，但博客的确 处在变革中。
Reporter: Is what we are talking about, in terms of social networking, in terms of Twitter and tweeting, is it at the essence of where sort of the Internet revolution is, the idea of community? The idea that you can take this remarkable tool and use it to create a community that brings friendship, as well as information as well as something else?
记者：从社交网络和推 特网以及使用推特网的角度来看，我们 现在正在谈的可以说是互联网革命的本 质是——沟通的概念吗？是你可以使用 这个不同寻常的工具去创造一种交友、 获取信息或其他的沟通方式的概念吗？
Williams: I think it does all of that. And I think.
威廉姆斯：我想它涵盖了所有，并且我 认为……
Reporter: But how powerful of a force is it, in terms of shaping the way the Internet is used today?
记者：但是对于塑造今天的互联网来 说，它有多大的功效呢？
Williams: I think it’s tremendously powerful. I think what the Internet—how the Internet has evolved over time is to more efficiently tap the most basic human desires. And there—they vary a lot, but the desire to connect with other people socially is a big one. And I think that is why social networks in general are very powerful. That’s what people care about almost more than anything else.
威廉姆斯：我认为它很强大。互联网已经 进化成能够更有效的满足人类最基本的欲 望，而与他人进行社会化联系就是其中一 个很大的欲望。这也正是社交网站的力量 所在也是人们最关心的部分。
Reporter: Project this forward five years. How will it be different, all of it?
记者：展望未来5年的技术，会和现在 有什么不同？
Williams: Well, it’s hard to imagine how the technology is going to be vastly different. I’m sure it will. I think a lot of it一that will be一the ways that it will be different is culturally. And so, people will be used to this mode ofI remember when blogging started, it seemed very strange to people that just anyone could write something on the Web. How—how dare they have the nerve to think that someone would want to read it? And now, at least I live in the San Francisco bubble, but it seems like people generally accept, sure, that’s a thing that normal people do. Clearly Facebook and MySpace are things that normal people do.
威廉姆斯：嗯，这很难说，我很难预料 技术上的变化，但我确信肯定会变。我 认为更大的变化将在于文化上。人们将 会更加适应某些趋势。我记得当年我们 创建博客网时，任何人都可以在网络上 写些东西，很多人都觉得这非常奇怪， “他们怎么敢在网上写东西？谁会看 啊？”如今，至少我还生活在旧金山泡 沬中，但人们逐渐接受了这种方式，变 成了普通大众都在做的事。很明显的， 脸谱网和聚友网就是普通大众在做的 事。
Reporter: The Internet is an international phenomenon. Is tweeting an international phenomenon?
记者：互联网是一种国际现象，使用推 特网也会成为一种国际现象吗？
Williams: It is. Only about half our users are in the US right now. Japan is really big for us. Japanese is the one language we’ve translated the site to. But it was actually —we translated it because it got big in Japan first. The U.K. has actually exploded recently. U.K. is the second biggest, and I think Canada and Germany and Brazil are creeping up.
威廉姆斯：是的。现在只有半数推特网 用户来自美国。日本对于我们而言是非 常大的市场。我们推出了日文版的网 站，事实上，我们将网站翻译成日语是 因为我们首先是在日本市场得到壮大 的，英国市场近期的增长也非常迅猛。 并成为仅次于日本的推特网第二大海外 市场。此外，加拿大、德国和巴西的增 长也相当不错。
Reporter: Some have suggested that for a while there, maybe still, you had a problem with crashing because there was so much usage.
记者：有些人暗示，由于用户量太多， 你或许曾存在崩溃问题。
Williams: We did. We had a terrible first year and a half, actually, where the site went down a lot and was slow a lot. And it took us a long time to get out of that. That almost killed us，I think.
威廉姆斯：确实有过。其实我们刚开始的 一年半时间是非常艰苦的。那时网站非常 慢，而且经常崩溃，我们花了很长时间才 解决这个问题，这几乎让我们无法生存。