The First Sketch For Twitter's UI In 2005 Is A Bittersweet Memory Of Life Before Social Media
Twitter&rsquos user base has come a long way in 13 years unfortunately so has its user base. These days you get equal parts heartwarming post and vile filth. You&rsqore just as likely to see intelligent discourse on current affairs as you are rumour mongering Hopefully that&rs Quos a problem that won&rsQuot take another decade to fix.
Let¡¯s face it, Twitter is a mess right now. At the very least, some may argue that it¡¯s not as bad as Facebook, but that¡¯s not a very high bar. Yet when the platform was first conceptualised close to fifteen years ago, it was so innocent, and pure. And oh so naive.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey - Reuters
Earlier this week, the company¡¯s handle posted a picture from the year 2005. It¡¯s the very first sketch drawn by CEO Jack Dorsey, conceptualizing what Twitter¡¯s UI might look like. A rough drawing on a simple legal pad, the photo is a bittersweet remembrance of a time before trolls and abusers had such easy access to public, anonymous digital weaponry.
The sketch shows a ¡®status¡¯ bar where users could inform followers of what they were doing, watching, or reading. Below it, followers could see the name, email address, and phone number linked to the handle.
.@jack¡¯s very first drawing of us back in 2005. Love ya, Dad! pic.twitter.com/fTtMUYMkDu
¡ª Twitter (@Twitter) September 18, 2018
While Twitter¡¯s UI has come a long way in 13 years, unfortunately so has Twitter¡¯s user base. These days you get equal parts heartwarming post and vile filth. You¡¯re just as likely to see intelligent discourse on current affairs as you are rumour mongering. Hopefully, that¡¯s a problem that won¡¯t take another decade to fix.
