I don't think of Twitter as a social network. I think of it as a messaging system that has a lot of social components to it.

When you think about email or IMing, why aren't you writing back? I can see your avatar, I know you're online, why aren't you writing me back? But with Twitter, everybody sends their responses to Twitter, and Twitter then sends them out to everyone. So there's not this constant connection. You can be hyperconnected, then you can take a break for a couple days and it's fine.

I think Twitter has brought something totally new to the table.

We actually created Twitter and Odeo at the same time. When we realized we didn't really want to be running Odeo anymore we looked around for anyone who wanted to buy Odeo, but not acquire us as a technology. But people aren't as interested in that.

Creativity is an infinitely renewable resource - you are not going to run out of it - so don't be afraid to use it.

Constraint inspires creativity

It's important to credit the brave people that take chances to stand up to regimes. They're the star.