The Worldwide Congress on Information Technology takes place this week in Amsterdam, Netherlands. As part of my participation, I was asked to deliver a keynote speech on Inclusion. The following research is not comprehensive, but is meant to explore  a new metric for technological and cultural progress.

I took a sample 24 hours of public Twitter traffic on May 16, 2009 (a Saturday) and May 16, 2010 (a Sunday). Twitter data is from Peoplebrowsr, population data from Wolfram Alpha. The resulting Tweets per Capita is an interesting economic indicator.

BEST 2010 Tweets per Capita

1. Singapore
2. Netherlands
3. Australia
4. New Zealand
5. USA
6. Canada
7. Ireland
8. Puerto Rico
9. Brazil
10. UK

WORST 2010 Tweets per Capita

1. TIE: Democratic Republic of the Congo & Ethiopia
2. Kosovo
3. Sudan
4. Bangladesh
5. Uzbekistan
6. Somalia
7. Nepal
8. Pakistan
9. Nigeria
10. BVI
11. Haiti

BEST Tweet Growth

1. Uzbekistan
2. Indonesia
3. Venezuela
4. Turkey
5. Thailand
6. Japan
7. Nigeria
8. Brazil
9. Egypt
10. Saudi Arabia

WORST Tweet Growth

1. Iran (decline)
2. Ethiopia (decline)
3. British Virgin
4. US Virgin
5. USA
6. Canada
7. Portugal
8. Israel
9. Australia
10. Aruba

BEST 2010 Tweet Output

1. USA
2. Brazil
3. Indonesia
4. Japan
5. UK
6. Canada
7. Australia
8. Netherlands
9. India
10. Germany

WORST 2010 Tweet Output

1. British Virgin
2. Gibraltar
3. Kosovo
4. Democratic Republic of the Congo
5. US Virgin
6. Ethiopia
7. Somalia
8. Uzbekistan
9. Sudan
10. NL Antilles

There were a few surprises here worth further study, some of which I examine in my presentation above: Iran, Haiti, Chile, Venezuela, and the Netherlands.

If anyone is interested in combing through the raw data, please contact me. We also seek sponsors to continue this research and develop a regular report on the topic.

[Published in Het Financieele Dagblad, the Dutch financial times, on the opening day of WCIT 2010 in Amsterdam.]

A shadow economy controls all of the systems of monetary influence in the world. This system derives value from sharing wealth, in the form of information. It is the economy of words, metered by our attention.

This economic system has the largest and most complex trading floor ever designed by mankind: the public commons. It regenerates in direct proportion to the number of people connected to it, which has no apparent limit.

We are limited by our ability to transform this wealth. Which is to say, the human mind has cognitive bounds, and can only process so much information at once. That is why the average number of words in a sentence is around 16, and the average number of overall characters is around 160. A German man once did that math, and wrote 160 characters into his global standard for mobile text messaging (GSM).

Twitter has a limit of 140 characters, in order to include the identity of the sender in each text message. This constraint has created a marketplace of ideas that may only be expressed in a short format of words, symbols, and hypertext links.

Currency in this system may or may not be persistent; what is written now is not guaranteed to grow in relevance over time. This currency is measured not only in numbers (follower count, mentions, click-throughs), but also influence and authority. In other words, it matters less how large your audience, but rather who is reading.

With Twitter we are each reporters, breaking the news of our daily lives. Individual messages may be profound or mundane, but taken in aggregate the public sentiment can be a powerful economic indicator.

Each voice has a distinct value depending on context. In the case of text donations to Haiti we have seen how valuable the space of one sentence can be.

As part of the Declaration of Amsterdam at the Worldwide Congress on Information Technology, we must to bring this “text-messaging Internet” to the places where literacy and commerce are most needed.

We literati are the gifted few in society with the responsibility to propagate access, extend the public commons, annotate, curate, analyze, and add value to it. Let us take information technology and enable electronic communities to form in the most desperate places on earth.

Give a voice to every man, woman, and child on earth. Then listen for the tweet heard ’round the world.

I’m excited to travel to Park City, Utah for my first visit to the Sundance Festival.

Location: Tweet House

Friday, January 22nd

Reception

I’ll be signing copies of 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form, and demonstrating Square, the revolutionary new payments system from the inventor of Twitter, Jack Dorsey.

Saturday, January 23rd

Celebrity Tweetup for Haiti

I’ll be taking donations straight to Haiti via Square.

Sunday, January 24th

Twitter: Past, Present, and Future

To visualize the future of Twitter, one need only examine the lessons of history. A part of its inception, Dom Sagolla tells the story of Twitter’s humble beginnings and the lessons learned along the way.

A compelling vision for the future of short messaging concludes this talk, influenced by experience traveling across the US and abroad in recent months in support of Dom’s book “140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form.”

Monday, January 24th

Snowboarding

Hitting the slopes of Park City with the folks from Tweet House. You’re welcome to join us!

As co-founder of iPhone Developer’s Camp, I maintain contact with developer communities all over the world. One very passionate group has formed in the Netherlands, and has invited me to help organize and speak during two great events. The first is a daylong hackathon:

iPhoneDevCamp Amsterdam

November 25th, 2009

11am-4pm (with lunch break)

Westergasfabriek

Attendance Max: 200 people

Sponsored by One More Thing and PayPal

The second is a two-day conference:

iCE Amsterdam

November 26-27, 2009

Westergasfabriek
Session entitled “The Dollar App” on the 26th

Session entitled “Market Your App Through Social Media” on the 27th

We’ll have books on site for purchase and I’ll be signing them throughout the week. In addition, we are reaching out to the larger iPhoneDevCamp Netherlands community—especially students—with a special offer:

All students or iPhoneDevCamp.nl alumni who join us at iPhoneDevCamp Amsterdam on the 25th may attend iCE Amsterdam for 75.00€, incl. VAT (a discount of 470.00€). In addition, all qualifying registrants will receive a free copy of 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form with their purchase. Simply comment here or email the organizers to identify yourself.

I’m very excited to visit Amsterdam for the first time with my wife Meredith, and Hypertext Edition coders Jonathan Wight & Mike Lee, among other excellent presenters. We do hope to broadcast a portion of the proceedings so stay tuned for more information as the date approaches.

Update: Check out this video of me explaining the book 140 Characters, entertaining because I confuse a metonym with a charactonym.

Dom Sagolla, a Co-creator of Twitter Shares His Style Guide for the Short Form
Special Event with author of 140 Characters.

Hosted by Lara Feltin & Warren Etheredge

Where: Seattle, Washington

When: Tuesday, December 1 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Event description

The Biznik Innovators Series connects independent business people with some of the most premier innovative thought leaders published today in a swank downtown venue (with complimentary wine). When the authors visit Seattle, we find innovative ways to celebrate their books, while providing you with a unique networking opportunity.

The engaging Warren Etheredge, of The Warren Report, will lead an intimate and entertaining on-stage conversation with the author that takes the entire event up a notch.

In addition…

Before and after networking with the author and other guests in an intimate setting at the elegant Pan Pacific Hotel.

• Sip complimentary award-winning wines from Erath Wineries & Chateau Ste. Michelle (yep, FREE)
• Enjoy savory nibbles prepared by Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar on the house
• AND in addition to the wine & appetizers, a copy of the book, signed for you by the author after the interview, is included in the ticket cost.

VIEW VIDEO (1:33) about the Innovators Series.

Special thanks to Kim Ricketts for her organizational powers. I’ll see you in Seattle!

It’s been an amazing couple of weeks on the Book Tour and now back in San Francisco. More great news is coming but I’d like to share with you a list of recent press, bound to entertain:

• San Francisco Chronicle: Big companies competing in app marketplace (11/11/09)
• [audio] Social Media Hour: #31 (11/10/09)
• The Bulletin: 10 Books to Read in November (11/06/09)
• [audio] KKZZ-AM 1400: Coach Ron Tunick’s Twitter Intervention (11/06/09)
• [video] Haraka Haraka Haina Baraka: Dom Sagolla and the “140 Characters” Book Premiere (11/04/09)
• [audio] Swarthmore News: Twitter Co-founder Dom Sagolla ‘96 on the Short Form (11/02/09)
• [audio] Two Jacks in the Hole: Trick or Treat Huff’s Birthday Tweet w/ Guest Dom Sagolla (10/29/09)
• lalawag: Highlights from the #140conf (10/29/09)
• Publisher’s Weekly: San Francisco Panel Urges Publishers to Keep Experimenting (10/29/09)
• [video] 140 Characters Conference Presents: What’s Next in Social Media? (10/28/09)
• The Daily Gazette: Dom Sagolla ‘96 Presents New Book About Twitter (10/26/09)
• Zahid Lilani: Book Review: 140 Characters by Dom Sagolla (10/22/09)
• Swarthmore Phoenix: Twitter Co-founder, Alum, to Speak About New Book (10/22/09)
• [video] PBS: 5Across: How to Deal with Technology Overload (10/08/09)

I’m pleased to announce that I will be appearing at the Swarthmore College Science Center (near Philadelphia) for a special event.

Friday, October 23nd
4:00pm in room 199 of the Science Center
Swarthmore, PA

Schedule:

1. 4:00-4:15 – book display and presentation setup
2. 4:15 – ready to sell books, maybe signing as well
3. 4:30 – talk, demonstration, and discussion/questions
4. after the talk/discussion – book signing and selling, refreshments

View Map

The event will feature a brief address, a demonstration of the iPhone App, time to answer questions, and the signing of books. It’s been a dream of mine to do this since I graduated from Swarthmore with a degree in English Literature in 1996.

That’s a 13-year goal.

Don’t ever give up on your dreams.

Today begins my first book tour, starting with a trip to Canada for a presentation on the Hypertext Edition.

Speaking at:

• FITC Mobile, Toronto, September 12-14
• Bambou Design, San Francisco, September 15
• 140 | The Twitter Conference, Los Angeles, September 22-23
• Bookshop West Portal, San Francisco October 20, 2009 – BOOK PREMIERE
• The 140 Characters Conference, Los Angeles, October 27-28

Here are a few places I know I’ll be visiting, but have yet to be scheduled:

• Swarthmore College, PA
• Harvard University, MA
• New York City, NY

Want to add your city to this list?  Please contact press@140characters.com.

I’m excited to be speaking at 140 | The Twitter Conference in Los Angeles, alongside Veronica Belmont and Dave Peck.

Tips & Tricks: Tools and Techniques of the Twitterati
Wednesday, September 23
10:15-11:15am
Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles

View Larger Map

This follows the previous 140 | The Twitter Conference, in which I spoke alongside Britt and Loren. It was a great time in Mountain View, and it’ll be wonderful in LA as well.

I may even have advance copies of 140 Characters on hand by then.

Stay tuned.

You’re the proud owner of an iPhone application in the App Store — or soon to be. Now what? How will people know about your app?

Join us for the second networking session of The iPhone Network Lounge @PariSoMa and find out how you can effectively spread the word about your application. Guest speaker Dom Sagolla will describe the power of social media and how to best use it to market an iPhone application.

Event agenda:

6.30-7pm: (30mn) Network and refreshments
7-7.30: (30mn) Speaker presentation
7.30-7.45pm: (15mn) open questions
8-8.45pm: (45mn) Network and refreshments

This is a free networking event for iPhone lovers, including techies, non-techies and business minded. Refreshments will be served and we invite contributions to help provide plenty for everyone.

The event is organized by Bamboudesign and hosted by PariSoMa Coworking Space in San Francisco.

Program:

Market Your App Through Social Media
Speaker: Dom Sagolla
Marketing your app is usually a second thought to most developers and designers, but it takes a community of people to market an app using social media. As a co-creator of Twitter, and author of the upcoming book “140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form“, Dom Sagolla will describe a unique approach to marketing software.

The story of @TheBook and @BookApp is a tale of Twitter and social media success that trails two iTunes Staff Favorites: iPhone apps Big Words and Math Cards. Drawing upon experience helping to create the Obama ‘08 iPhone App last year, Dom will share how his company DollarApp is the simplest model for building a business one app at a time.

More info:

About the speaker

Dom Sagolla
Dom Sagolla helped create Twitter in 2006, and is shipping his first book this October. He is the founder of DollarApp, developing applications for iPhone in San Francisco. He is also co-founder and host of iPhoneDevCamp, an international, not-for-profit developer community. Dom has been an engineer in research and development at HP Laboratories, the MIT Media Lab, and Adobe Systems. He’s contributed Open Source at such startups as Macromedia, Odeo, and Dom.net, has shipped applications such as Dreamweaver and the Adobe Creative Suite, and delivered platforms such as Twitter, Adobe Flash, and AIR. http://dom.net…

About the organizer & host:

Bamboudesign is the creator of the iPhone Network Lounge. Bamboudesign is a San Francisco-based company that designs and develops mobile applications and websites, in particular for the iPhone. Using a human-centered design methodology, combined with an expertise in natural (touch) user interface design, the company delivers products that meet usability, effectiveness and aesthetic standards. http://www.bamboudesi….

PariSoMa is a coworking space in San Francisco that provides desks, wifi and coffee to independents and startups. Our goal is to work as a platform for communities to foster innovation, collaboration and collective intelligence.http://www.parisoma.c….