# Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking site that allows users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets". Registered users on the site can read and post tweets on it, but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or through a Smartphone app.

But did you know this successful social networking site was a side project of team building Odeo, a podcast aggregator where the users could discover podcasts, create channels and also record their podcasts?

However, with the Apple iTunes in the Market, the team decided they couldn’t compete with that. So that’s when Twttr started and changed into today's Twitter. Twttr initially started as a micro blogging platform with plus points of a group messaging application. And now, it has transformed into one of the most influential tools for socio-political networking and is also used for the feedback and customer services for the most of the brands these days.

Twitter has close to 284 million active users monthly with 500 million tweets shared per day on its site. The most interesting part is that, an 80 percent active user of Twitter's user base is on mobile phones which provide support for more than 35 languages.

 # Groupon

With a view to help social good campaigns raise funds without any difficulty with a tipping point system; Andrew Mason started the website called as The Point. This tipping point system ensured that the campaigns raised money only when the assured donations reached the planned tipping level.

Excited about this tipping model, he started Groupon as a weekend project for local deals. The deal works this way, if a basic required number of people agree to opt for the deal, all of them would get a discount code. This idea attracted a lot of attention and at the same time Andrew Mason couldn’t manage both of the tipping systems at the same time.

Groupon now is a multibillion dollar valued company with its presence across most of the places around the world.

READ MORE: The Future Awaits The Rise Of Affectionate Robots and How Tweets Can Gauge Unemployment Levels