Evan Williams

“Traditional news is often full of mistakes, but I think that people are getting more sophisticated in knowing what to trust and what not to trust.”

“Anything I've done that really worked happened because, either by sheer will or a lack of options, I was incredibly focused on one problem.”

“In the best cases, Twitter makes people smarter and faster and more efficient.”

“The only reason Twitter itself would be a fad is if someone comes along and does it better.”

“I think Twitter will be a fundamental part of how people interact with their government.”

“I was broke for more than 10 years. I remember staying up all night one night at my first company and looking in couch cushions the next morning for some change to buy coffee.”

“Blogging got the concept of personal publishing, but it didn't really take advantage of the network.”

“I subscribe to about 200 blogs. I look for insights and good writing, and I look to get smarter.”

“'What is Twitter?' has always been a tough question to answer.”

“Where you are defines what you're interested in.”

“What the Internet is great at is building networks.”

“My strong belief - in being in blogging before Twitter - is that in trying to create more information out there, in trying to create the democratization of media in general, is that the more voices there are out there then the likelihood is that the truth bubbles up to the top.”

“People are fans of Dunkin' Donuts. They have a relationship with the company, they go there every day. Dunkin' Donuts is using Twitter to communicate with those people. There are people who are finding value in that. There's thousands of people, I don't know how many thousands now, following Dunkin' Donuts.”

“I like to think of the world as a sort of a casino, except the house doesn't have the advantage. If you're smart, you have an advantage. It behooves you to place a lot of bets.”

“There's something about just hanging around when it comes to success on the Internet.”

“Blogging and traditional media work together. Twitter complements traditional media.”

“I've always had a tendency to be much more optimistic about people than I should be. I'd like to be a little shrewder.”

“Unfortunately, 'climate' has become a dirty word - obviously in politics, but even to some degree in my world, in venture capital. People hesitate if they see something that's purported to be green. That's not a reason to invest for many people.”

“A key element of Web blogs is the community element. Most blogs are not self-contained; they are highly dependent on linking to each other.”

“I believe that companies that are independent are more competitive, ultimately.”