I’ve written on countless of times (and being correct of course) that Twitter (and social media) is massively disrupting many industry ecosystems. Today, NY Times writes a great post that completely validates the impact of the social web in their featured story on Twitter by Nick Bilton.

Rather than trying to articulate (like many times before in previous posts) I’m including select and edited text from Nick.

Hundreds of thousands of people now rely on Twitter every day for their business. Food trucks and restaurants around the world tell patrons about daily food specials. Corporations use the service to handle customer service issues. Starbucks, Dell, Ford, JetBlue and many more companies use Twitter to offer discounts and coupons to their customers. Public relations firms, ad agencies, schools, the State Department — even President Obama — now use Twitter and other social networks to share information.

There are communication and scholarly uses. Right now, an astronaut, floating 250 miles above the Earth, is using Twitter and conversing with people all over the globe, answering both mundane and scientific questions about living on a space station.

Most importantly, Twitter is transforming the nature of news, the industry from which many journalists reaps their paychecks. The news media are going through their most robust transformation since the dawn of the printing press, in large part due to the Internet and services like Twitter. After this metamorphosis takes place, everyone will benefit from the information moving swiftly around the globe.

You can see that change beginning to take place. During the protests in Iran last year, ordinary Iranians shared information through Twitter about the government atrocities taking place. That supplemented the reporting by professional journalists, who faced restrictions on their movements and coverage. More recently, after the earthquake in Haiti, Twitter helped spread information about donation efforts, connected people to their loved ones, and of course, spread news from inside the country — news that reprinted in this publication.

Finally, there’s the filtering, entertainment and serendipitous value of these services.

Trains and Twitter:

As Nick was referring to in his story about trains as new technology 150 years ago. He notes that some journalists and intellectuals worried about the destruction that the railroads would bring to society. Nick goes on to say

"One news article at the time warned that trains would “blight crops with their smoke, terrorize livestock … and people could asphyxiate” if they traveled on them."

"I wonder if, 150 years ago, people thought they would be riding the train at all, or if he would have stayed home, afraid to engage in an evolving society and demanding that the trains be stopped."

Even More Innovation Coming – Data Drives New Capability

The Twitter data is loaded with great unstructured data that when ported to a computing and contextual model it’s a home run for developers. In layman’s terms using the Twitter data in combination with another product (like search as an example) really makes sense.

The Twitter data with other search assets enables the possibilities to create a great user experience for consumers (not just searching but discovery and navigation).

Twitter itself as we know it today won’t be the mainstream product for consumers. Instead Twitter and it’s data on it’s own terms will "enable" consumer applications and services. That’s the future and Twitter knows this which is why they are investing in massive developer outreach (tools, APIs, and a conference) led by Ryan Sarver.

Twitter is Mainstream – Plain and Simple

I recently had a private conversation with Ev Williams, the CO and cofounder of Twiter, and I said to him thatTwitter is a done deal – it’s mainstream. I reminded him of my observation about the World Wide Web back in 1995. It was evident that when I started seeing URLs on TV that I knew the Web was real and unstoppable (note: many were saying the Web was stupid and a irrelevant network – yeah can you believe that).

Same is true for Twitter today. When you see Twitter all over broadcast TV and changing the shape of industries you know Twitter is established, and that it’s the real deal.

Like the Web in 1995 Twitter 2009 has established it’s value as a new defacto standard and is unstoppable.

UPDATE: My comment on the NY Times blog this morning to some of the comments that poo poo Twitter. I also make reference to my view on Twitter (Furrier’s Law): 100% of the value of Twitter will come from 20% of the population.

I wrote in the New York Times the following:

Not to offend the commenter(s) who poo poo Twitter but they are flat out *wrong*. Twitter is a utility for a select few sets of individuals not everyone. However the impact to everyone is great. Nick you pointed this out in your story.

How can anyone debate the impact of Twitter on society – Haiti as the most recent example – there will be countless more.

Here is my view on Twitter (call it Furrier’s Law): 100% of the value of Twitter will come from 20% of the population.

Nick (the NY Times blogger) as you pointed out this is mainstream and my "angle" is that Twitter is an enabling opportunity that will provide amazing opportunities to media and journalism entrepreneurs. The new school will pass by the "stubborn" old school. Glad to see the NY Times making the changes.