h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"A status could be useful for any Twitter user and for brands to understand where people are when they tweet rather than just guessing. Kruzeniski said his team is considering whether to keep statuses associated with tweets sent during that time or to let them disappear.

Twitter is also testing an icon that would show if a user someone follows is online, which also could be aggregated as a list of “who’s online” at the top of a user’s timeline. The feature would be opt-in, said Sara Haider, Twitter’s director of product management."

Hmm, staus's in your name and 'who's online'. Sound familiar? Should Hooto to sue twitter?

https://digiday.com/marketing/twitter-new-features-improve-conversation/

I used to get dizzy trying to comprehend how many web sites there were, and how they evolved to where they are now. There were sites that existed before H2G2/Digital Village, let alone before the BBC took over this site. Was H2G2 the first site to use those features? If so, then plagiarism (or some equivalent thereof) might be suspected.

But this time I will not try to figure out when each site adopted which technology, because it's a Herculean task, one beyond the resources of one person.

My best guess? The features you mention were already in common use. It's likely that both H2G2 and Twitter copied them form somewhere else.

I eagerly await advice from someone who has been able to look further into this.

Hi,

Brian tells me that Jubii chat, predecessor of Lycos chat had the "online" status marker in 1998, so about the same time!

In any event, it's a good idea. I'm glad it caught on.