Twitter in Plain English

Common Craft Explainer Videos
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2010–2022
YouTube
3.1M views · 18 years ago · explainer · dated

Common Craft's short animated explainer that describes what Twitter is and why people use it, in simple language with paper-cutout style visuals. It was made in 2008, when many people had not seen the service.

HN holds it up as the model for a clear, simple explanatory video, the style founders want to copy for their own product pitch.

“I'd love to have something along the lines of Common Craft's”
Explorable explanations & visual explanationBrand strategy & advertising
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5 comments from Hacker News

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@pedrodelfino2021 · in “Twitter in Plain English (2008)”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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p
@patrickk2010 · in “Ask HN: Favorite startup demo videos”
The Google TV introduction is fantastic, note the use of simple graphics and the clear, simple language: link In a similar vein, the famous "Twitter in Plain English": ▶ this video
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@pooper2022 · in “Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far”
> If you were to build a bot to tweet about the weather in Sheffield, you might as well use the API. I don't think twitter is that place and it hasn't been for a while if it ever was. I just watched this video again... ▶ this video To me, the draw of twitter was you could text messages (SMS) to 40404 or get texts from 40404 from people I choose to follow. I had unlimited minutes and unlimited texts but I didn't have an app phone back in 2008 when I signed up for Twitter. The world has changed since then... I'd say if you were to build a bot to tweet about the weather in Sheffield, you are probably better off setting up your own server to write blog posts or something like that? Maybe look into microdata or RSS or something too?
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k
@karanbhangui2010 · in “Ask HN: Can someone suggest a video animator in the Toronto/Waterloo area?”
Hey guys, we're about to launch our first product aimed at universities and colleges in North America. To help decision makers at schools understand our product, we're planning on contracting a simple explanatory video such as ▶ this video on top of our existing website. I'm not having much luck finding someone decent in the area, and was wondering if anyone had suggestions. Thanks in advance.
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K
@KingMax2010 · in “Ask HN: I'd like to make a 30-second screencast. Where do I start?”
So I've a product prototype that I'd like to pitch about in 30-45 seconds, in animation of some form. I'd love to have something along the lines of Common Craft's "Twitter in Plain English (see: ▶ this video), but the problem is I've very limited knowledge of Flash or other similar tools. Where could I get help in working with someone on coming up with a 30-45 second short on the product? And to all those entrepreneurs who've done this before...did you come up with the videos in-house, or was it outsourced?
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