The first classical canon of the neo-Aristotelean rhetoric is invention, and invention is recognizing the need for a message. Twitter is really one of the first organizations/companies to create an outlet for people to constantly express what is happening them whenever with 160 characters or less or re-tweet someone else's idea that they liked or thought was cool, or even create a trending topic. There was really no largely known organization like twitter prior to Twitters creation in 2006. Now there is really a system that can keep people connected around the world at all times, people are able to see the messages conveyed by other people with ease, its even possible to have twitter on any kind of cellular device, computer, pda anything. Twitter is also a faster and more accessible way to read the news. If your looking for a quick world update, just check the new york times twitter page, It is constantly being updated.
The second canon is organizational structure. The way twitter is set up is everyone has a homepage where all they put is their name, a few words about themselves and a picture. It is not very detailed, just a simple description. Then there is a wall where you can see your most recent tweets and everyone else's tweets that are being updated constantly. There is also a list of people that you follow and people that follow you, you can also use the simple 'search' button to look for more people. These people are allowed to see your updates (tweets) and you are allowed to see theirs (unless your profile is private). This structure is very simple, its not hard to use at all, even a five year old would be able to manage their own twitter account. The simplicity of the site also makes it more enticing to new users.
The third canon is style and style is the language used by the speaker. On twitter, everyone is their own speaker, but they can also read and interpret what other people said on their tweets. Every type of twitter is different, someone may use their twitter strictly for business and may only tweet information and updates to fellow employees, whereas some people may use their twitter just to tweet their everyday activities or their plans for the evening. There are also restaurants like Starbucks that are always tweeting about free drinks or new drinks being created, each twitter account or tweeter tweets for a different reason.
The fourth canon is delivery, this is how the message gets disseminated to the public. With twitter its easy, all you do is click a button and the message is posted to your wall and your followers walls. The update is instantly, there is no delay with the news, like getting the newspaper delivered to your house. The news is immediate as well as the feedback. If someone wishes to make your tweet a trending topic or re-tweet it for other people to see that is always a possibility. This is how the messages become more widespread and reach over thousands of followers. It is also possible to receive these messages on your cell phone and it will ring immediately when your twitter is being updated.
The fifth canon is memory, which is obviously how we remember and process the message. On twitter you are usually just checking out to see what your friends are doing, or what is going on with your favorite celebrity that day. Its like you are connected with your friends constantly even if they aren't contacting you directly. If you see your favorite celebrity just tweeted they have a new girlfriend or boyfriend, the first thing you are going to do is remember the name of that person then google it. It becomes very routine when it comes to checking your twitter, its part of your daily routine form memory. While you are on twitter, messages are constantly being sent to you whether you want to read it or not, but it is you that gets to pick whether you want to remember what you saw or just go on to something else.
As far as twitter achieving its goal, I would definitely say that it did.
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