TWEET, TWEET Social media phenomenon Twitter owes some of its success to Sarasota entrepreneur Janis Krums. On a business trip on Jan. 15, the 24-year-old found himself on a commuter ferry alongside downed U.S. Airways flight 1549 as it floated in the Hudson River. Krums, like many of the ferry’s passengers, took a picture—but then he uploaded the photo to Twitter, where it was immediately viewed worldwide. Within minutes, MSNBC and CNN contacted him for interviews. The next week, Krums, who began the year with around 150 Twitter followers, “tweeted” the presidential inauguration for an online audience of nearly 5,000; he also was an official “tweeter” for this spring’s Sarasota Film Festival. Initially, Krums admits, Twitter was only one of several sites he’d tried to promote his nutritional supplement company, Elementz. “I wasn’t very active on Twitter,” he says. “I use it now.”
