The #1 thing holding Twitter back since the #FailWhale days has been: What the hell is it?

Header photo cred: Vanity Fair

It’s not the best network for connecting with friends.

It’s not the best place to share photos.

There are better conversation tools.

So what makes Twitter worth using?

The way that I like to explain the utility of Twitter is: When something amazing, terrifying, historical happens in the world, where do you look to find out what’s going on and get context from people who know? Not Instagram.

Finally, Twitter is publicly declaring what they are and helping people to understand why they might want to log back in with a multi-channel video campaign called: What’s Happening (click the tweet to watch the video).

Ever since the days of Ev vs Noah vs Jack, there has been raging debate about what Twitter is for.

Ev, the founder of Blogger, always believed that Twitter should be the world’s shortest, and best shared status blog. Remember back when we used to use our MSN Messenger or BBM status as a way to update people about what we were up to? That’s exactly what Ev had in mind.

Jack, on the other hand, always believed that Twitter should be about what’s happening around its users. He saw Twitter as a way for millions, or billions of people to act as the world’s greatest reporting network, providing unprecedented transparency into organizations and systems that had previously only happened behind closed doors, and to provide access. Noah just wanted to keep in touch with friends.

The problem has always been that they were all right. That Twitter was different things to different people, and while that may not be a fundamentally bad thing, it makes it difficult for outsiders to grasp what’s going on inside. People naturally fear what they don’t understand, so instead of going mainstream, often Twitter has been made fun of by the late adopters.

Now, with Jack solidly in control of Twitter, they are finally able to make a bold declaration about what it is and how it will be used. What’s Happening is Jack’s big, bold declaration about where Twitter is headed.

Take a look, and if you find yourself using Twitter again, give us a follow: @JunctionYVR #SeeWhatIDidThere?