The phrase “The best thing since sliced bread” and other variations are commonly used hyperbolic means of praising an invention or innovation. Sliced bread is the arbitrary benchmark against which later innovations should be judged.
The history of the bread slicer dates back to 1912 when Otto Fredrick Rohwedder invented the first loaf-at-a-time bread slicing machine. This original prototype burned down in a fire and it wasn’t until 1928 that Rohwedder had a fully operational commercial machine. The popular use of “the best thing since…” phrase comes from the fact that Wonder Bread, the first mass-marketer of sliced bread as a product, launched a 1930s ad campaign touting the innovation.
5 Reasons Why Twitter Is The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
- 1. The Bread Slicer Made The Loaf Into Smaller Pieces — Twitter Has Made The World Into Smaller Pieces: The world is becoming smaller and smaller one tweet at a time. It is easy to access, learn from and connect people all around the world. You will even see tweets being re-tweeted in a language different than it originated. Twitter has made our local communities and the world abroad much smaller; in this instance smaller is definitely better. Big Is The New Small.
- 2. The Bread Slicer Broke Bread Into Slices — Twitter Is Allowing Christians and Faith-based Communities To Break Bread On-line: Through Twitter Christians and people of faith are able to break bread and share their faith in an on-line world. This really promotes the cause of “going into all the world” and sharing The Gospel. All the world includes the on-line world as well.
- 3. The Bread Slicer Created Exponential Uses For Bread –– Twitter Has Created Exponential Uses For Micro-blogging: The uses for Twitter are endless. People are staying connected, businesses are using it as an effective advertising tool, got ?’s the Twitter world has answers, breaking news, technology updates, stock info., trends, networking, research… and these uses go on and on like the Energizer Bunny. Speaking of the Energizer Bunny, I haven’t seen him around in awhile, maybe it’s because Energizer Battery Co. now has the @energizer bunny.
- 4. The Innovation Bread Slicer Allowed Bread To Be Mass Marketed — The innovation of Twitter has allowed it to become the ultimate mass marketing source of information: Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams accurately calls his innovation a “practically priceless exchange for connections and information.”
- 5. Sliced Bread Will Never Go Away — Twitter Is Here To Stay!
I could share a number of more reasons Why Twitter Is The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread; however I think you get the picture. There are many new innovations that are coming out daily, although in my opinion Twitter is going to be at the top of the list for quite some time. Maybe Twitter is the new innovation benchmark and people will begin to use the phrase, “The Best Thing Since Twitter!”
What do you think? Is Twitter the best thing since sliced bread? Why or Why Not?