A brief history of Twitter - in tweets

Billions of messages are fired off each week via Twitter, many of which capture defining moments in history.


Afp November 04, 2013
Billions of messages are fired off each week via Twitter, many of which capture defining moments in history. PHOTO: REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO: Billions of messages are fired off each week via Twitter, many of which capture defining moments in history, or in the evolution of the San Francisco-based firm.

Below is a sampling of 10 memorable tweets since the Twitter era began.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


March 2006

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet, an automated message saying "just setting up my twttr." That same day, he sent the first live tweet, "inviting coworkers."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


April 2008

US university student James Buck got off a one-word tweet after being taken into custody by Egyptian authorities at an anti-government protest in that country. In what is seen as an early demonstration of the power of Twitter to rally people to a cause, the resulting outcry prompted authorities to quickly restore his liberty. He proclaimed his release in a tweet reading "Free."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


January 2009

A US Airways jet crash-landed on the Hudson River in New York. This tweet and others by witnesses and passengers was accompanied by a link to a picture of the scene, breaking the news well ahead of mainstream media outlets.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


April 2009

Talk show queen and media royalty Oprah Winfrey took Twitter mainstream with her debut post and now has more than 21 million followers.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………



May 2009
Astronaut Mike Massimino makes history with the first tweet from space.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Twitter Revolution"

June 2009

Not a specific tweet, but an unofficial name given to a bold movement by thousands of Iranians who took to the streets to protest what they saw as a rigged presidential election and used Twitter to thwart government efforts to block them from communicating with one another and the world. Two years later, Twitter would become a vital tool used in "Arab Spring" series of uprisings in an array of countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


May 2011

IT consultant Sohaib Athar unknowingly tweeted about US Navy Seals raiding a nearby home in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding. Bin Laden was killed during the operation.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


November 2012

US President Obama put out word of his election victory along with a picture of him and his wife, Michelle, hugging. The post was "retweeted" more than 800,000 times, becoming the most shared Twitter message to date.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


December 2012

Pope Benedict XVI launched the first papal Twitter account, which was continued by his successor, Pope Francis. The English-language papal account has more than three million followers, and a Spanish-language version four million.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


February 2013

A tweet fired off by the makers of Oreo cookies when a power outage interrupted the American football spectacle known as the Super Bowl was an instant hit, demonstrating the potential of Twitter to adapt cleverly to the real-time messaging platform.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured."

April 2013

Hackers from a group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army commandeered a news wire account and posted this bogus message, showing that Twitter has become such a trusted place for the latest information that it had become a target.

COMMENTS (1)

smooth criminal | 10 years ago | Reply

interesting; wish you had thrown a reference to Michael Jackson's death in 2009 as that also showed how quickly social media can hype up and bring together people in a pop-culture scenario

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ