Maybe you log in to tweet about your personal life, or maybe you like keeping up with Miley and Ashton, but we prefer to think that Twitter‘s future is going to be much more interesting than a bunch of @pointlesstweets.
Currently, Twitter is a part of the big ten in social media, occupying 1.23% of the social media market, but growing in daily tweets at a rate of 280%. Interestingly enough, most people who frequently tweet do so about their personal lives. However, it is increasingly being used to exchange news information by updating the world quickly and efficiently. Take a look at some of our favorite attention-grabbing tweets.
Arrested
In 2008, James Buck, a student and journalist researching an anti-government protest in Egypt, was arrested by local police. As he was being taken away, he managed to tweet the simple phrase, “arrested.” His friends saw the tweet and immediately began contacting a lawyer for his trial and eventual release.
Live-Tweet of Osama Bin Laden’s Death
An Abbottabad native, Sohaib Athar, unknowingly tweeted the series of events that led to Osama Bin Laden’s death, including a play-by-play of the helicopter, crashes, and shooting. Later he would realize that he had been the person who live-tweeted Bin Laden’s death, and complained that he had gone to the mountains to escape the violence of the cities.
BP’s “Whoopsie Daisy”
A parody account, BPGlobalPR seemed to haunt BP’s every attempt to soothe tensions as it dealt with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 (the biggest oil spill in history). Its users doubled that of the real account during the spill, and many were fooled into thinking that it was a real account.
CEO Resigns, and a Haiku, too
Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz became the first CEO to resign via Twitter, citing the financial crisis as one of his reasons for calling it quits.
Water on Mars
The Mars Phoenix expedition announced the groundbreaking discovery of water on Mars with a series of excited tweets. The twitter stream was a genius way to capture the attention of younger generations, and it did, reaching the #12 most followed stream during May of 2008.
The Engagement Tweet
Inevitably, someone had to be the first to propose in 140 characters or less. Greg Rewis, a self-confessed geek, asked Sarah Sullivan to marry him in a tweet that would be the first of many social media proposals.
We love Twitter, despite the fact that finding good content can be difficult when so many use it for an hourly activity update. Intrinsically, Twitter is made to relay small updates that are easily and quickly accessed by as large a network as you want. It is very much like a news feed and history for your personal or organizational use. Take these examples to heart, and tweet something newsworthy.
Do you have any favorite twitter moments?
Leah Marsden
Marketing Coordinator | Content Contributor
As a coordinator, multi-tasker and impressive information juggler, Leah shares her expertise in a copious array of topics relating to business, marketing and general must-knows.
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Thanks, @SimpLee_Serene ! I came across so many interesting tweets researching this article. Like you mentioned, it can save a life. For instance, a Demi Moore fan about to attempt suicide tagged Demi Moore in her tweet, and Moore and friends and family intervened (see: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7248406&page=1). It's nice to know that Twitter is being used for good. I think it will be interesting to see how charities and non-profits will begin using it as it becomes more popular.
GREAT post thank you! I have lots of favorites for many different reasons:
Connection, saving a life, global friendship and business relationship and on and on