July 15, 2011, marks the five-year anniversary date of Twitter's founding and the phenomenon is still growing throughout the world. Twitter has been spoofed in movies, cartoons and television shows. But it remains that as people tweet about whatever crosses their mind, our society continues to crave more. It is like eating potato chips. Once you start, you cannot stop. Memorable and talked-about tweets that captured our interest include news stories, celebrities and out of this world tweets.
What tweet originated from another planet?
On June 19, 2008, the Mars Phoenix tweeted that ice had been found on Mars. And bless its little heart, he was ready to celebrate: "Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" The Mars Phoenix sent regular tweets from Mars to keep followers updated on its findings. The Mars Phoenix currently has 137,709 followers.
An example of the power of a tweet?
In January 2010, reporter Ann Curry was covering the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Doctors Without Borders had a team of doctors willing to help with the wounded; however, their plane was not allowed to land. Curry tweeted a plea to the U. S. Air Force to allow the plane to land: "@usairforce find a way to let Doctors without Borders planes land in Haiti: http://bit.ly/8hYZOK THE most effective at this."
What is it like to be followed by someone famous?
Steven Holmes found out when Kayne West chose him over thousands of other followers to be the one person Kayne followed on twitter. Holmes was thrilled and tweeted his gratitude to Kayne. Kayne's twitter account had hundreds of thousands of followers within days of his first tweet; however, Holmes did not find stardom as wonderful when he was flooded with tweets and requests. Holmes eventually tweeted: "Just to clarify, I mean I won't be speaking to any more press/journalists" to make it clear he did not want the attention.
What prompts a monarchy to tweet?
It took the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton to encourage the Clarence House, the private office of the Prince of Wales, to leap into the world of Twitter. Clarence House announced the couple's engagement by tweet on November 16, 2010: "The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton - www.princeofwales.gov.uk"
Can Twitter be used to spread some love and cheer?
Sure it can! You can propose on Twitter, send hugs and kisses on Twitter and you can even apologize on Twitter. Gary Vaynerchuk figured you could say thank you on Twitter. He declared April 3, 2008, as the first "Good People Day." Gary challenged everyone to twitter, blog, write or somehow use social media to spread the word about someone good. His challenge did not go unheard as thousands tweeted about someone special.
Tweeters break news before media outlets.
Even the best journalist has to deal with the problem of getting to the news story in order to report the story. However, people that are standing beside a news story when it happens (or are directly involved in the news story) have been breaking news since Twitter began five years ago. For instance, Mike Wilson was the first person to report the crash of Continental Airlines 737 in 2008 because he was a passenger. His tweet '" "Holy f*****g s**t I wasbjust in a plane crash!" pretty much said it all. And witnesses to US Airways Flight 1549 that went down in the Hudson River in January 2009 were the first to break the news on Twitter and to publish pictures of the crash. Janis Krums tweeted, "There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy." He snapped an awesome picture as he went to help survivors.
What is the most famous tweet in Twitter history?
Any list of famous tweets would be remiss to exclude the very first tweet, which was by Jack Dorsey. On March 21, 2006, Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, tweeted his first status update, "just setting up my twttr" and a brand new form of media networking was born.
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