By Chloe W
‘Tweets’. ‘Hashtags’. ‘Mentions’. Just a year ago these words carried little meaning for anyone outside of the world of technology PR and journalism. 12 months on, and due to the enormous success of Twitter, such phrases have become commonplace and the microblogging site has evolved into a key social and business networking tool. The site has fundamentally altered the way people across the globe now search, discover and digest the news. From Michael Jackson’s dramatic passing, to the Hudson plane disaster back in January, Twitter has been there first, breaking and often making the headlines.
Seeing as it’s Christmas, however, I’m not about to dive in with a Robert Scoble sized analysis of social media anatomy and physiology. Instead, I thought it would be far more fun to put finger to keyboard and look back at some of the greatest and most memorable events to have taken Twitter by storm in 2009:
• Michael Jackson’s death: Twitter almost had a cardiac arrest itself as it struggled to cope with the surge in traffic as reports of the moonwalking one’s death surfaced. For less than an hour after the story broke on American gossip site TMZ was Twitter and its trending topics palpating with speculation surrounding the circumstances of the superstar’s untimely and apparently suspicious departure
• The Iran Election: Back in July, Twitter’s top 10 ten trending topics were for days overtaken with users commenting on the protests which rocked Iran following its contentious elections. Minute by minute reports were coming in from protesters on the ground in Tehran, journalists covering the news in Iran, and thousands of watchers across the globe. People used to tune in to TV to find out what was happening in the world, yet Twitterers were keeping up to date by linking to photos and live videos as the events unfolded
• Habitatgate: Piggybacking on the dramatic activities in Iran taught one opportunistic Habitat intern a lesson or two social about networking etiquette. The work experience employee used hashtags containing words such as ‘Iran’ in its messages so people searching for the subject during the country’s election unrest would see the firm’s adverts. Unsurprisingly the world’s Twitterati was incandescent with rage and Habitat was left trying to paper over the cracks of a corporate comms catastrophe
• The Hudson Plane Disaster: It took just minutes for news to spread of a plane crashing into the Hudson River in New York last January to reach Twitter. Pictures and and videos linked from the disaster were splashed all over the microblogging site with reporters making news stories directly from live reports from witnesses near the scene
• XFactor (and not just because it’s my favourite programme): Some people thought the Show’s controversial new format was its biggest story this year. And those that did were wrong. In fact, it was actually the way the talent (ahem) contest came to life online as people shared, predicted and debated everything from contestant’s song choices to Jedward mania and Cheryl and Danni’s choice of dress. Meanwhile the millions following the show simultaneously on TV and Twitter were able to both enhance and share their viewing experience
Some others worth checking out include: Euro star chaos, Twitter celebrity trends, Worst celeb tweets of 09 and Twitter gets hacked.
There are undoubtedly so many more amazing moments worthy of a mention and as a huge Twitter fan I could find enough to fill several blog posts. To avoid that happening, however, I’ll stop there and leave it to you to muse over any I have overlooked.
