Over 100 million people around the world log in to Twitter every day to tweet about everything from their daily commutes to the meals they eat, but many have used the social networking tool this year to share important events with people who could be thousands of miles away.
Every year, Twitter compiles a year-in-review to recap what the company believes were the most important tweets. They highlight the “best” according to the level of “impact, resonance, and relevance”, and take into account the big stories that first broke on Twitter by people looking to share a photo, a thought, or a moment in time with people they may never meet, ABC News reports.
1. “Welcome back Egypt #Jan25” Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager at Google who became a symbol of the revolutionary movement, was held in captivity for nearly 12 days by the Egyptian government under Hosni Mubarak for organizing protests.
2. “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)”A local man in Abbottabad, Pakistan unknowingly live-tweeted the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound before any news agency broke the story of the terrorist''s death on May 1.
3. “my daughter her name is sarah m. rivera” A homeless man called Daniel Morales living in New York was reunited with his daughter after years apart after his first, single tweet.In February, Puerto Rican-born Morales was given the use of a prepaid mobile phone through an organisation called Underheard, which helps give a voice to homeless people.Morales used the phone to set up a Twitter account and tweet: “my daughter her name is sarah m rivera.” He also posted a photograph of his daughter aged 16 and, later, his number. Sarah, now 27, called him the next day.
3. “my daughter her name is sarah m. rivera” A homeless man called Daniel Morales living in New York was reunited with his daughter after years apart after his first, single tweet.In February, Puerto Rican-born Morales was given the use of a prepaid mobile phone through an organisation called Underheard, which helps give a voice to homeless people.Morales used the phone to set up a Twitter account and tweet: “my daughter her name is sarah m rivera.” He also posted a photograph of his daughter aged 16 and, later, his number. Sarah, now 27, called him the next day.
4. “This lockout is really boring..anybody playing flag football in Okc..I need to run around or something!” During this year’s standoff between the basketball players in the US’s NBA and the sport’s authorities over money, Kevin Durant, 23, a forward with the Oklahoma City Thunder, was just itching for a bit of competitive sport. So, in October, he asked if anyone fancied a game of non-contact American Football. A university student in the city responded and, a few hours later, the basketballer, one of the superstars of the NBA, turned up to play.