2011: The year that belonged to Twitter

In the five short years since it was launched in 2006, Twitter has become an online phenomenon. The social networking site, which allows users to “tweet” their thoughts in 140 characters or fewer has been growing steadily, but 2011 was the year Twitter really took off. It was the year it made the news and broke the news, the year we turned to it to share our reactions to big events. It was also the year that tweets were regularly quoted in newspapers and the year in which the Pope and Alan Partridge sent their first tweets.

In short, Twitter went mainstream as a medium in 2011 and as a result many of the biggest events of the year – from the Arab Spring to the death of Osama Bin Laden – were viewed through Twitter’s lens. So how did this online juggernaut shape – and break – the news in 2011?

TWITTER AND THE ARAB SPRING

The most popular Twitter hashtags in the Arab region in the first quarter of 2011 were “Egypt”, “Jan25”, “Libya”, “Bahrain” and “protest”. Alongside Facebook, Twitter was used as a tool to spread information and organise protests. In June, the Arab Social Media Report was published by the Dubai School of Government saying that social media has “played a critical role in mobilisation, empowerment, shaping opinions and influencing change.”

Wael Ghonim (@ghonim) a marketing manager at Google who became a symbol of Egypt’s revolution was imprisoned for nearly two weeks for organising protests against the Egyptian government. Upon his release on 11 February, he simply tweeted “Welcome back Egypt #Jan25”. The message was furiously retweeted across the globe and was picked by Twitter as one of their top ten tweets of 2011.

On 20 October, after rebel fighters captured and killed Muammar Gaddafi, journalist Malik Al-Abdeh (@MalikAlAbdeh) was the first person to confirm Gaddafi’s death, and he did so on Twitter, tweeting: “First to tweet this from on-ground sources and I can confirm: #GADDAFI IS DEAD. He was shot dead by #FF in #Tripoli. #Libya”.

THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN IS LIVE-TWEETED

At 11:35pm on 2 May @whitehouse tweeted a quote from president Barack Obama confirming the death of Osama Bin Laden. However Twitter had already broken the story hours earlier. Sohaib Athar, an IT consultant working in Abbottabad, Pakistan was awake when the raid took place at Bin Laden’s compound at 1am. He tweeted: “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).”

He went on to report the crash of the helicopter and that the aircraft was not Pakistani. Nine hours later, upon realising what he had witnessed he tweeted: “Uh oh, now I’m the guy who live blogged the Osama raid without knowing it.”

By the time the official announcement was made, Twitterers all over the world had guessed the truth, confirmed by a tweet from Keith Urbahn, chief of staff for the Office of Donald Rumsfeld, over an hour before the White House tweet. His message – “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.” – was frantically retweeted. As the world absorbed the news, Twitter users took to their accounts with quips about the death of the world’s most wanted man. Among them were an account with the username @jesus which tweeted “Sorry, you’re at the wrong gate, Osama” and a New Zealand resident who said “R.I.P Osama Bin Laden – World Hide And Seek Champion (2001 – 2011)”

RETWEET PERFORMANCE

According to Twitter, the most re-tweeted tweet of 2011 was from American fast food chain Wendy’s who pledged to donate a small sum of money to charity for each retweet. It read: “RT for a good cause, Each retweet sends 50c to help kids in foster care. #TreatItFwd.” The tweet raised $50,000 for the children’s charity and earned Wendy’s a “Golden Tweet” award from Twitter.

UNLIKELY TRENDING TOPICS

Both the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Enquiry into the practices of the British press have been followed closely on Twitter. However one of the biggest trending topics on the subject has been #thewomanontheleft which referred to a lawyer, sitting at the left of the screen while Hugh Grant was giving evidence, who appeared to be swooning, giggling and generally behaving like a lovestruck schoolgirl while the actor was on the stand.

THE TEN MOST TWEETED EVENTS OF 2011

1 28 August Beyoncé’s pregnancy, revealed at the MTV Video Music Awards.

2 17 July The FIFA Women’s World Cup final .

3 18 July News that Brazil have been knocked out of the Copa America.

4 1 January New Year’s Day in Japan.

5 26 June The 2011 BET (Black Entertainment Television) Awards in the US.

6 28 May Manchester United’s loss to Barcelona in the Champions League final.

7 11 March The Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

8 12 June The last game of the 2011 NBA finals in the US.

9 23 August The American east coast earthquake.

10 2 May The death of Osama bin Laden.

THE BIEBER EFFECT

Log on to Twitter at any given time and there’s a good chance that a certain teenage pop prince will be trending. With over 12 million followers, Justin Bieber has the second biggest following on Twitter (coming in a close second to Lady Gaga) and was the most Tweeted-about person of 2011.

IN MEMORIAM

The world took to Twitter to remember Apple CEO Steve Jobs when he died in October. Jobs-related hashtags including #thankyousteve and #iSad – started trending and memorable tweets included:

@BarackObama Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. From all of us at #Obama2012, thank you for the work you make possible every day—including ours.”

And: @jwmoss Steve Jobs was born out of wedlock, put up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college, then changed the world. What’s your excuse?

FORBIDDEN TWEETS

At the royal wedding on 29 April, guests were banned from tweeting from the abbey. However the television-viewing audience were free to take to the network to voice their opinions on the nuptials. Unsurprisingly Beatrice’s hat and Pippa’s bottom featured heavily. Around 5.8 million tweets carried royal wedding-related hashtags over the four days surrounding the wedding.

Twitter played a role in the London riots in August. Some looters used the social network to incite violence, but most turned to the more covert, less traceable Blackberry Messenger (BBM) to help organise the riots. However, Twitter was used more by Londoners to spread news about the violence, with users warning others about rioting hotspots and sharing images and information as events unfolded. In the aftermath of the violence the Twitter account @riotcleanup was set up, quickly getting over 70,000 followers. The account was used to organise volunteers who turned out in their thousands to help clean up the mess left behind by the rioters. Back in March, after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Twitter was used to help connect friends and families and to pass on emergency information. With phone lines down, it became a vital tool and was even used to help locate people who were trapped in their homes. Twitter Japan created a series of official hashtags to help spread information. These included #j_j_helpme to aid rescuers in locating trapped people. After the attacks in Oslo and Utoya on 22 July, news spread quickly on Twitter. The social network was used to make an appeal for Norwegians with blood type O – of which there was a shortage – to come forward and make donations.

DEATH BY TWITTER

When a celebrity’s name starts trending on Twitter, it can be a bit of a bad omen. Amy Winehouse fans only needed to see their idol’s name trending on 23 July to know that something was up, and sure enough, Twitterers were sharing the news that the singer had been found dead at her Camden home.

However a number of celebrities have been “killed off” on Twitter when a false rumour gets out of control. On 19 December Jon Bon Jovi was forced to tweet a photograph of himself to prove he wasn’t dead, as a Twitter rumour had suggested. Other stars who felt Twitter’s icy hand on their shoulders in 2011 included Jackie Chan, Jim Carrey, Hugh Hefner, Etta James and Britney Spears.

TEN NEW ACCOUNTS IN 2011

The House of Lords (@UKHouseofLords)

The US Secret Service (@secretservice)

Nelson Mandela (@nelsonmandela)

Alan Partridge (@ThisisPartridge)

Cheryl Cole (@CherylCole)

Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais)

Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie)

Condoleezza Rice (@CondoleezzaRice)

Simon Cowell (@simoncowell)

Rafael Nadal (@rafaelnadal)

TWEETING FOR GOOD AND FOR EVIL

FREEDOM OF TWEETS

In early 2011 several tabloid newspapers published details of various superinjunctions, wherein high-profile figures had turned to the courts to prevent any details of their indiscretions being published in the media. Speculation grew on Twitter as to the identity of the individuals, and before long 75,000 users had identified Ryan Giggs as the anonymous premiership footballer who had taken out an injunction against News Group Newspapers and Big Brother star Imogen Thomas to prevent details of his extramarital affair with the latter being leaked.

Giggs threatened to sue Twitter for the leak, and tweeters responded by repeatedly tweeting and re-tweeting his name in an “I am Spartacus!” moment for the digital age. Many even changed their profile photograph to an image of Giggs.

Needless to say, Giggs was unable to sue everyone on Twitter and Liberal Democrat MP John Hemmings later used parliamentary privilege to name the star in the House of Commons, saying that 75,000 people had already outed him on Twitter and that it would be “impractical” to imprison them all.

HOLY TWEETS

The Pope used an iPad to send his first tweet – which announced the launch of a Vatican news information website – on the Vatican’s account on 28 June. His Holiness’s tweet read: “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”