Top Ten Tweets 2012

10. Twitter reports the death of Whitney Houston:

Unfortunately the death of Whitney Houston made the list for the top ten tweets 2012. Twenty minutes before the world press released the tragic news of Whitney Houston’s death. It was Twitter which heralded the tragic news. The tweet read as follows, posted by @Ajadiornavy. “omgg, my aunt tiffany who work for whitney houston just found whitney houston dead in the tub. Such ashame and sad L.” Subsequent reports have established that a relative of the deceased Houston found her dead in the bath on Feb 11. Despite her poor use of spelling and grammar @Ajadiornavy demonstrated to the world that social media, especially Twitter is capable of beating the worldwide media to report ground breaking news.

9. Scandalous backlash over Olympic ceremony time delay:

This tweet proved to the world that it was actually possible to be banned from the social media platform. Guy Adams the British journalist used the website to publically criticise the time delay in Olympic coverage by American news magnate NBC. Adams was not alone in launching an almost viral barrage of criticism against the station for the shortcomings in delivering the events of the Olympics on time. However, Adams took it one step too far, after accusing NBC of “disgusting money grabbing”, in a post on 27^th July 2012. He went a step further, tweeting the official email of NBC Olympics president, Gary Zenkel. Swiftly after posting this tweet he was removed from the platform. From which stemmed a heated discussion where it emerged that Twitter was an official partner of NBC. Following this revelation Adams account was reinstated. This incident provides a powerful Twitter advice lesson; that users should consider what they are saying before they tweet.

8. Justin Bieber pays his respect:

Considering his phenomenal following of over 36 million, Justin Beibers tweets are usually lacking in content. Consisting of sporadic posts and YouTube videos, which are punctuated by deep personal meditations such as: “Cereal is really good!” However on September 26^th Beiber broke from his own stereotype, when he posted the sentimental and compassionate: “RIP Avalanna. I love you.” The tweet was in reference to six year old Avalanna Routh, one of the super stars many dedicated fans. Avalanna had been battling with a rare, fatal form of cancer. The tweet went viral. Accumulating over 223, 000 retweets, and gaining over 100,000 favourites on the digital media platform. What was most shocking to observers about the tweet was that it showed Bieber was capable of compassion and empathy beyond his years.

7. New Yorker Literature:

The tweet which was posted on the 25^th of May, read as follows. “People rarely look the way you expect them to, even if you’ve seen pictures of them.” The tweet marked the beginning of a series of posts which comprised the “Black Box” story, written by Jennifer Egan. The 8500 word story was published exclusively in tweets. Egan stated that Black Box was an attempt: “to write fiction whose structure would lend itself to serialization on Twitter.” The project was an overwhelming success and demonstrated to the world that art was transmittable in 140 characters.

6. Hospital conducts surgery tweet by tweet:

On February 24^th Memorial Hermann hospital embarked on a groundbreaking and novel concept; to conduct open heart surgery, whilst live feeding the progress to Twitter. The surgery was tweeted from beginning to end via the @HoustonHospital handle. The event, which was later named: “live surgical Twittercast”, was comprised of text, pictures and even answered questions from followers. The initial Twittercast was followed in May by a live-tweeting brain tumour removal.

5. Obama’s dismissal of sceptics:

This would have to be our favourite on the list of top ten tweets 2012. Following Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republican national convention, during which he referred to the presidential chair as “empty”. The comment spread via Twitter like wild fire, resulting in satirical accounts appearing such as @InvisibleObama. With his trademark level of finesse Obama personally dismissed the allegation. Moments after the speech was made Team Obama sent out a tweet. Depicting Obama sat in the presidential chair with the caption, “This seat’s taken.”

4. McDonald’s retaliates to Bloomberg:

The tweet which was posted on 1^st June read. “@Bloomberg we trust our customers to make the choices that are best for them.” The tweet came in retaliation to an announcement by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg in which he proposed a ban on large sugary drinks. The announcement was met by widespread controversy. McDonald’s was quick to defend its position launching the statement to its Twitter following of 795,000.

3. Twitter on Mars:

The third on our list of top ten tweets 2012 is the Curiosity Rover which marked NASA’s latest excursion to find life on Mars. Whether life was found or not is currently unknown, however this tweet certainly revealed there was Twitter on Mars. Upon landing on the red planet the Curiosity Rover posted the tweet. “I am safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! #MSL.” The post marked one of many ways online users could follow the success of the Curiosity Rover, which included video streams on YouTube.

2. Athlete uses Twitter to vent frustration at NFL:

The shocking tweet read: F*** it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay regular refs.” The tweet which was posted on 25^th September by T.J. Lang, followed a wrong decision by an NFL replacement referee which cost his team the game against Seattle Seahawks. The rant naturally rapidly went viral. Gathering an impressive 55,000 retweets in the first 45 minutes. The tweet also opened the flood gates to widespread criticism against the NFL. What is most surprising is that the Twitter protest not only had effect but the speed with which change occurred. Two days later NFL announced a deal whereby it would reinstate regular referees.

1. Obama’s election victory marks most popular tweet of all time:

No surprises who won the top spot on our top ten tweets 2012 list, Barack Obama. November 6^th following Obama’s second presidential victory, also bore witness to the most popular tweet in the platforms history. Obama’s social media campaigns have always been at top level and this famous tweet was short but certainly sweet, reading: “four more years.” Included in the tweet was a picture of the president and his first lady embraced in a hug. In total it was retweeted a ground breaking 800,000 times. The tweet broke all other records within 20 minutes of its posting. Following Obama’s victory, articles quoting the tweet appeared all over the internet. All of which increased the retweet rate of the tweet.