Since the sending of the very first tweet by co-founder Jack Dorsey in March, 2006, Twitter has carved out a seemingly enduring niche in the social media landscape.
No two social media platforms are alike, and while not quite having the broader mass appeal of Facebook, Twitter has nevertheless racked up an impressive track record. Over 1.3 billion accounts have been created, and the platform is used by 135 million users daily, with 350,000 tweets being sent each minute.
Here is a look at some of the interesting things which have endeared the social media platform to so many.
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An indicator of trends
Twitter has often been turned to as an indicator for a diverse range of developing trends in news and public sentiment. For many people, the online world has fast replaced the real world for entertainment and gaming, with sites like Lucky Nugget mobile casino finding immense popularity. Social media sites have similarly grown in patronage, and each holds a certain appeal.
Twitter has become one of the prime social media platforms of choice for social influencers, particularly in the field of politics and political debate.
This appeal becomes all the more apparent when you realize that 83% of the world’s leaders currently operate a Twitter account.
The platform’s orientation towards sudden trends is seen in the use of trending hashtags on points of interest, allowing users to focus in quickly on specific items of interest.
As an interesting fact, the use of these trending hashtags was not part of the original Twitter development – it was suggested by a user in 2007 – a year after the social media platform went live.
Some Twitter firsts
This ability to rapidly herald trends and breaking news has seen Twitter actually trump traditional media outlets with some breaking events and stories.
Perhaps the most memorable was the ditching of a US Airways jet in New York’s Hudson River in 2009. It was, in fact, a photo posted to Twitter that first broke the news of the accident. This perhaps cemented Twitter’s role in breaking news events.
In the recent storming of the US Capitol building, news and updates routinely broke on Twitter, just ahead of the subsequent reporting by the world’s TV and news outlets.
Even the Pope is on Twitter!
As previously mentioned, Twitter has become something of a platform of choice with world leaders and heads of state. Perhaps one of the most conspicuous of these accounts is that of the Pope.
Such is the influence of the platform, that in 2013 the Pope actually announced that one of the key ways in which Catholics could improve themselves was by following the Pope on Twitter and keeping up with tweeted live events.
Perhaps the world leader whose name became synonymous with Twitter in recent times has been Donald Trump. His spectacular fall from grace led to his banning from the platform.
Interestingly, Trump is not officially listed as the most influential user on Twitter – this position is actually held by Taylor Swift, with Donald racking up second place, according to metrics company Brandwatch.
What is the Twitter bird’s name?
Having found a niche in the social media milieu, the ‘blue bird’ Twitter logo has rapidly become as recognizable as icon brands such as McDonald’s and Nike.
But there is one final quirky fact which is generally not even known by avid Twitter users. The little blue bird actually has a name. Perhaps as quirky as the platform itself – that blue Twitter bird is named Larry.
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