What on Earth did we do with ourselves before Twitter? It may be a challenge to remember, as the social media giant celebrates its ninth anniversary.
This is where it all began, when co-founder Jack Dorsey got the ball rolling with his first “Twttr” post, as it was called back then.
1/9: Nine years ago, it all started with a Tweet. https://t.co/4WkQb6ZuGP pic.twitter.com/49pLA4A1Jj
— Twitter (@twitter) March 20, 2015
A-list celebrities soon flew the nest and into the dawn of a new digital age.
HI TWITTERS . THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY .
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) April 17, 2009
And began to teach rules of etiquette too.
@oprah ur caps r on, btw
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) April 17, 2009
Because you never know which noble peers you might be in the company of.
It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.
— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) October 24, 2014
Even high profile organizations made their presence felt.
We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.
— CIA (@CIA) June 6, 2014
And it’s the place to get the best gossip in town.
The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton – www.princeofwales.gov.uk
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 16, 2010
As well as a source of breaking news, as it happens, such as the impromptu live-tweeting of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).
— Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) May 1, 2011
Another historical moment included in Twitter’s round up of the top ten tweets of all time was U.S. President’s Barack Obama’s expression of triumph after winning his second term. His post was the most retweeted in history.
Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012
Crossing the most distant boundaries, we also witnessed the first Vine from the cosmos.
Reid Wiseman takes the first Vine video from space! https://t.co/TnbDnhyzBc
— AIAA (@aiaa) June 11, 2014
And we learned from NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander that there is ice on the Red Planet.
Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!
— MarsPhoenix (@MarsPhoenix) June 20, 2008
A little bit of narcissism never hurt anyone either, apart from breaking the Internet.
If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014
There is one problem, however. When you get it wrong, the whole world quickly hears about it. Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner faced a backlash after mocking the Chinese in a tweet, replacing the letter “r” with the letter “l,” so it sounded like she was saying lice and petloleum, instead of rice and petroleum.
Más de 1.000 asistentes al evento… ¿Serán todos de “La Cámpola” y vinieron sólo por el aloz y el petlóleo? …
— Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) February 4, 2015
But she was also quick to apologize. “Sorry. You know what? It’s just that things are so excessively ridiculous and absurd. They can only be digested with humor. …” she added, a minute later.
Sorry. ¿Sabes qué? Es que es tanto el exceso del ridículo y el absurdo, que sólo se digiere con humor. Sino son muy, pero muy tóxicos.
— Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) February 4, 2015
Retweets and mentions have become seamless additions to our vocabulary. And all hail the hashtag, which was born out of a simple call out.
how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?
— Chris Messina ☠ (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007
What used to be just a pound sign has evolved into a tool of protest and solidarity, with far reaching campaigns such as #BringBackOurGirls and #illridewithyou.
Maybe start a hashtag? What’s in #illridewithyou?
— Sir Tessa (@sirtessa) December 15, 2014
pic.twitter.com/5hr2brBJQt
— joachim (@joachimroncin) January 7, 2015
In true Twitter style, the platform’s gratitude for its 288 million monthly users was brief, but poignant.
“As for us, we will continue to thank you and celebrate you in the coming years as you use Twitter to reflect both the world at large and the world immediately around you.”
