WASHINGTON – From the raid that killed bin Laden to a pick-up game of flag football, this year Twitter has been used to break pivotal moments in world history and keep pro basketball players entertained.
With help from the monthly Twitter Stories, Mashable recently compiled the top 10 stories of the year.
- @Ghonim – On Jan. 26, online activist and Google executive Wael Ghonim tweeted: “I said one year ago that the Internet will change the political scene in Egypt and some friends made fun of me.” The next day he was detained and blindfolded for 12 days for organizing protests against the Mubarak government. His disappearance became a rallying point for the protestors. His name appeared on posters in Tahrir Square. After he was released, Ghonim said “If you want to liberate a government, give them the Internet.”
- @ReallyVirtual – Shohaib Athar became the computer programmer from Abbotabad, Pakistan who inadvertently live-tweeted the raid on the Osama bin Laden compound. On May 1, Athar tweeted: “helicopter hovering above Abbotabad at 1AM (is a rare event).” Later, Athar described a huge window-shaking bang.
- @KDTrey5 – NBA star kevin Durant, the 6’9″ 230 pound forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder recently made the switch to football, during the NBA lockout. Durant tweeted: “This lockout is really boring..anybody playing flag football in Okc..I need to run around or something!” A student at Oklahoma State saw the tweet and invited Durant to join his fraternity brothers for a game. Thanks to the power of Twitter, a few hours later, Durant was playing football with the group of students.
- @putodanny – A project for the homeless called Underheard gave Daniel Morales a prepaid cell phone and helped him create a Twitter account. Morales used the newly created account to find his daughter, 27-year-old, Sarah Rivera. The message spread via the social network and Morales’ daughter called the next day. Two days later they met in Bryant Park and he met his grandchildren for the first time.
- @conaxsilver – After the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, the world turned to Twitter, where messages about the disaster and to family members were tweeted and retweeted globally.
- @Stefmara – Stefanie Gordon was on a plane from New York to Palm Beach, Fla. when she took a few pictures and video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour soaring into the atmosphere from her window seat. Her photos created a sensation on Twitter.
- @EinAugenschmaus – Julia Probst, an avid German football fan is deaf but reads the lips of players and coaches and then tweets what they’re saying. Her efforts have helped raise awareness for the deaf and disabled.
- @sophontrack – Following the destructive UK riots in August, Dan Thompson, Sophie Collard and Sam Duckworth wanted to clean up their neighborhoods, but knew they needed a hand. They joined together, using the hashtag #riotcleanup.
- @bozucuk – Turkish TV news anchor Okan Bayulgen used Twitter to disseminate emergency information following the October earthquake in Van, Turkey. His followers tweeted him information of people still trapped, and he passed the message on to relief workers.
- @petershankman – Peter Shankman jokingly tweeted to Morton’s steakhouse before boarding a plan to Newark, asking them to meet him at the airport with a steak when he landed. Even though he didn’t receive a reply, when he landed, a tuxedo-clad Morton’s waiter was there to meet him at the arrival gate with steak, shrimp, a side of potatoes, bread, two napkins, and silverware.
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