For something that started out as a microblogging service, Twitter has certainly gone a long way. We could say that it is changing many socio-economic aspects on our society. Do you think I am exaggerating? Then check out the 20 crazy things that already happened on Twitter below.
1. A a marriage proposal
Because every social network worth its salt needs to have a marriage proposal sooner or later right? (And please ignore the fact that @maxkiesler made a statement rather than a question…)
2. A marriage proposal acceptance
How awkward would it have been if @emilychang had rejected huh? Luckily she didn’t.
3. A suicide note
Unfortunately social networks are not only about good things and joy. A Twitter user named @sandieguy (inactive now) used the tool to let the world know about her suicide plan.
4. A retweet saving a life
Curiously enough the above user sent one of her suicide tweets to Demi Moore. The actress retweeted it to her thousands of followers, and people started calling the San Jose police. The police located the person and took her to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
5. A company selling apartments
The Brazilian company Tecnisa created a special promotion for social networks, and in June of this year it managed to sell the first apartment ever on Twitter, at a face value of around $250,000.
6. A company selling computers
Dell also started using Twitter to promote and sell its products. The campaign has been very successful so far, with over $2 million in sales generated with Twitter exclusive deals.
7. A company selling sponsored tweets
Izea decided to take the whole Twitter marketing thing to the next level and launched a pay per tweet service. Advertisers basically select Twitter users from the Izea market place and pay for tweets that will include a promotional message.
8. A fart tracking chair
Some guys got the bright idea of creating an office chair that would tweet every time someone sitting on it farts. Weird as it sounds, the account @officechair currently has over 3,500 followers.
9. A candidate running his mouth over a job offer
Twitter user @theconnor (private status now) wanted to share with the world how he felt about a job offer….
10. An employee calling the candidate out
It turns out that a Cisco employee was following him, and decided to forward his tweet to Cisco’s Human Resources manager. Busted!
11. A formal job offer
A company called Redmonk actually made an official job offer to a candidate via Twitter. Luckily this time things worked out fine, and he (@tomraftery) also accepted it via Twitter.
12. A picture of the U.S. Airways plane in the Hudson river
Twitpic is a service that allows users to post pictures to Twitter. It became famous when a user posted one of the very first pictures of the U.S. Airways accident there.
13. A revolution
Twitter played a role in Moldova’s protests back in April, as young residents used the service to mobilize gatherings in the “Piata Marii Adunari Nationale” square (they used the hashtag #pman for that).
14. A home invasion
Technology writer Dave Prager decide to use Twitter when he noticed that he had an intruder on his house. Afterward the guy left without causing any problems (yeah, he tweeted about it too).
15. A tweet from the space
The Phoenix Mars Mission is keeping people updated with its developments via Twitter.
16. A lawsuit
Twitter user @abonnen (deleted now) complained about her apartment on Twitter. Property management company Horizon Realty felt damaged and decided to sue her for $50,000. The funny thing is that the Twitter user had only 20 followers, and after the lawsuit the “moldy apartments from Horizon Realty” became famous all over the web.
17. An arrest
Journalism student James Earl Buck was arrested by Egyptian police for photographing an anti-government demonstration, because apparently the authorities don’t like that kind of thing. He only had time to send one word from his cellphone – “ARRESTED” (you can tell he’s a reporter) – but he couldn’t have got a more effective response if he’d lit up the Bat-Signal. The phone sent the statement to his twitter account, and within hours a worldwide network of friends and colleagues were on the case. He was free the day after.
18. A book
Jay Bushman decided that Twitter could also be used to distribute a book, 140 characters at a time. The title of the book is “Good Captain“, and now it even has its own paperback edition on Amazon.
19. Earthquakes
Over the last couple of years the news about earthquakes have almost always emerged on Twitter first, and then on mainstream media websites and publications. We have seen it happen in California, Southeast Asia and Japan. There is even a Twitter account now (@earthquake) dedicated to reporting earthquakes from around the world.
20. Hot bread
Customers of Albion’s Over, a bakery in London, can now be the first to know when a batch of bread is about to get out of the oven. The BakerTweet (how they named the service) also sends alerts about fresh cakes and pastries.
