Twitter: Leading the Communications Revolution

July 14, 2011 from Al Jazeera English

Five years after it went public, the social media website Twitter now has over 200 million user accounts and is growing worldwide. From businesses and celebrities to the average person on the street, it offers direct communication with thousands -- even millions -- of followers. This year, the site saw a leap in usage during Japan's earthquake and tsunami in March, as well as during the ongoing uprisings in the Arab world, where protesters were able to communicate and organise without having to meet in real life. Twitter's success is due in large part to its simplicity and versatility, as well as the ability its users have to determine its actual use. Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazley reports.

(more) (less)

In This Video

Twitter

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in March 2006... Explore this topic

Anniversary

An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary... Explore this topic

Arab Spring

Kebangkitan dunia Arab atau Musim Semi Arab adalah gelombang revolusi unjuk rasa dan protes yang terjadi di dunia Arab. Sejak 18 Desember 2010, telah terjadi revolusi di Tunisia dan Mesir; perang saudara di Libya; pemberontakan sipil di Bahrain, Suriah, and Yaman; protes besar... Explore this topic

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up... Explore this topic

Social media

Sociale medier er medier for social interaktion, hvilket vil sige at der er et socialt sammenspil online. Det er altså kommunikation der går begge veje. Dette gøres ved at bruge lette og stærkt tilgængelige kommunikative teknikker. Sociale medier kan også siges at være brugen ... Explore this topic

Social network service

Layanan jejaring sosial adalah layanan dalam jaringan, platform, atau situs yang bertujuan memfasilitasi pembangunan jaringan sosial atau hubungan sosial di antara orang-orang yang memiliki ketertarikan, aktivitas, latar belakang, atau hubungan dunia nyata yang sama. Suatu lay... Explore this topic

Sendai Earthquake of 2011

See Wikipedia Page for 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami or 2011 Sendai Earthquake. Explore this topic

Egyptian Revolution

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 took place following a popular uprising that began on 25 January 2011. It was a diverse movement of demonstrations, marches, plaza occupations, riots, non-violent civil resistance, acts of civil disobedience and labor strikes. Millions of protes... Explore this topic

Syrian Civil War

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Death of Osama bin Laden

On May 1, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized a raid on bin Laden's suspected location in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The operation was successfully carried out by United States Navy SEALs, with intelligence support from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[2][7] During t... Explore this topic

Also See

Twitter

Anniversary

Arab Spring

Watch Next

3:02

The Social Media Nuke: Northeast Asia Reacts

LinkAsia | Feb 19

When hermetically-sealed North Korea ran its third nuclear test this past week, the news first broke on Asian social media. It soon became the top ...