That's what's up: Twitter in retrospect

MANILA, Philippines - Twitter’s fifth birthday on March 21, 2011 coincided with World Poetry Day  apropos, considering that micro-blogging seems to have completed its evolution from underground online phenomenon to a full-blown media magnet. It’s cute, conversational and encourages participation  the more you speak up, the more your followers will love you. Best of all, Twitter allows for one’s stalking skills to flourish. Where else on the Internet, besides Facebook, will you be able to eavesdrop on cliquish conversations and keep tabs on any given person (provided he or she is a tweeter)?

Besides facilitating celebrity feuds, breeding a propensity for narcissism, and releasing flurries of the most banal updates, Twitter proves that it is the 21st century’s new weapon for mass dissemination. Here are a few of Twitter’s best moments at its peak.

(09/08)

* We first get word from Barack Obama himself that he had emerged victorious in the US elections  not through TV or radio stations, but through a 134-character micro-memo.

(04/09)

* Ashton Kutcher wages a friendly war against news giant CNN, challenging the network to a race for 1 million followers. Kutcher eventually beat CNN to the finish line, becoming Twitter’s first millionaire.

 (06/09)

* Alex Aciman and Emmett Rensin take upon themselves the gargantuan task of putting together Dostoevsky and company’s high literature, condensing 75 of the greatest novels of the last 100 years into 140-character tweets. Excerpt from Dante’s Inferno: “I’m havin’ a midlife crisis. Lost in the woods. Shoulda brought my iPhone.” The classics are so last century, indeed.

 (08/10)

* Maxim editor Justin Halpern thanked his lucky stars that he had a 74-year-old who liked to talk $#*! for a father the day CBS turned his Twitter feed (@ShitMyDadSays) into a new sitcom, before deciding to make a habit of outsourcing its script development to Twitter. CBS has picked up two other shows from Twitterverse: Shh, Don’t Tell Steve and Dear Girls Above Me.

* After holding regular hunts for VJs and Paris Hilton’s newest BFF, MTV takes the concept of searching to a whole new level, announcing an open call for a TJ  a Twitter Jockey.

* The battle for tweet supremacy is won by Lady Gaga, taking over Britney Spears’ crown as Queen of Twitter.

* North Korea makes its presence felt by creating a Twitter account in the midst of an ongoing propaganda war against South Korea. A step from repression and towards progression, we hope.

* Courtney Love called designer Dawn Simorangkir an “asswipe nasty lying hosebag thief” on Twitter and paid $430,000 for it. She also got into cyberspace brawls with Billy Corgan and Lily Allen, among others. Restraint of pen, tongue, and tweet, please, Miss Love.

* A little bird brings us the first-ever tweet from the International Space Station  astronaut TJ Creamer said hello to the rest of the universe from more than 200 miles beyond the earth. Who knew they had WiFi in outer space?

(09/10)

* Kanye West finally tweets an apology to country singer Taylor Swift after ruining her golden moment at the VMAs. The plea for forgiveness was delayed by almost a year, but better late than never, right?

* Even the royals break their silence: “The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.” Enough said.

 (03/11)

* Twitter’s latest breakout moment in pop culture is courtesy of Charlie Sheen  this time, he breaks a Guinness World Record for being the fastest person to get 1 million people to follow him, and is offered a huge advertising deal in the process. We can hardly expect Hollywood’s bad boy of the moment to change his ways if he’s going to keep getting rewarded for them.