New Delhi: On 21 March, 2006, Jack Dorsey sent out a single tweet, announcing to the world the birth of an idea that would totally transform how information is shared in real time. Originally named Twttr, the microblogging platform today has turned 10 and is a powerful tool in the hands of millions.
Twitter in the past decade has added a host of features such as hashtags for grouped tweets, retweets, mentions, direct messages and embedded media without losing its basic feature -- the 140-character tweet.
Here are the 10 iconic Indian moments that have happened on the platform over the last 10 years:
Mumbai terrorist attacks (Nov 2008): Back in Nov 26, 2008 Twitter became the platform of choice for this crisis moment and a way to connect with hostages inside the Taj hotel. People used Twitter to share updates with journalists reporting to terrorist attacks.
India wins Cricket World Cup (April 2011): On April 2, 2011 India won the Cricket World Cup after a 28 year wait. And the roar was heard on Twitter.
Nirbhaya (Dec 2012): A a 23 year old woman was gang-raped and thrown out of a bus in New Delhi on Dec 16, 2012. Citizens, political leaders, celebrities, and Indian youth came together on Twitter to express shock.
Retirement of Sachin Tendulkar (Nov 2013): Fans all over the world said #ThankYouSachin, honoring cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar as he finished his storied, 24-year career on Nov 16, 2013. The #ThankYouSachin campaign generated more than 3 million Tweets according to BCCI.
Lok Sabha Election (April-May 2014): In the Lok Sabha polls from April 7 to May 12, 2014, Twitter became the front row seat to political party with Narendra Modi winning both off and on Twitter. There were almost 60 million elections-related Tweets, it truly was the first #TwitterElection for India.
Rajinikanth joins Twitter (May 2014): Tamil superstar Rajinikanth joined Twitter on May 5th, 2014. The actor had over 200,000 followers within the first 24 hours.
Mars Orbiter reaches Mars (Sept 2014): @MarsOrbiter entered the Martian orbit on Sep 24, 2014, and also made its Twitter debut. It sent its first Tweet after the mission was declared a success by @ISRO.
Taj Mahal joins Twitter (Aug 2015): On India's 69th Independence Day, one of the wonders of the world, Taj Mahal became one of the first historic Indian monuments to have its own official Twitter account.
Happy Diwali (Nov 2015): India and the world celebrated the Festival of Lights with 1.8 million Tweets in 2015 using the #HappyDiwali hashtag.
Chennai Floods (Nov-Dec 2015): Twitter was used as a platform to provide reports, disseminate critical information and coordinate local relief efforts during floods in Chennai at the end of 2015. Local residents Tweeted using popular hashtags such as #ChennaiRains, #ChennaiFloods and #ChennaiRainsHelp. At the peak of the flooding, there were over 1.4 million Tweets from Dec 1-4, 2015.
