7 of the Biggest Twitter Stories and Controversies
It is no surprise to many that the popular micro-blogging service Twitter has grown at a monumental rate over the past year. According to a recent report from Nielsen, Twitter’s growth has increased a staggering 3,712 percent from April of 2008 to 2009. There is no doubt with this type of success follows major media attention.
From hackers, to space tweets, to senseless litigation, Twitter has made a lasting impact on our Web 2.0 world and will remain so – until the next big thing.
1. Monday Morning Madness
At the beginning of the year, Twitter was hacked and 33 accounts were compromised. Many of which belonged to high profile celebrities, that included the President of the United States, Britney Spears, and Bill O’Reilly – the host of Fox News.
It was reported that the hackers compromised an administrator support tool, to gain access to the various accounts.
Several amusing and crass messages were tweeted onto the compromised pages of the hacked accounts. Some would say this type of internet hazing marked Twitter’s official indoctrination into the world of online success.
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2. Tony La Russa suing Twitter for Trademark infringement
The manager of the St. Lois Cardinals, Tony La Russa sued Twitter over the fact that someone had perpetrated him on Twitter. This practice also known as cyber squatting, upset La Russa so badly that he decided to file a civil suit against Twitter. Charging them with
“trademark infringement, cybersquatting and misappropriation of likeness and name”.
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3. Tweets From Space
Twitter made history when the Astronaut Mike Massimino sent the first Twitter message from space. “Launch was awesome!!” was the first message sent on Tuesday May 11, 2009 and promptly followed “I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!”…
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4. Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement
Twitter was the communication medium of choice during the protests of the clearly rigged, Iran Election. Even as communications where blocked to several areas of the internet and cell phones were jammed, nothing seemed to stop the flow of tweets.
Twitter became such a valuable resource to this election, that the U.S. State Department requested they hold off a scheduled network upgrade to protect the interest of the Iranians in protest.
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5. Will one Chicago woman’s Tweet cost her $50,000?
In this controversy, Amanda Bonnen was smacked with a $50,000 lawsuit over a tweet she posted in response to supposed moldy living conditions of her apartment.
The plaintiff, Horizon Group Management who’s apparent response to public relation issues appears to be “file lawsuit, ask questions later”; claimed that Bonnen “maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world.”
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6. Ashton Kutcher Vs CNN
Who could forget this made for press saga that starred the wantrepreneur and former teen-star of That 70’s show- Ashton Kutcher – versus the conglomerate news giant CNN.
The goal of this charade: to see which one of the contestants could reach a million followers on Twitter first.
The problem: apparently users were Punk’d when they tried unfollow Mr. Kutcher which raised doubt as to the authenticity of the whole contest.
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7. Twitter Hacked Again
During this attack, a savvy french social engineer managed to infiltrate Twitter cofounder Evan Williams – and several of his employees – confidential accounts. This later opened the door for the hacker and enabled him to compromise several hundred confidential documents.
The French Hacker dubbed “Hacker Croll” decided to email hundreds of these personal documents to the internet buzz creator’s TechCrunch. Techcrunch later cherry picked key documents and posted screenshots on their site.
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Closing
In your opinion what twitter story do you think was the biggest and most controversial so far?
6 Responses to “7 of the Biggest Twitter Stories and Controversies”
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Excellent List of Large Twitter Happening. I am curious as to what the future holds for them.
I never thought an idea like Twitter could get so big as it did.
It is pretty cool to see all the news involving Twitter—obviously a monumental impact. I think it’s absolutely amazing that a human being can microblog from outer space.
twitter is good
7 of the Biggest Twitter Stories and Controversies http://tinyurl.com/q5jkc5
twitters most controversial stories http://tinyurl.com/q5jkc5 #news