Microblogging website Twitter has changed the way people communicate — and in no more than 140 characters per statement. New users flock to Twitter every day. This year, among the notable names who got their own Twitter handles for the very first time are football legend Pele (@pele), music icon Neil Young (@neilyoung) and Pope Benedict XVI (@pontifex). The pope will send his very first tweet on Wednesday. As of Monday evening, he had more than 608,000 followers. Twitter’s Highlights of 2012: The 6-year-old San Francisco-based company says it has 140 million active users, all of whom send a total of 1 billion tweets every 2 ½ days. Twitter released its highlights of 2012 this morning. Here’s a look at some of the top tweets, searches and trends of this year: Most Retweeted Tweet of the Year/Ever: The most retweeted tweet of the year was President Obama’s simple election night message: “Four more years.” He sent it along with a picture of himself hugging first lady Michelle Obama.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.