Twitter’s 15 Major Milestones in 2011

Much like any other year, 2011 experienced major events that shook the world, whether the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East or the worldwide protests led by Occupy Wall Street.

But in 2011, microblogging service Twitter was at the epicenter of these events, broadcasting minute-to-minute updates and firsthand experiences from users to the rest of the world.

For protesters, Twitter served as a primary communicator to connect with other protesters and civilians, organize meetings and post pictures and videos of uprisings. Unfortunately, hundreds of protesters who encouraged violence via social media, or who were photographed and filmed taking part in the violence, were prosecuted.

SEE ALSO: Top 16 Tweets-Per-Second Moments of 2011 | The 21 Most Memorable Tweets of 2011

Twitter also launched new upgrades and designs for its services and made several acquisitions, including web advertising company AdGrok, social analytics platform BackType and lists and interests-focused startup Bagcheck.

Unfortunately for Twitter, 2011 also brought a number of scams — from 11.6 hours to a beach body weight-loss product to the Tweeter Viewer, these scams targeted many user accounts.

Check out the gallery below to see more of Twitter’s major milestones in 2011.

1. Egypt Blocks Twitter As Protests Become Violent

January: After violence between anti-government protesters and police continued to erupt in Cairo, Egypt, the Egyptian government censored microblogging service Twitter as well as other websites.

Social media played a key role throughout Egypt's protests. First, the protests were organized through a Facebook Page, then protesters turned to Twitter to post photos, video feeds and other information about the protests, using several hashtags devoted to the revolution.

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"Twitter" and a new interface called amazing potential

To facilitate communication with all the ease and effectiveness of

Revealed the social networking site "Twitter" for the new interface and new design and a comprehensive yet electronic, as well as for applications for twitter mobile devices based on the operating system "Android" or "any OS".
Is based on the new design to divide page to 5 main sections, ie, add 3 tabs new, respectively: "Home" and "Connect" and "Discover" and "Me" and "Tweet", to allow users to stay connected to their interests more easier and smoother.
It includes the first tab "Home" and a comprehensive overview on each of the Alngredat that appear in the right side, news, comments and other information about the people around you.
The tab "Connect" to conduct other on the talks and the participation of friends, acquaintances and family and see who is following all-new you, or those who you follow and information on new followers.
The biggest change with the new update the tab "Discover", where the business is collecting all the information of interest to the user, and reviews the current activities of those who follow the user or suggestions followers and new show in the left side, as well as enable the user to find the friends, as well as to link this tab New users stories via tweets, preview, news sources and watch their own videos and follow up all Alngredat relating to each story.
The tab "Me", reviews the all the profiles for the user, lists, and links its own, and can send and receive news directly, in addition to the observers for the user to have the possibility to see the pictures and video clips that the user downloaded directly to its own profile.
And the push of a button on the key "Tweet" the user can news of new knowledge and its sources of origin and see the images and video, using the "@" can start to talk with other members.
It should be noted that the last major redesign of the site Twitter was more than a year ago, in mid-September 2010 the site division faced into two main sections, are grouped the content of the user of the images and Fido and data has induction and information sources inside and, before that should have user left the home page of the inventory of the number of Alngredat published.

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Google Doodle Readies Voters for Egypt Election

  

Google is highlighting the 2011 Egyptian elections with a doodle on its search homepage for Egypt. Each of the six letters that spell out “Google” perform an action of the voting process — from waiting in line to adding a vote to the ballot box.
Monday marks the country’s first parliamentary elections since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in the wake of a massive uprising earlier this year. Polls are open in Cairo, Alexandria and seven other provinces. Giza, Aswan and Suez voting begins on Dec. 14, Bloomberg reports.
Though it’s uncertain whether the Google doodle will inspire Egyptians to vote, they’re undoubtedly taking notice.
“I find [the Goodle doodle] very significant to the new generation in Egypt that uses technology. We all know what Google is and what it means for them to give us some international attention,” says Nasry Esmat, an Egyptian journalist living in New York. “The doodle adds more to our pride.”
The doodle isn’t Google’s first contribution to the much-anticipated Egypt elections. In September, the company developed an election API to facilitate the voting process. It not only gave citizens easy access to elections information, including polling locations and candidate profiles, but also allowed mobile service providers the opportunity to develop election applications.
“The majority of Egyptians still cant use the Internet or computers, but these tools are very effective because they help those who have basic knowledge to spread the information,” Esmat says. “And, honestly, those who have basic knowledge are the ones who can make change in Egypt.”

BONUS: More Google Doodles

The Christmas Google Doodle

Each package gets larger with a mouse-over, and a click on it returns search results pertinent to a specific country or the particular items featured in a scene. This one is from December 24, 2010.

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Social Media Plays Witness to Clash in Egypt’s Capital [PHOTOS]

 

Over the weekend, Egypt’s military-backed riot police stormed Tahrir Square and attacked protestors participating in “Occupy Tahrir.”
Now, with a little more than a week until the country’s general election for a new government, hundreds of activists are recovering from serious injuries and at least five have been reported dead.
Using the power of Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr, these protestors documented the devastation as it unfolded around them. See images from the clash below.

 

Once again, citizens of Egypt have flocked to Twitter and YouTube to expose injustice in the ongoing protests against the newly instated military government.
Just days before the general election is set to take place across the country, riot police forcefully cleared out protestors in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Saturday and Sunday. The clash brought about at least five deaths, and several injuries.
As protestors continued to hold their ground in Tahrir Square Sunday, riot police escalated in force. Police released tear gas and fired rubber bullets at the crowd. Witnesses have tweeted that they have seen the use of guns and live ammo, a disturbing new twist in the story. Hospitals are also reporting that they have seen casualties to gunfire. Still, protestors refuse to leave their encampment, even with the threat of bullets overhead.
See a timeline, including media, from the clash below. You can also watch live video coverage on aljazeera.com

Riot Police Approach

Military-backed riot police approach Tahrir Square to break up protestors located at "Occupy Tehrir" on November 19 in Cairo, Egypt.
Photo courtesy Flickr user

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The sage of Orascom Telecom

Sitting on a stage at an entrepreneurship conference last November, Naguib Sawiris was surrounded by screens showing the live "tweets" of the audience.
Fadi Ghandour, the chief executive of Aramex, asked him for his definition of "change".
"Change would mean to me if everybody sitting here would overturn the governments we have," Mr Sawiris said without hesitation.

"It bothers me that there is disrespect for the rule of law and order," he said.
It was a prescient statement from the Egyptian billionaire in charge of Orascom Telecom just months before Tunisians overthrew their president and protesters in Egypt forced Hosni Mubarak to resign as president after three decades of rule.
Mr Sawiris, 56, long known for being outspoken and taking big risks in business, emerged as a stabilising factor during the recent protests in Egypt.
He was one of the so-called "wise men", a middle-ground group made up of businessmen and intellectuals, that helped to mediate between the opposition and the government.
One of the group's major victories was to put pressure on the government to release Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who helped lead the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to trigger the protests.
Meanwhile, other major businessmen in Egypt were either quietly waiting out the storm in their villas or being publicly attacked as corrupt. Dozens of businesses are under investigation because of their close ties to the Mubarak government.
"He's a different breed of businessman in the Arab world," Mr Ghandour said of Mr Sawiris this week. "It shows up that the business community is not necessarily always on the sidelines."
Mr Sawiris, the eldest of three sons in charge of Orascom companies, has always been one to speak his mind, but he has also walked a fine line. He came out publicly against Mr Mubarak stepping down, preferring that he keep a ceremonial role until elections this year.
"I was not an advocate that Mubarak had to go," he told the US television interviewer Charlie Rose last week. "I did not wish this end for him … He has done a lot of good in this country. We were a totally socialistic country. He opened the door for investment, infrastructure was built."
But he did not mince his words about Mr Mubarak's authoritarian ways, saying that fake charges could be brought against people who went a little far with their criticism of the government.
Indeed, at the entrepreneurship conference last November, in Dubai, Mr Sawiris avoided making direct statements about the government in his own country. But he is not an easy man to stifle.
Forbes listed him last year as the 374th richest person in the world, with a personal worth of US$2.5 billion (Dh9.18bn).
Orascom Telecom has some 500 million customers in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh and Canada, as well as investments in telecommunications companies in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Burundi.
"The size of his business gives him comfort to be able to be vocal and aggressive the way he is," Mr Ghandour says of Mr Sawiris.
Orascom Telecom has made a name for itself by going into challenging markets, often with leverage. It was among the first to set up in Iraq.
In the days leading up to January 25, the beginning of the Egyptian uprising, Mr Sawiris was in North Korea meeting Kim Jong-il, the country's leader, about a joint venture to build a 3G network there.
He later told Bloomberg TV there was a subtle political element to all telecommunications businesses.
"Even when people accuse me of doing business in countries like North Korea, I am there because I provided the people of North Korea with their right to speak," he said.
Mr Sawiris says he gets his drive for success and his willingness to fight from his father, Onsi Sawiris, and from his faith in God.
Onsi, the patriarch of the family, who is now in his late 70s, had to deal with two previous presidents of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser and his successor, Anwar Sadat.
Nasser nationalised the Sawiris construction business in the 1960s, leading the family to relocate to Libya. When trouble arose there, the family returned to Egypt. It was an important lesson about rising to the challenge, the son says.
"I saw how important it is to be persistent and a fighter," Mr Sawiris said in Dubai last November.
"Just keep on hammering and it will happen. If you yield at the first obstacle, then you are not an entrepreneur."
Eventually, the three sons were each given their start in the Orascom empire. Naguib, the eldest, took over the telecoms company, while Nassef, the youngest, led the construction business, and Samih became the head of the property and hotel development company. The three branches are now legally separate businesses, but the brothers remain close, Mr Sawiris says.
The family also has had to contend with being Coptic Christians in a predominantly Muslim country, a situation Mr Sawiris said inspired him to become rich.
"As a Christian, my chances of political life in Egypt are limited, but my ambitions have no limits," he said at the Dubai conference. "I thought maybe if I can become very rich, money is power and money can be used for some good stuff."
The family is involved in a range of charitable causes, including an initiative to send more than 100 young Egyptians abroad for university every year.
Lately, Mr Sawiris has said he would like to focus more on his philanthropic work.
He has been in talks with Russia's VimpelCom to sell $6.5bn of the Italian company Wind Telecom's assets and a more than 50 per cent stake in Orascom Telecom. If the deal goes through, it would amount to Mr Sawiris taking a step back and allowing others to be more involved.
One regret, he says, was not being able to be in Tahrir Square at the height of the protests.
"I was dying to go," he told Charlie Rose, but explained he could not be seen as partial while mediating between parties. "If I want to be an honest broker, I can't take sides too much."
Mr Sawiris appears to have no plans to take a political role in the new Egypt. After Mr Mubarak stepped down, the "wise men" disbanded.
His goal now is to keep making Egypt better.
"I want my kids to live here and hopefully die here like I'm hopefully going to live here and die here," he said.

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