The onstage confirmation of Beyonce's pregnancy during MTV's Video Music Awards shattered Twitter's tweets-per-second record in August. To this day, the event still tops the TPS chart, ahead of significant moments involving Steve Jobs, FIFA Women's World Cup, New Year's Day in Japan, Osama bin Laden's death and the Super Bowl.
On Tuesday, Twitter unveiled the list of 2011?s top 16 moments, many of which Mashable has written about throughout the year. Relive the moments with us below. Which ones did you tweet about this year?
Top 16 Tweets-Per-Second Moments of 2011
- 1) MTV Video Music Awards (8,868 tweets per second on Aug. 28): "I want you to feel the love that's growing inside me," Beyonce said during her performance, confirming she and husband, Jay-Z, will have a baby. At the end of the song, she dropped her mic, unbuttoned her top and rubbed her baby bump.
- 2) Troy Davis executed (7,671 TPS on Sept. 20): Twitter caught fire in a last-minute effort to save convicted murderer Troy Davis from execution. Davis, who was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer in Georgia, was put to death the next day.
- 3 and 4) FIFA Women's World Cup (7,196 and 7,166 TPS on July 17): On this day, the World Cup set two new records for number of tweets sent per second: the end of the final match between the U.S. and Japan as well as the Paraguay vs. Brazil game. The records were later broken by the events listed above.
- 5) Steve Jobs resigns (7,064 TPS on Aug. 25): "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come," Steve Jobs wrote in a resignation letter. Apple tapped Tim Cook as the new CEO the same day.
- 6) New Year's Day in Japan (6,939 TPS on Jan. 1): As the clock passed midnight on the first day of 2011, Twitter users in Japan turned to Twitter to wish the world a Happy New Year. Twitter use increased immensely across the globe as each time zone entered 2011. This map visualization that shows activity.
- 7) BET Awards (6,436 TPS on June 27): This year's BET Awards featured heavy social media integration before and during the broadcast. But what set viewers off was the awkward series of events surrounding the Viewer's Choice Award reveal. Because of technical difficulties, contest winner Tiffany Greene declared Chris Brown the winner but then said the award actually belonged to Rihanna.
- 8) UEFA Champions League (6,303 TPS on May 28): Barcelona defeated Manchester United, 3-1, in the final match.
- 9) Steve Jobs passes away (6,049 TPS on Oct. 6): Steve Jobs died Oct. 5 and many fans discussed his passing through tweets. The hashtag #RIPSteveJobs immediately became a trending topic. Since his passing, the world — including U.S. President Barack Obama, Microsoft's Bill Gates and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg — has mourned his death and celebrated his achievements.
- 10) NBA Finals (5,531 TPS on June 13): Press conference comments along with a tweet from LeBron James after his team lost in the NBA Finals sparked a firestorm of responses via Twitter. His tweet said, "The Greater Man upstairs know when it's my time. Right now isn't the time." Most replies were negative.
- 11) Japanese earthquake and tsunami (5,530 TPS on March 11): Twitter turned into an emergency go-to service for many following an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Japan's coast. Tweet-o-Meter reported that 1,200 per minute were coming from Tokyo when the phone system's went down.
- 12) East Coast earthquake (5,449 TPS on Aug. 23): More than 40,000 earthquake-related tweets were sent minutes after it struck, hitting a rate of about 5,500 tweets per second.
- 13) Raid on Osama bin Laden (5,106 TPS on May 2): Before Obama's press conference about Osama bin Laden's death, Twitter was very active with speculation and subsequent confirmation from officials and news outlets (see gallery below).
- 14) Home Run Derby (4,995 TPS on July 11)
- 15) Super Bowl (4,064 TPS on Feb. 6)
- 16) UK Royal Wedding (3,966 TPS on April 29)
Crazy
The onstage confirmation of Beyonce's pregnancy during MTV's Video Music Awards shattered Twitter's tweets-per-second record in August. To this day, the event still tops the TPS chart, ahead of significant moments involving Steve Jobs, FIFA Women's World Cup, New Year's Day in Japan, Osama bin Laden's death and the Super Bowl.
On Tuesday, Twitter unveiled the list of 2011?s top 16 moments, many of which Mashable has written about throughout the year. Relive the moments with us below. Which ones did you tweet about this year?