The year in tweets

Even the pope – @Pontifex – sent his first tweet in December.

This has been a year in which many longtime sceptics have had to admit that these pithy messages of up to 140 characters can make a big impact. Often fired off in a few seconds, they are increasingly becoming one of the key means of turning news almost instantaneously into a topic for comment and debate.

They are even becoming memorable parts of major events in their own right. US President Barack Obama’s re-election victory tweet promising “Four more years” – accompanied by a photograph of him embracing his wife – made history in November. Retweeted more than 800,000 times, it became the most circulated message ever.

Twitter has also emerged as an unusually public feuding ground for prominent figures this year. Veteran interviewer Barbara Walters locked horns with Donald Trump in October over the tycoon’s request that Mr Obama release his college and passport records.

The microblogging site’s darker side also came to the fore in 2012 as it had to shut down several accounts for circulating child pornography. More broadly, British police figures show that crimes involving social media have increased 780 per cent in the past four years. During the London Olympics in July and August, a boy was arrested for sending abusive twitter messages to Tom Daley, a UK diver. Lord McAlpine, a former Conservative politician, has initiated legal action against those who falsely accused him on Twitter of being a paedophile.

Love it or hate it, Twitter has undeniably played a larger role in 2012 and Emily Cadman charts the year through some of its best tweets.