The World According to Twitterby David PogueDavid Pogue is the personal-technology columnist for The New York Times.
Publisher's by-line: |
"New York Times technology columnist David Pogue has tapped into the brilliance of his half-million followers on Twitter by posting a different, thought-provoking question every night. The questions ranged from the earnest (“What’s your greatest regret?”) to the creative (“Make up a concept for a doomed TV show”) to the curious (“What’s your great idea to improve the cell phone?”).
Out of 25,000 tweets, Pogue has gathered the very best 2,524 into this irresistible, clever, laugh-out-loud funny book.
The World According to Twitter is truly a grand social networking experiment, in which thousands of voices have come together to produce a unique and wonderful record of shared human experience. "
Awards: What are the Twitties?
The Twitties are awarded annually to top Twitterers in a dozen categories, including Flirty Tweets, Best Breaking News and Best Avatar. "We were sitting around the office joking about the need for awards for the best Tweets," said Charlie Chambers of iFractal, the consulting firm that created the contest, in an interview. "So, we registered the site, wrote up the copy and designed it as a side project." The 2008 Twitties contest was held in September and received more than 1,200 entries.
"We pared down those nominations in a grueling overtime deathmatch on the office floor," said Chambers. He and his cohorts selected 65 entries to compete across the 12 categories.
Nominated tweets range from the outrageous -- "Best Imagined Tweet: "Having the worst sex ever. I don't know, I just can't seem to get into it.", posted by user GorillaSushi -- to the informative: "Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" posted by NASA spacecraft MarsPhoenix.
Winners received an embeddable badge for their Twitter pages.
The way Twitter is growing, the boys at iFractal will have their work cut out for 2009 Twitties: with three million tweets being written each day, there will be over a billion new candidates for the 2009 awards. We will try to make their work a little easier by submitting your BestTweets favorites in September 09.
The twelve 2008 category winners were:
| Best Tweet | |
| MissRFTC I am totally serious. My Ob/Gyn was IN my vagina and an earthquake started rattling the room! 02:44 PM July 29, 2008 | |
Funniest Tweet | |
| wilw When I was a kid, our footie pajamas weren't flame retardant. GodDAMN, we were hardcore.
03:20 PM August 06, 2008
| |
Smartest Tweet | |
| MarsPhoenix Iron Chef on Mars? Set the oven to 1003 degrees Celsius (1837 F) and baked a soil sample and find secret ingredients :D Minerals, that is.
06:16 PM June 17, 2008
| |
Best Avatar | |
| androo | |
Most Informative Tweet | |
| MarsPhoenix The friendly dirt has salts and nutrients magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride. And pH of 8. You could grow asparagus, say scientists. 05:16 PM June 26, 2008 | |
Best use of Twitter for Breaking News | |
| MarsPhoenix Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!! 05:14 PM June 19, 2008 | |
Best Putdown | |
| hotdogsladies Oh, no. Don't "leave Twitter." But, if you must, for the love of God, PLEASE post a long explanation. So our children can know your story. 06:49 AM July 26, 2008 | |
Snarkiest Tweet | |
| brianleroux Speaking of offensive, douche beside me in line is reading over my shoulder. Heh. 05:37 PM July 22, 2008 | |
Dopiest Tweet | |
| popgloss Is it wrong that I secretly wish I could text in the tanning bed? Twelve minutes of doing nothing can sometimes be so difficult. 05:40 PM April 14, 2008 | |
Best Use of Twitter for Business | |
| BruceAdcock I laughed, I cried; unfortunately, this was all highly inappropriate for the fiscal subcommittee meeting I was in. 03:14 PM April 11, 2008 | |
Best Flirt | |
| lintondavies My rhymes are so potent that in this small segment i got all of the ladies in my twitter stream pregnant 07:33 AM July 31, 2008 | |
Best Straightman | |
| tj I told him about a problem. He said he'd "throw some bodies at it." He's a mortician. The problem was a sinkhole. I'm trying not to worry. 08:08 AM July 11, 2008 | |