Twitter has been instrumental in politics and protests. One of Twitter's
mission statements is, "At Twitter, we believe that the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact." People around the world have taken this idea, using the 140-character tweet (later doubled to 280 characters) to spark an interest or gain attention for a cause or issue. Politicians have used it in attempts to influence their followers and persuade their opponents.
Campaigning Twitter was used by candidates in the
2008 U.S. presidential campaign throughout the race.
Democratic Party nominee
Barack Obama used it for publicity. The
Nader–
Gonzalez campaign updated its ballot access teams in real time with Twitter and
Google Maps. Twitter use increased by 43% on the day of the United States 2008 election. In 2009, the
Republican Party in
Connecticut set up 33 fake Twitter accounts in the names of the
Democratic Party members of the state legislature. The Republicans used the accounts to send out tweets in the names of the Democrats. During the
2010 federal election campaign in Australia, the
New South Wales Opposition Leader
Barry O'Farrell publicly tweeted comments about the Liberal party's readiness for the election, thinking he was sending a private message to a journalist.
Examples of impact During the 13th
Federal Assembly in May 2009, two members of the German
Bundestag leaked the result of the
German presidential election via Twitter before the
president of the Bundestag officially announced
Horst Köhler as the winner. In June 2009, following the
allegations of fraud in the
Iranian presidential election, protesters used Twitter as a rallying tool and method of communication with the outside world after the government blocked several other modes of communication. On June 15, 2009, Twitter rescheduled a planned 90-minute maintenance outage after a number of Twitter users and the
U.S. State Department asked Twitter executives to delay the shutdown because of concerns about the service's role as a primary communication medium by the protesters in Iran.
CNN's coverage of the conflict was criticized in tweets with the hashtag "#CNNfail". Twitter was also used to organize
DDoS attacks against Iranian government websites. In August 2009, when American opponents of
President Barack Obama's
health insurance reform proposals attacked the British
National Health Service, thousands of NHS users took part in a Twitter campaign expressing their support for the NHS with use of the "#welovetheNHS" hashtag. The hashtag was initiated by
Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan, who said he wanted to use a Twitter campaign "as a counterweight against the lies of the American right". The campaign also received the support of several politicians including
British prime minister Gordon Brown.
New York City activist Elliott Madison used Twitter to message an order to disperse from the Pittsburgh police during the
2009 G-20 Pittsburgh protests. Police raided Madison's hotel room, and one week later Madison's New York home was raided by FBI agents, who conducted a sixteen-hour search. Police claim Madison and a co-defendant used computers and a radio scanner to track police movements and then passed on that information to protesters using cell phones and Twitter. Madison is being charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a communication facility, and possession of instruments of crime. The FBI collected miscellany such as refrigerator magnets, and a Curious George stuffed animal, despite that the warrant issued asked for evidence that indicated potential violations of
federal rioting laws. In light of the
United States Department of State's recent public support of Twitter use in the politics of
Iran,
Moldova, and
Honduras, it is asked whether the State Department supports free speech in the United States. The paper's editor
Alan Rusbridger credited Twitter users with taking the initiative to provide details that the press was not allowed to print, namely, that the injunction was taken out by the London solicitor
Carter-Ruck on behalf of commodities trader
Trafigura, who did not want public discussion of the
2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic waste dump scandal and the resulting Minton Report (available on
WikiLeaks). The reporting injunction was withdrawn by Carter-Ruck the next day before
The Guardian could challenge it in the High Court. Rusbridger credited the rapid back-down of Carter-Ruck to Twitter, as did a BBC article. Twitter came to the attention of the
House of Commons of Canada in October 2009 when Member of Parliament
Ujjal Dosanjh apologized on the floor for improperly "tweeting about matters that ought not to have been tweeted about" during "in camera" proceedings of a parliamentary committee. In October 2009, Twitter once again came to the attention of the Canadian public when
Vancouver Councilor
Andrea Reimer tweeted regarding the British Columbia Minister of Housing and Social Development
Rich Coleman's weight in response to provincial legislation proposed by Coleman to bring homeless people to shelters during extreme weather. Reimer posted that instead of police bringing homeless people to shelters during extreme weather that she was thinking of introducing legislation to have the police bring Coleman to
Jenny Craig, an international weight loss company, on his next visit to Vancouver. Coleman responded by calling the comment amateurish and from a Councilor that "doesn't know any better." In December 2009, the
Supreme Federal Court of
Brazil became the first
court in the world to display items on the
day planner of the ministers, to inform the actions that arrive daily to the Court, and the most important decisions made by them on Twitter. In late December 2009, the
Ukrainian non-profit organization Internet-Ukraine launched a project aimed at monitoring the
2010 Ukrainian presidential election based on Twitter. On April 22, 2010, during the
2010 United Kingdom general election, several right-wing British newspapers including the
Daily Telegraph, the
Daily Express, and
The Sun reported several news stories regarding the leader of the
Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg, including political donations made to his private bank account. This was seen by users on Twitter as a personal attack on Clegg on the day that the second
Prime Ministerial television debate was to take place after he performed well in the first. In response to the articles, Twitter users set up the hashtag "#nickcleggsfault", in which people made ironic comments claiming that Clegg was to blame for everything wrong in the world. A
Daily Mail article claiming Clegg had made a Nazi slur was criticised for being based on an article that Clegg wrote in November 2002 in which, "he criticises attitudes to Germany which seem stuck in the 1950s—and fail to recognise how it has reinvented itself since", and made references to the ''Daily Mail's'' support for
Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. By midday on 22 April, the "#nickcleggsfault" was the second-most tweeted hashtag on Twitter globally, second to
Earth Day, and the most tweeted hashtag in the United Kingdom. although Twitter was blocked by Egyptian mobile phone operators for a period of time. After the Egyptian Revolution, the most important people, ministries and the president started to have account on Twitter and share information with people. In the other direction, the then newly created Arabic-language account of the U.S. Department of State, @
USAbilAraby, was used to provide American commentary directed toward Arabic speakers. Since September 21, 2011, Twitter has had a way for politicians to advertise via the site, through "politically flavored" promoted tweets; they are marked with a purple icon. Candidates and political committees are also able to pay Twitter for Promoted Accounts and Promoted Trends. A second Tweet with a picture of Obama hugging his wife with the caption "four more years" at the time became the most re-tweeted tweet in Twitter history(Later surpassed), and the election became one of the most tweeted political events in history. In December 2012, Green MP
Russel Norman tabled a tweet during New Zealand parliament's
question time, a first for the country. The
@feministhulk Twitter account drew attention to funding problems for
WIC food and nutrition programs during the
2013 US government shutdown, and its owner set up a directory for women in need to find food banks and infant formula. ==In public relations==