The Top Tweets Of 2013

Now that 2013 is coming to a close Twitter is taking a look back at some of this year’s defining moment.

“What happened in the world simultaneously happened on Twitter.”

The social network played a major part in some the year’s biggest stories. After the bombing at the Boston Marathon, police turned to Twitter to alert residents about the ongoing manhunt. More than 27 million Tweets were sent after the Boston bombing.

BREAKING NEWS: Two powerful explosions detonated in quick succession right next to the Boston Marathon finsh line this afternoon.

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) April 15, 2013

Twitter also saw a surge of activity after the new pope was elected. Activity peaked at more than 130,000 tweets per minute when the world learned that Francis would be the new pope.

A su Santidad Francisco I pic.twitter.com/a1ujwamYmk

— Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) March 13, 2013

The Super Bowl also generated millions of tweets (about 24.1 million) thanks in part to the unprecedented power outage.

Golden Tweets

Sadly, the two most retweeted messages this year had to do with death. Leah Michelle “won” the Golden Tweet Award this year when she took to Twitter after Cory Monteith’s death. The message was retweeted more than 400,000 times.

Thank you all for helping me through this time with your enormous love support. Cory will forever be in my heart. pic.twitter.com/XVlZnh9vOc — Lea Michele (@msleamichele) July 29, 2013

The second Golden Tweet Award was also handed out for a sad reason. A message about Paul Walker’s car crash was retweeted close to 400,000 times.

It’s with a heavy heart that we must confirm Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident…MORE: https://t.co/9hDuJMH99M – #TeamPW

— Paul Walker (@RealPaulWalker) December 1, 2013

2013 Twitter Stats

• Twitter boasted more than 230 million active users in 2013.
• 30 million users, including former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush joined the network in 2013
• Those users sent about 500 million tweets per day.

Here are some other random Twitter facts from 2013.