In April of 2009, the Guardian newspaper announced it would immediately begin disseminating all information via Twitter, then just a wee emergent social media platform. "A mammoth project is also under way to rewrite the whole of the newspaper's archive, stretching back to 1821, in the form of tweets," wrote Guardian reporter "Rio Palof." (Yes, that's a fake name. In fact, it's probably meant to be an anagram for a certain popular holiday.)
Among the proposed rewrites: "1832 Reform Act gives voting rights to one in five adult males yay!!!"; "OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war see tinyurl.com/b5x6e for more"; and "JFK assassin8d @ Dallas, def. heard second gunshot from grassy knoll WTF?" Funny stuff. And rather prescient: In 2011, Twitter users – a base that includes plenty of reputable news organizations – send out an incredible 140 million tweets a day.
