Bangalore: Twitter, the social networking and micro blogging service has gained unusual popularity as the ‘SMS of the Internet’.  Twitter became the epicenter for all the global events, with the users giving updates every minute on the happenings all over the world. This social media created history as it played a major role in building momentum for many of modern-world revelations and was at times misused to encourage violence. 2011 has been an eventful year and here are those major milestones the micro-blogging website has gone through this year as listed by mashable.com.

Egypt blocked Twitter as protests turned violent:  In January, thousands of anti-government protesters were seen having a clash with the police in Cairo and other cities. The Egyptian government then blocked Twitter as protestors used it as their means to coordinate movements and posted the videos and pictures.

Twitter’s fifth birthday: In March, Twitter launched a new website, discover.twitter.com for its fifth birthday. The website features 16 different users from different backgrounds including entertainment, politics, business and astronautics. The list included well known personalities and celebrities like Serena Williams, Richard Branson, Snoop Dogg, John Boehner and Paolo Nespoli. They also launched a YouTube video with the 16 featured tweeters discussing who they follow and what value Twitter brings in their lives. The video had interviews featuring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UFC President Dana White and more.