I don’t know how many Twitter accounts Edward Snowden already has in alias. But on September 29, 2015, he joined Twitter in true name. He posted his bio. “I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public,” it says. He followed just one Twitter account, that of @NSAGov. And he tweeted his first tweet – somewhat cryptically, but what else would you expect – “Can you hear me know?”
His second tweet was a reply to astrophysicist @neiltyson who’d suggested: “If you visit Mars, I’d bet any life forms there will greet you with a sip of that water — and a tourist visa.”
Whereupon Snowden, who presumably hangs out in Russia somewhere, mused: “Thanks for the welcome. Now we’ve got water on Mars! Do you think they check passports at the border? Asking for a friend.”
And look what happened: a day later, he has 1.12 million followers:
Today @Snowden joined Twitter, and here’s the world’s response. pic.twitter.com/d6HgVvdRsf
— Twitter (@twitter) September 29, 2015
Snowden’s first tweet has been retweeted 110,000 times and favorited 100,000 times. His second isn’t quite that hot, having been retweeted by now “only” 23,602 times and favorited 36,740 times. The remaining five tweets have received less attention…. However much I lambaste Twitter and its overvalued stock, but I hafta admit that for this sort of silly thing, it’s really pretty cool.
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