The Best Tweets of All Time By Jude Newsome [6 more lists]

Some of the Best Tweets of All Time feature - no surprise here - celebrities. The best Tweets ever may come from tech darlings (issuing the first-ever Tweet), celebs having exestiential crises (we're looking at YOU, Kanye West) or having all-out battles with other celebs (hello, Ice T and Aimee Mann). But not all of the greatest Tweets (of all time) are from household names, oh no. Some of the most well-known Tweets have come from everyday people who just happen to be in the right place at the right time, smartphone in hand, as historic events unfolded.

Read on for more info about some of the best, most important (arguable, we know) Tweets ever. Don't see your favorite on the list? Add it! Definitely add it.

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@ConanOBrien Follows One Person

Sarah Killen. The name ring a bell? It should. On March 5, 2010, Conan O'Brien, aka @ConanOBrien, decided to make her very famous in the Twitterverse. With one Tweet, he definitely changed Sarah's life. Apparently, Conan made up his mind that he would follow one (random) person on Twitter - and Sarah Killen was that person. Conan Tweeted:

"I've decided to follow someone at random. She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change."

Yes, 19-year-old Sarah Killen, aka @LovelyButton, who likes peanut butter and dinosaurs, was the first person Conan ever followed on Twitter. And years later? She's STILL the ONLY person he's following - despite having nearly 3.5 million followers. Sarah's since gotten married (congrats!), so her name is now Sarah Slowik, but to us she'll always be that girl that Conan follows.
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Kevin Smith: Too Fat to Fly Southwest?

In February of 2010, filmmaker Kevin Smith, @ThatKevinSmith, took to his Twitter to announce to his 1.6 million followers that he'd been kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight at Oakland International Airport because he was a "safety risk" - essentially, he was deemed too fat to fly. This one Tweet set off a firestorm (and no doubt, a PR nightmare for SWA), as major media organizations picked up the Tweet and began following the story.

Here's the original Tweet:

"Dear @SouthwestAir - I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?"

Southwest responded (via Twitter) that it was trying to fix things, to get in touch with Smith to remedy the situation, even apologizing for the issue.
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@jkrums Tweets Hudson River Plane Crash

Talk about a Tweet seen 'round the world: In mid-January of 2009, a US Airways jet made an emergency landing in New York's Hudson River. News of the event quickly spread throughout the Twitterverse, but nothing was as powerful as this Tweet and photo of Flight 1549 from ferry passenger Janis Krums, @jkrums:

"http://twitpic.com/135xa - There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy."

Crazy indeed. And powerful. This one, surreal image of passengers standing on the wings of the plane let everyone know just how remarkable this landing really was...
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Twitter User @reallyvirtual Tweets Osama bin Laden Compound Raid

We mentioned earlier that some of the most important (and best) Tweets don't always come from celebrities. This is a VERY good example: When @reallyvirtual, aka Sohaib Athar, Tweeted about a helicopter hovering overhead in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2011, little did he know he was actually live blogging the raid on terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden's compound. Athar Tweeted:

""Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)."

A rare event, indeed. As in, a once-in-a-lifetime event, because U.S. forces killed the sonofabitch in this raid - and news about it came just hours later. Athar went on to Tweet several more times about the helicopter(s) and the noise, wondering just what was going on...
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Ice T vs. Aimee Mann

In April of 2010, rapper-turned-actor Ice T, aka @FINALLEVEL, went after musician Aimee Mann on Twitter in a big way. To be fair, she kinda started it. Mann called Ice T out after apparently watching an episode of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,' Tweeting, ""Christ, there is no reason in the world anyone should ever have cast Ice T in a television show."" Just an observation/opinion on Mann's part, but Ice T was having none of it! He immediately took to his Twitter account with a message for Mann:

""stop worrying bout my acting bitch, and worry about your WACK ass music. In the mean time.. Eat a hot bowl of Dicks! Ice T"

Yikes!
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First Space Tweet

Astronaut TJ Creamer, @Astro_TJ, made history in January of 2010, when he sent the very first Tweet from space! Creamer and his crew were orbiting on the International Space Station when he sent this greeting:

"Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s"

Awesome.
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@KimKardashian Called Out Over Casey Anthony Verdict Reaction

When the Casey Anthony verdict (not guilty) was read, Twitter lit up - not surprisingly. Everyone wanted to Tweet their opinion in 140 characters or less. Celebrities were no exception, including one Kim Kardashian. She Tweeted her shock and awe over the not guilty verdict, saying she was "speechless" over it and, unknowingly, opening the door for a Tweet/response that has GOT to be one of THE best Twitter replies in history. Let's back up for a second: Kardashian's late father, high-powered attorney Robert Kardashian, defended OJ Simpson in his (now infamous) murder trial.

Shortly after Kim Tweeted her reaction to the Anthony verdict, Twitter user @senorwinces responded with:

"Reminds me of the time your dad helped OJ get away with murder. RT @KimKardashian WHAT!!??! CASEY ANTHONY FOUND NOT GUILTY! I am speechless!"
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Bronx Zoo Cobra Tweets Adventures

The @BronxZoosCobra made headlines in March of 2011, after a 20-inch female Egyptian cobra went missing from the famed zoo. As the search for the missing reptile continued for six days, she popped up on Twitter! Within days, this Tweeting reptile, a real #snakeonthetown, had thousands of followers, eager to hear about all of her adventures in the city, including this Tweet about a trip for desert at a famed NYC establishment:

"Enjoying a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery. This is going straight to my hips. Oh wait, I don't have hips. Yesssss."

The Bronx Zoo Cobra also attracted an enemy on Twitter: the @BronxZookeeper!
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First Tweet From @jack

The very first Tweet ever sent on Twitter came on March 21, 2006. Twitter creator Jack Dorsey (@jack) announced simply, "inviting coworkers." So there you go. Obviously this one, like many of the biggest and best (and, in this case, first) Tweets, was retweeted many, many times.
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@BPGlobalPR Tweets the Oil Spill Crisis

In the wake of the devastating Gulf Coast oil rig explosion and subsequent oil spill, people were mad - but @BPGlobalPR came to the rescue, providing a much-needed reprieve of humor. The account gained followers very quickly, with Tweets like this gem:

"If we had a dollar for every complaint about this oil spill, it wouldn't compare to our current fortune. Oil is a lucrative industry!"

Yep. The fake BP PR Twitter account became a phenomenon - and attracted a lot more followers than the real BP account!
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Kanye West and his Persian Rugs

Dear @kanyewest: Sometimes you kinda come off as a little kooky. Your personality is a bit over-the-top, especially on Twitter. Like with this Tweet, where you express concern about Persian rugs. Come ON dude really? Prior to this particular July 2010 Tweet, Kanye was obsessing about goblets. To be fair, he was in the middle of prepping a new music video "portrait" for the song "Power" (which yes, featured goblets, Persian rugs and the like). Maybe he needed the rug for the video?

Here's the full Tweet:

"I specifically ordered persian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh"
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Earthquakes and Pap Smears

Twitter user Verdell Wilson, better known as @MissRFTC, took the opportunity to inform her many followers on July 29, 2008, that an earthquake hit at exactly the wrong time: while her doctor was um, giving her an exam. Her OB/GYN. Yeah, that kind of exam. Her Tweet:

"I am totally serious. My My Ob/Gyn was IN my vagina and an earthquake started rattling the room!"

Awkward. Think you have enough to worry about at the OB/GYN, ladies? Think again
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Kanye West and his Water Bottle Crisis

Twitter just wouldn't be the same without some of @kanyewest's nutty ramblings. Like this Tweet, where he complains not about Persian rugs - but about water bottles. Specifically, having to "be responsible" for said water bottle. Total meltdown over a water bottle. Don't you have assistants who can take responsibility for your water bottles, Kanye?

"I hate when I'm on a flight and I wake up with a water bottle next to me like oh great now I gotta be responsible for this water bottle."

This Tweet earned Kanye "Best Tweet" honors at the 2011 O Music Awards, by the way.
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Charlie Sheen's First Tweet

On March 1, 2011, Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) decided he'd like to join Twitter. Sheen, of course, was in the middle of a (very public) meltdown - so what to do? Take it to the Twitterverse! Sheen's first Tweet featured a photo of himself and (former) 'goddess' Bree Olson, holding chocolate milk and Naked juice (how appropriate). The Warlock wrote:

"Winning..! Choose your Vice..."

He even included hashtags. Charlie quickly amassed millions of followers - and he remains ever active on Twitter to this day. Charlie's beloved goddesses might be gone, but his Twitter faithful remain.
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