Twitter has arguably become one of the most influential social media services used by the modern journalist. But the modern journalist is not alone – the average citizen can break the news too, with ease.

Not only does the modern journalist rely on Twitter to harvest information in real time from all over the world, but it is also a platform from which the journalist can interact directly with people, in real time.

Citizen journalism is something that is on the rise around the world, and has helped with such things as the Arab Spring, but its power is being felt more and more each day now as more people join Twitter, where the days-late Facebook people don’t really seem to be around.

But we’re also not just talking about the news – people will tweet about pretty much anything.

It should come as no surprise that the most talked about tweet of 2012 was when US President Obama quite simply said, “Four more years” and included a photo of him and the First Lady embracing.

Others too, stood out from the crowd, and without further ado, here are the top 10 tweets of 2012:

1. Election night, and the most popular tweet of all time:

Four more years. twitter.com/BarackObama/st…

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012

2. When athletes snap at 140 characters:

Fuck it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs.

— TJ Lang (@TJLang70) September 25, 2012

3. Tweets from Mars:

I’m safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! #MSL — Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 6, 2012

  4. Tweet if you love big gulps:

.@mikebloomberg We trust our customers to make the choices that are best for them. — McDonald’s (@McDonalds) June 1, 2012

5. Obama’s “tweet slam”:

This seat’s taken. OFA.BO/c2gbfi, twitter.com/BarackObama/st…

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 31, 2012

6. Live tweeting a coronary artery bypass:

This procedure is a type of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), pronounced ‘cabbage’. It is a double bypass heart surgery.

— Memorial Hermann(@houstonhospital) February 21, 2012

7. The obvious:

People rarely look the way you expect them to, even when you’ve seen pictures. — New Yorker Fiction (@NYerFiction) May 25, 2012

  8. Bieber has feelings, too. The tweet was in response to the death of a young Believer he had spent time with before her passing:

RIP Avalanna. i love you — Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) September 26, 2012

9. NBC Olympic bashing:

America’s left coast forced to watch Olympic ceremony on SIX HOUR time delay. Disgusting money-grabbing by @nbcolympics sbn.to/OagMIB

— Guy Adams (@guyadams) July 27, 2012

10. The tweet that broke the news of Whitney Houston’s death:

omgg , my aunt tiffany who work for whitney houston just found whitney houston dead in the tub . such ashame & sad 🙁

— Aja Dior (@AjaDiorNavy) February 12, 2012

[Source: TIME]