With the news of Steve Jobs's death on October 5, 2011, the Twitter universe exploded with tributes to the visionary co-founder and former chief executive of Apple, and more than half of those tweets were generated via Apple devices, according to a study by Visibli.
Among more than 3 million tweets analyzed related to Jobs's passing, 51% were generated via Apple devices. Within the Apple family, the iPhone was by far the most popular device used with 83% of tweets issued via Apple phones (42% overall). That was followed by Mac products, with 9% of the Apple share (4.6% overall) and the iPad with 8% (4% overall).
RIM BlackBerry was the second-most popular platform with roughly 23% of tweets issued via that platform, followed by Google Android (11%).
President Barack Obama's blog post on October 5 reflected a similar sentiment: "The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."
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Top 10 Most Quoted Tweets
Tweets sent from Bill Gates and Barack Obama topped the list of most quoted tweets about Steve Jobs in the roughly 18 hours following his death, according to data from Storify, which allows people to build stories around social media content such as tweets, photos, and videos.
Below, the top 10 most quoted tweets on the Storify platform about #SteveJobs, issued by news organizations, bloggers, and individuals:
- Bill Gates, Microsoft founder: For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely (link).
- Barack Obama, president of the United States: Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. From all of us at #Obama2012, thank you for the work you make possible every day—including ours.
- Bill Gates, again: Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to Steve Jobs' family & friends. The world rarely sees someone who made such a profound impact.
- Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO: Once in a rare while, somebody comes along who doesn't just raise the bar, they create an entirely new standard of measurement. #RIPSteveJobs
- Darren Rovell, CNBC sports business reporter: RIP Steve Jobs. You left your mark on our desks, on our ears & in our hands.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, California governor: Steve lived the California Dream every day of his life and he changed the world and inspired all of us. #ThankYouSteve.
- Ashton Kutcher, technology investor and actor: I never thought I could be so busted up about the loss of someone I never met. #stevejobs.
- Google, with links to posts on Google+ by co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page: We're very sad to hear the news of Steve Jobs' passing. (Read Larry's and Sergey's thoughts.)
- Microsoft, with a link to a statement by CEO Steve Ballmer: Steve Jobs, 1955-2011: "a true visionary." (Read statement by Steve Ballmer.)
- Snoop Dogg, the rapper: RIP Steve Jobs Rest in peace homie.
About the data: Visibli findings are from more than 3 million tweets related to Steve Jobs's death on October 5, 2011, analyzed via the Visibli platform, which provides detailed, real-time analytics for all links shared on social networks and the Web. Storify data are based on tweets quoted by Storify users in the roughly 18 hours following the announcement of Steve Jobs' passing.
