Tweets that made headlines in 2011

NEW DELHIM,, INDIA: Some kicked up a storm, others brought good news, while some gave instant fame. Welcome to the world of Twitter, where messages flout every rule in the grammar book but are keenly followed, tweet by re-tweet.

In 2011 authors Chetan Bhagat and Taslima Nasreen and Kingfisher model Poonam Pandey tweeted their way to headlines.

IANS lists some of the controversial tweets of 2011:

Poonam Pandey

Unknown model Poonam became a household name as soon as she tweeted that she will strip in the green room for team India if they win the 2011 World Cup. Her tweet opened a Pandora's box and she has been in the news after that.

She later admitted her tweet was a fruitful publicity stunt and worked as per her plans.

"I did many things like opening the fan page on Facebook where I did an exclusive photo shoot. But I was not satisfied, so I came up with this idea, which worked well. It was my own decision and I was awake and fully aware of what I was saying," she said.

In September, during the India-England series, Poonam gained more attention when she posted bikini-clad photographs on Twitter with the message, "The world will see that I lived up to my inspiration. Now, I am sure my team will beat England."

Chetan Bhagat

Bestselling author and ex-IITian Chetan took on to twitter to counter Infosys chairman emeritus N.R. Narayana Murthy's remark that the standard of students in the IITs is declining.

Slamming Murthy's remark, he wrote: "It is ironic when someone who runs a body shopping company and calls it hi-tech makes sweeping comments on the quality of IIT students."

His comment kicked up a storm, but later Chetan called a truce on twitter, saying, "All is well."

Salman Rushdie

India-born internationally acclaimed author took on Facebook when he was asked not to use his middle name Salman, which he is recognised by. He described his online identity crisis through a series of tweets.

"Dear #Facebook, forcing me to change my FB name from Salman to Ahmed Rushdie is like forcing J. Edgar to become John Hoover" and "Or, if F. Scott Fitzgerald was on #Facebook, would they force him to be Francis Fitzgerald? What about F. Murray Abraham?"

The impact of his tweets was such that Facebook buckled under the pressure and allowed him to call himself by the name he is known as.

Taslima Nasreen

Bangladeshi author kicked a storm when she tweeted, "My Nepali friends, I missed my flight to go to Kathmandu today. I forgot to bring my passport as I didn't consider Nepal a foreign country!"

She was scheduled to arrive in the Nepal capital for the launch of the English translation of her book "Lajja" at a literary festival.

The comment not only hurt the sentiments of her Nepalese fans but was also interpreted as a sign of her poor knowledge of world geography.

Later Nasreen, known for her feminist outlook and for her criticism of Islamic tenets, said she was "shocked and hurt" by the reactions to her comments, especially since she felt close to Nepal as a country.

Omar Abdullah

If Shashi Tharoor's "cattle class" cost him his job, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah landed in a soup after his controversial tweet on parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

He had tweeted: "If J&K assembly had passed a resolution similar to the Tamil Nadu one for Afzal Guru would the reaction have been as muted? I think not."

His tweet came after the southern state passed a resolution asking for clemency for the killers of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.