131-575: On April 18 and 19, 2020, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings and set fires at sixteen locations in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia , killing twenty-two people and injuring three others before he was shot and killed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the community of Enfield . The attacks are the deadliest shooting rampage in Canadian history, exceeding
262-606: A fire hall in Onslow; Wortman was not there at the time. On December 17, SIRT finished their review of Wortman's death and concluded the officers' actions were justified. A Global News investigation of the Onslow incident found indications that the officers involved mistook a third RCMP officer and an Emergency Management Office employee stationed at the fire hall for Wortman, but the SIRT investigation remains ongoing. In an interview with As It Happens on April 25, Commissioner Lucki promised
393-426: A " # " sign. Similarly, the " @ " sign followed by a username is used for mentioning or replying to other users. In 2014, Twitter introduced hashflags, special hashtags that automatically generate a custom emoji next to them for a certain period of time. Hashflags may be generated by Twitter themselves or be purchased by corporations. To repost a message from another user and share it with one's own followers,
524-465: A "repost" or "retweet". In 2015, Twitter launched "quote tweet" (originally called "retweet with comment"), a feature that allows users to add a comment to their post, imbedding one post in the other. Users can also " like " (formerly "favorite") individual tweets. The counters for "likes", "retweets/reposts", and replies appear next to the respective buttons in timelines such as on profile pages and search results. Counters for likes and reposts exist on
655-484: A 30-day period" and add that killing sprees are "usually accompanied by the commission of another felony." They cite Charles Starkweather and the Beltway Snipers as examples of spree killers. They define serial murder as "the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period between the killings." Under this definition, Andrew Cunanan would be categorized as
786-460: A bedroom door and protecting her two sons. Wortman then attempted to set the house on fire, but the two sons escaped from the home. A third son of the victims said he believed Wortman targeted his father first during the attacks because he owned rifles and would have been able to stop him. At about 22:05, Wortman reportedly returned to his burning house where he killed a woman living across the street who had mistaken him for an RCMP officer responding to
917-631: A campground in Glenholme. Before 10:00, in Debert, Wortman performed two traffic stops on random cars, a few hundred metres apart, and killed their occupants. He was seen at 10:08 travelling through Debert and Onslow . In a tweet posted at 10:17, the RCMP for the first time warned the public that Wortman was impersonating a police officer and shared the photo of his vehicle. At the Onslow-Belmont fire hall (set up as
1048-559: A chatbot ( Grok ), job search, and Spaces, a social audio feature. Users can vote on context added by approved users using the Community Notes feature. Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey , Noah Glass , Biz Stone , and Evan Williams , and was launched in July of that year. Twitter grew quickly; by 2012 more than 100 million users produced 340 million tweets per day. Twitter, Inc.,
1179-469: A chatbot, and the social audio feature Spaces. Founded in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey , Noah Glass , Biz Stone , and Evan Williams as Twitter, it underwent a rebranding in July 2023 after being acquired by Elon Musk in 2022. Now operating as X, the platform closely resembles its predecessor but includes additional features such as long-form texts, account monetization options, audio-video calls, integration with xAI 's Grok chatbot, job search, and
1310-603: A chronic petty thief who liked to manipulate the system to avoid paying money and that Wortman may have learned those habits from him. A cousin described Wortman as "almost a career criminal" who did "a lot of stuff but never got caught." A neighbour said Wortman was obsessed with his spouse and tended to be "jealous about things with her". Residents were suspicious that Wortman was stockpiling gasoline and propane tanks, and they reported hearing him brag about having lime and muriatic acid to dispose of bodies. Neighbours also said that Wortman struggled with alcohol use and his business
1441-533: A cop". The tipster warned about Wortman's recent stress and mental health issues and said he always kept a handgun close by. The tip was transferred to the Nova Scotia RCMP for jurisdictional reasons, but it is unclear what action was taken by them. The tip was ultimately purged from their records as is standard protocol according to an RCMP spokesperson. A former neighbour in Portapique said he reported Wortman to
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#17328379096321572-487: A criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. There are different opinions about what durations of time a killing spree may take place in. The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics has spoken of "almost no time break between murders", but some academics consider that a killing spree may last weeks or months, e.g. the case of Andrew Cunanan , who murdered five people over three months. The general definition of spree murder
1703-613: A dedicated tab in Twitter's apps, chronicling news headlines, sporting events, and other content. In September 2016, creation of moments became available to all Twitter users. On October 21, 2021, a report based on a "long-running, massive-scale randomized experiment" that analyzed "millions of tweets sent between 1 April and 15 August 2020", found that Twitter's machine learning recommendation algorithm amplified right-leaning politics on personalized user Home timelines. The report compared seven countries with active Twitter users where data
1834-547: A dirt road along a blueberry field, which the officers did not block off. After escaping, he spent the night parked behind a welding shop in the Debert area, about 26 kilometres (16 mi) east of Portapique. There, he left behind police equipment and gun-related items in a ditch on the property of a resident he knew. At some point after, the RCMP's Emergency Response Team responded to the Portapique attacks. Before then, residents reported seeing little to no law enforcement presence in
1965-456: A hyperlink is an expectation of reciprocal linking by followers. According to research published in April 2014, around 44% of user accounts have never tweeted. About 22% of Americans say they have used Twitter, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey. In 2009, Nielsen Online reported that Twitter had a user-retention rate of 40%. Many people stop using the service after a month; therefore
2096-462: A long time. Owning police vehicles or uniforms is not a crime in Canada, but impersonating a police officer is. CBC News reported that at least one RCMP officer had previously taken note of one of Wortman's replica vehicles and advised him not to drive it on the road. Officials later said Wortman had acquired the specific vehicle he used in the attacks, a 2017 Ford Taurus , at an auction in fall 2019. It
2227-440: A mass murderer's identity is learned only after they have committed the crime. The identity of the spree killer, on the other hand, usually becomes known by police while the spree is still in progress. The term rampage killer has also been used sometimes to describe spree killers, especially when a single individual perpetrator: A rampage involves the (attempted) killing of multiple persons at least partly in public space by
2358-424: A more detailed safety course and background check in order to legally own them. However, these firearms were illegally smuggled into the country. In addition, the briefing note said Wortman was in possession of high-capacity magazines, which are illegal in Canada. The pistols were also equipped with laser sights . Leather noted that Wortman's use of a police car and a police uniform allowed him to evade detection for
2489-457: A nearby motorist who had stopped to help Stevenson and drove off in the victim's silver Ford Escape SUV . Police announced the vehicle change at 11:06. Shortly thereafter, Wortman killed a woman he knew at her Shubenacadie home, changed his clothes again, and stole her Mazda 3 . By 11:24, he was spotted continuing south along Highway 102 through Milford . Over thirteen hours after police began pursuing him, at 11:26, Wortman stopped to refuel at
2620-549: A number of these transactions as suspicious between March 22 and December 5, 2019. Wortman's spouse said that he purchased police gear in both Canada and the U.S. According to records from the Canada Border Services Agency, Wortman crossed the Canada–United States border through Woodstock, New Brunswick , fifteen times within the previous two years with his most recent return to Canada being on March 6. In
2751-532: A parking lot to exchange his jacket for a reflective vest . Sometime before 10:49, Wortman pulled alongside RCMP constable Chad Morrison's cruiser at the intersection of Route 2 and Route 224 in Shubenacadie , about 50 kilometres (30 mi) from Debert. Morrison had planned to meet fellow officer Heidi Stevenson at that location. Wortman shot into the car with a handgun, injuring Morrison, who fled down Route 2 and took shelter at an empty paramedic station. He
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#17328379096322882-447: A photo and attach it to a Tweet right from Twitter.com. Users now also have the ability to add pictures to Twitter's search by adding hashtags to the tweet. Twitter also plans to provide photo galleries designed to gather and syndicate all photos that a user has uploaded on Twitter and third-party services such as TwitPic . On March 29, 2016, Twitter introduced the ability to add a caption of up to 480 characters to each image attached to
3013-444: A police uniform and role-play. On at least four occasions police were alerted to the gunman's behaviour. In 2001, he reportedly assaulted a 15-year-old boy. In June 2010, Wortman was investigated by Halifax Regional Police for threatening his parents, but no official action was taken due to a lack of evidence. In May 2011, Truro Police received a tip from an unnamed source via email about Wortman's stash of guns and his desire to "kill
3144-408: A police uniform. However, the occupants recognized him and refused to let him in, with an occupant arming himself with a 12-gauge shotgun to deter Wortman's entry. Wortman attempted to trick them into thinking he was an officer involved in the manhunt by calling out his own name and shouting, "Come out with your hands up," but the occupants called the police and he left. By 09:48, Wortman was seen near
3275-683: A possession and acquisition licence was required for someone to legally possess a Mini-14, the executor of an estate is allowed to temporarily own the estate's firearms. Conversely, the Colt was sourced to a gun store in California and the pistols to a gun store in Mattawamkeag, Maine . Wortman was said to have had acquaintances living in Maine; one confirmed to police that Wortman stole the Glock 23 from him and later said it
3406-465: A post's standalone page too. Since September 2020, quote tweets, formerly known as "retweet with comment", have their own counter on their post page. Until the legacy desktop front end that was discontinued in 2020, a row with miniature profile pictures of up to ten liking or retweeting users was displayed (earliest documented implementation in December 2011 overhaul), as well as a tweet reply counter next to
3537-418: A premium tier of Twitter Blue introduced on November 9, 2022, priced at US$ 7.99 per month. On November 11, 2022, after the introduction of this feature led to prominent issues involving accounts using the feature to impersonate public figures and companies, Twitter Blue with verification was temporarily suspended. After about a month, Twitter Blue was relaunched on December 12, 2022, though for those purchasing
3668-1114: A relatively small number of users can affect trending topics through a concerted campaign, the feature has been the targeted of concerted manipulation campaigns. While some campaigns are innocuous, others have promoted conspiracy theories or hoaxes, or sought to amplify extremist messages. Some featured trends are globally displayed, while others are limited to a specific country. A 2021 study by EPFL researchers found that frequent "ephemeral astroturfing " efforts targeted at Trends; from 2015 to 2019, "47% of local trends in Turkey and 20% of global trends are fake, created from scratch by bots...The fake trends discovered include phishing apps, gambling promotions, disinformation campaigns, political slogans, hate speech against vulnerable populations and even marriage proposals." The MIT Technology Review reported that, as of 2022, Twitter "sometimes manually overrides particularly objectionable trends" and, for some trends, used both algorithmic and human input to select representative tweets with context. In late 2009,
3799-636: A residence to provide protection for its two occupants. Wortman killed 22 people, including Constable Heidi Stevenson. The other officer he shot, Constable Chad Morrison, survived, as did the man he shot in Portapique who first reported his possible use of a police car. Wortman tied up and injured his spouse before she escaped at the start of the rampage. Thirteen of the dead were found in Portapique, four in Wentworth, two in Debert, and three in Shubenacadie. They are believed to have died from gunshot wounds. Eight of
3930-535: A sailboat the associate owned. In this context, the Nova Scotia Judge has ordered those certain amendments to the search warrant documents relating to the RCMP investigation into the events of April 18–19 remain unedited. The decision was made in response to an appeal to the court by the media coalition, which includes the Halifax Examiner. For its part, the RCMP issued a 1,600-word statement rebutting most of
4061-486: A search perimeter of 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). Overnight, there was still confusion over whether Wortman had been apprehended and if he was the driver of the apparent police car. At the time, the RCMP was unable to use a helicopter to assist in the manhunt because their only Atlantic-based helicopter was unavailable due to routine maintenance. The RCMP later determined that Wortman had left Portapique at around 22:45, 19 minutes after police first responded, by driving through
2020 Nova Scotia attacks - Misplaced Pages Continue
4192-431: A serial killer and not a spree killer. In Sexual Homicide , Ressler, Burgess and Douglas gave more emphasis to killings being at more than one location, and less precision about the time span, saying that a single event can last a short or long time, citing Christopher Wilder 's seven-week "murder event" or "killing spree". Douglas wrote that the identity of serial killers is generally unknown until they are caught, and
4323-403: A shelter for victims from Portapique), two RCMP officers mistook an emergency management officer for Wortman and opened fire without warning. They missed their target and continued their manhunt without checking on the occupants of the fire hall. Wortman was recorded on surveillance video passing through Truro at around 10:20, and then Millbrook First Nation at 10:25, where he briefly stopped in
4454-619: A single physically present perpetrator using (potentially) deadly weapons in a single event without any cooling-off period. Twitter Twitter , officially known as X since July 2023, is a social networking service . It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites . Users can share short text messages, images, and videos in short posts commonly known as " tweets " or " retweets " (officially "post" or "repost") and like other users' content. The platform also includes direct messaging , video and audio calling, bookmarks, lists, communities,
4585-424: A size of less than one megabyte , designed for devices with limited storage capacity. On June 3, 2021, Twitter announced a paid subscription service called Twitter Blue. Following Twitter's rebranding to "X" , the subscription service was initially renamed to X Blue (or simply Blue), and, on August 5, 2023, was rebranded as X Premium (or simply Premium). The subscription provides additional premium features to
4716-537: A slightly larger Twitter demographic than men—53% over 47%. It also stated that 5% of users accounted for 75% of all activity. According to Quancast, 27 million people in the US used Twitter in September 2009; 63% of Twitter users were under 35 years old; 60% of Twitter users were Caucasian, but a higher than average (compared to other Internet properties) were African American/black (16%) and Hispanic (11%); 58% of Twitter users have
4847-551: A social audio feature; "super follows", a way to subscribe to creators for exclusive content; and a beta of "ticketed Spaces", which makes access to certain audio rooms paid. Twitter unveiled a redesign in August 2021, with adjusted colors and a new Chirp font, which improves the left-alignment of most Western languages. Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022; Musk acted as CEO of Twitter until June 2023 when he
4978-541: A subscription will be required to retain verified status, costing $ 1,000 per-month for organizations (which are designated with a gold verified symbol), plus an additional $ 50 for each "affiliate". The change was originally scheduled for April 1, 2023, but was delayed to April 20, 2023, following criticism of the changes. Musk also announced plans for the "For You" timeline to prioritize verified accounts and user followers only beginning April 15, 2023, and threatened to only allow verified users to participate in polls (although
5109-570: A third at his Halifax property, while Wortman initially drove the fourth during the attacks. One person called Wortman's home a "shrine" for the RCMP. He stored two of the vehicles behind his denture clinic. According to a businessman in Dieppe , Wortman inquired about buying a decommissioned RCMP cruiser from him in 2017 or 2018, claiming to be a retired officer who wanted to park the vehicle outside his house to deter thieves. For price reasons, he did not buy it. A witness claimed Wortman tended to dress up in
5240-573: A thorough review of the police response to the attacks, including the delay in informing the public about Wortman potentially impersonating a police officer. Following the attacks, many questions were raised about why Nova Scotia failed to use Alert Ready , Canada's mandatory emergency population warning system, to warn the public about the attacks but instead chose to use social media platforms Twitter and Facebook to provide updates. RCMP officials said they had been dealing with an unfolding situation and details were being updated frequently. However,
5371-620: A tip hotline to gather further information about the attacks. On May 11, the RCMP's Behavioral Analysis Unit launched a "psychological autopsy" on Wortman, which involved extensive interrogations with his friends, family members, and colleagues. It found that he was an "injustice collector", a criminology term for those who keep track of perceived slights and petty grievances that occur over many years. Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said that Wortman had no possession and acquisition licence and his weapons were illegally purchased. Superintendent Darren Campbell said five firearms were recovered from
2020 Nova Scotia attacks - Misplaced Pages Continue
5502-484: A total household income of at least US$ 60,000. The prevalence of African American Twitter usage and in many popular hashtags has been the subject of research studies. Twitter grew from 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) in September 2011, to 255 million in March 2014, and more than 330 million in early 2019. In 2013, there were over 100 million users actively using Twitter daily and about 500 million tweets every day. A 2016 Pew research poll found that Twitter
5633-445: A total of 16 crime scenes, including five structure fires, spread over a distance of at least 50 kilometres (31 mi), along with 500 identified witnesses. The man from whom Wortman had previously considered buying a police car said that he was warned by police during the incident that he was considered a possible target. However, Wortman ultimately never attacked him during the rampage. The Nova Scotia RCMP Major Crime Unit launched
5764-459: A tweet, accessible via screen reading software or by hovering the mouse above a picture inside TweetDeck . In April 2022, Twitter made the ability to add and view captions globally available. Descriptions can be added to any uploaded image with a limit of 1000 characters. Images that have a description will feature a badge that says ALT in the bottom left corner, which will bring up the description when clicked. In 2015, Twitter began to roll out
5895-439: A user can click the repost button within the post. Users can reply to other accounts' replies. Users can hide replies to their messages and select who can reply to each of their tweets before sending them: anyone, accounts who follow the post's author, specific accounts, or none. The original, strict 140 character limit was gradually relaxed. In 2016, Twitter announced that attachments, links, and media such as photos, videos, and
6026-560: A verification process accessible to premium users. Several Twitter legacy features were removed from the site after Musk acquired Twitter, including Circles, NFT profile pictures, and pronouns in profiles. Musk aims to transform X into an "everything app", akin to WeChat . Tweets were publicly visible by default, but senders can restrict message delivery to only their followers. Users can mute users they do not wish to interact with, block accounts from viewing their posts, and remove accounts from their followers list. Users can post via
6157-496: Is a URL shortening service created by Twitter. It is only available for links posted to Twitter and not available for general use. All links posted to Twitter use a t.co wrapper. Twitter intended the service to protect users from malicious sites, and to use it to track clicks on links within tweets. Twitter had previously used the services of third parties TinyURL and bit.ly . In June 2011, Twitter announced its own integrated photo-sharing service that enables users to upload
6288-579: Is a social audio feature that enables users to host or participate in a live-audio virtual environment called space for conversation. A maximum of 13 people are allowed onstage. The feature was initially limited to users with at least 600 followers, but since October 2021, any Twitter user can create a Space. In March 2020, Twitter began to test a stories feature known as "fleets" in some markets, which officially launched on November 17, 2020. Fleets could contain text and media, are only accessible for 24 hours after they are posted, and are accessed within
6419-524: Is primary in the differentiation of serial, mass, and spree murderers", later elaborating those spree killers "will engage in the killing acts for days or weeks" while the "methods of murder and types of victims vary". Andrew Cunanan is given as an example of spree killing, while Charles Whitman is mentioned in connection with mass murder and Jeffrey Dahmer with serial killing. In Serial Murder, Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes defines spree murder as "the killing of three or more people within
6550-489: Is two or more murders committed by a person (or people) with no cooling-off period, in contrast to serial murder , where there is a period of time between killings. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found the category to be of no real value to law enforcement because quantifying a "cooling-off period" is arbitrary. Serial killers commit murders in separate events, at different times. Mass murderers are defined by one incident, with no distinctive period between
6681-640: Is used by 24% of all online US adults. It was equally popular with men and women (24% and 25% of online Americans respectively), but more popular with younger generations (36% of 18–29-year olds). A 2019 survey conducted by the Pew Foundation found that Twitter users are three times as likely to be younger than 50 years old, with the median age of adult U.S. users being 40. The survey found that 10% of users who are most active on Twitter are responsible for 80% of all tweets. San Antonio -based market-research firm Pear Analytics analyzed 2,000 tweets (originating from
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#17328379096326812-551: The COVID-19 pandemic possibly growing out of control and leading to a widespread institutional and infrastructural collapse. However the RCMP Operations Manual authorizes them to lie to the public and government outside of a court to protect the identity of confidential informants and sources. They also said they found a fireproof safe containing hundreds of thousands of dollars at his Portapique property. A total of CA$ 705,000
6943-519: The Irving Big Stop service area in Enfield , 92 kilometres (57 mi) south of Portapique and 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Halifax. Two RCMP officers arrived, one drawing his firearm as he exited the vehicle, immediately aiming at Wortman inside the car. Wortman raised Stevenson's sidearm to his head and fired, whereupon the officers fatally shot him. One officer discharged his rifle 11 times,
7074-607: The Republican and Democratic conventions during the U.S. presidential campaign , and winning a bid for non-exclusive streaming rights to ten NFL games in 2016. During an event in New York in May 2017, Twitter announced that it planned to construct a 24-hour streaming video channel hosted within the service, featuring content from various partners. Twitter announced a number of new and expanded partnerships for its streaming video services at
7205-611: The "Breakout of the Year" Webby Award . In February 2010, Twitter users were sending 50 million tweets per day. By March 2010, the company recorded over 70,000 registered applications. In June 2010, about 65 million tweets were posted each day, equaling about 750 tweets sent each second, according to Twitter. As noted on Compete.com , Twitter moved up to the third-highest-ranking social networking site in January 2009 from its previous rank of twenty-second. From September through October 2010,
7336-517: The "Twitter Lists" feature was added, making it possible for users to follow a curated list of accounts all at once, rather than following individual users. Currently, lists can be set to either public or private. Public lists may be recommended to users via the general Lists interface and appear in search results. If a user follows a public list, it will appear in the "View Lists" section of their profile, so that other users may quickly find it and follow it as well. Private lists can only be followed if
7467-531: The 10th most downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019. On March 21, 2012, Twitter celebrated its sixth birthday by announcing that it had 140 million users, a 40% rise from September 2011, who were sending 340 million tweets per day. On June 5, 2012, a modified logo was unveiled through the company blog, removing the text to showcase the slightly redesigned bird as the sole symbol of Twitter. On December 18, 2012, Twitter announced it had surpassed 200 million monthly active users . In September 2013,
7598-480: The 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal , where fourteen women were killed. Police were criticized for not using Alert Ready to warn the public about the unfolding attacks, as well as not responding to reports of Wortman's previous behaviour and acts of violence. An investigation into law enforcement's response to the rampage, including the decision not to use Alert Ready, was launched. A public inquiry into
7729-526: The Buy button, where order fulfillment was handed from within Twitter, these cards are external links to online storefronts from which the products may be purchased. In March 2022, Twitter expanded the test to allow companies to showcase up to 50 products on their profiles. In November 2021, Twitter introduced support for "shoppable" live streams, in which brands can hold streaming events that similarly display banners and pages highlighting products that are featured in
7860-434: The Canadian government in the wake of the attacks. The pistols were a .40-caliber Glock 23 and a 9mm Ruger P89 . Further information on the firearms and ammunition was released by court orders in December. The Mini-14 was the firearm Wortman acquired from his former associate's estate, having been imported into Canada and legally purchased in a Winnipeg gun store beforehand. A Canadian gun policy expert said that, while
7991-540: The Pear Analytics survey by arguing that what the Pear researchers labeled "pointless babble" is better characterized as " social grooming " or "peripheral awareness" (which she justifies as persons "want[ing] to know what the people around them are thinking and doing and feeling, even when co-presence isn't viable"). Similarly, a survey of Twitter users found that a more specific social role of passing along messages that include
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#17328379096328122-463: The RCMP acknowledged that the three cooperated in the investigation and had "no prior knowledge" of Wortman's actions. Their arraignment was scheduled for January 27, 2021. On that day, the cases were adjourned until March 9, 2021. Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) announced it would conduct an investigation into the police shooting of Wortman, as well as another incident involving two RCMP officers who discharged their weapons inside
8253-405: The RCMP in the summer of 2013 for assaulting his spouse and having a cache of illegal firearms, but they declined to take firmer action due to not receiving a complaint from the partner. The former neighbour ended up leaving Portapique after Wortman became more aggressive and threatening to his spouse in response to the complaint. The RCMP confirmed they had received the neighbour's complaint but that
8384-520: The Twitter app; Twitter announced it would start implementing advertising into fleets in June 2021. Fleets were removed in August 2021; Twitter had intended for fleets to encourage more users to tweet regularly, but instead they were generally used by already-active users. Twitter introduced its "trends" feature in mid-2008, an algorithmic lists of trending topics among users. A word or phrase mentioned can become "trending topic" based on an algorithm. Because
8515-401: The Twitter website, compatible external applications (such as for smartphones ), or by Short Message Service (SMS) available in certain countries. Users may subscribe to other users' posts—this is known as "following" and subscribers are known as "followers" or "tweeps", a portmanteau of Twitter and peeps. Individual posts can be forwarded by other users to their own feed, a process known as
8646-568: The United States and in English) over a two-week period in August 2009 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm (CST) and separated them into six categories. Pointless babble made up 40%, with 38% being conversational. Pass-along value had 9%, self-promotion 6% with spam and news each making 4%. Despite Jack Dorsey's own open contention that a message on Twitter is "a short burst of inconsequential information", social networking researcher danah boyd responded to
8777-454: The ability to attach poll questions to tweets. Polls are open for up to 7 days, and voters are not personally identified. In Twitter's early years, users could communicate with Twitter using SMS. Twitter discontinued this feature in most countries in April 2023, after hackers had exposed vulnerabilities in the feature. In 2016, Twitter began to place a larger focus on live streaming video programming, hosting various events including streams of
8908-497: The according button on a tweet's page. Twitter allows users to update their profile via their mobile phones either by text messaging or by apps released for certain smartphones and tablets. Twitter announced in a tweet on September 1, 2022, that the ability to edit a tweet was being tested for select users. Eventually, all Twitter Blue subscribers would be able to use the feature. Users can group posts together by topic or type by use of hashtags – words or phrases prefixed with
9039-583: The area, despite seeing fires and making 9-1-1 calls to report gunshots. By 01:00, the RCMP had circulated internal bulletins to police agencies across Nova Scotia, identifying Wortman as a suspect who was "armed and dangerous" and associated with "an old white police car". At 05:43, Wortman left Debert and drove north on Highway 4 to a house whose residents he knew, located on Hunter Road in Wentworth , approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) north of Portapique. He arrived at around 06:30 and shortly thereafter killed
9170-460: The areas affected had poor cellular Internet service and were mostly populated by seniors who might not have used social media. Relatives of the victims pointed out that the use of Alert Ready could have saved lives. Chief Superintendent Leather said an investigation would be conducted into the decision-making process on alerting the public. On April 22, Leather said officers in Dartmouth were asked by
9301-475: The attacks. The ban included the Ruger Mini-14, which Wortman obtained illegally within Canada, while the other four guns he used included a stolen pistol from an RCMP officer who he killed and three guns obtained illegally from the United States. On December 4, 2020, three people, including Wortman's partner, were charged with supplying him with ammunition later used in the attacks. The attacks originated in
9432-400: The beach, and that there was another unmapped exit from the neighbourhood. They also informed the officers that Wortman was in a replica police vehicle, which was also previously reported by several 9-1-1 calls. At 23:32, the RCMP posted a tweet saying it was dealing with a "firearms complaint"; it asked residents of the Portapique area to stay inside with their doors locked, as officers set up
9563-399: The company began rolling out "New Twitter", an entirely revamped edition of twitter.com. Changes included the ability to see pictures and videos without leaving Twitter itself by clicking on individual tweets which contain links to images and clips from a variety of supported websites, including YouTube and Flickr , and a complete overhaul of the interface. In 2019, Twitter was announced to be
9694-469: The company opened applications for its premium subscription options called Super Follows. This lets eligible accounts charge $ 2.99, $ 4.99 or $ 9.99 per month to subscribe to the account. The launch only generated about $ 6,000 in its first two weeks. In 2023, the Super Follows feature was rebranded as simply "subscriptions", allowing users to publish exclusive long-form posts and videos for their subscribers;
9825-605: The company's data showed that 200 million users sent over 400 million tweets daily, with nearly 60% of tweets sent from mobile devices. In April 2014, Twitter underwent a redesign that made the site resemble Facebook somewhat, with a profile picture and biography in a column left to the timeline, and a full-width header image with parallax scrolling effect. Late in 2015, it became apparent that growth had slowed, according to Fortune, Business Insider, Marketing Land and other news websites including Quartz (in 2016). In 2019, Twitter released another redesign of its user interface. By
9956-410: The creator shares a specific link to their list. Lists add a separate tab to the Twitter interface with the title of the list, such as "News" or "Economics". In October 2015, Twitter introduced "Moments"—a feature that allows users to curate tweets from other users into a larger collection. Twitter initially intended the feature to be used by its in-house editorial team and other partners; they populated
10087-502: The details, saying that evidence was obtained from only one of the hundreds of people interviewed in the case. On December 4, Wortman's spouse, her older brother, and a brother-in-law were charged with providing Wortman ammunition that he used in the attacks. The spouse was believed to have transferred .223 Remington and .40 Smith & Wesson cartridges, all of them purchased in Nova Scotia, between March 17 and April 18, 2020. However,
10218-470: The drug smuggling claims. Another witness claimed Wortman had two crates of grenades acquired in the U.S.; a lawyer representing the victims' families reported that one of his clients found, at a crime scene in Portapique, wooden ammunition cases that could have been used to store grenades. Additional witnesses told police that Wortman and an associate tended to travel to the U.S. and smuggle cigarettes, alcohol, and presumably other illegal items from there, using
10349-532: The event, including Bloomberg , BuzzFeed , Cheddar , IMG Fashion , Live Nation Entertainment , Major League Baseball , MTV and BET , NFL Network , the PGA Tour , The Players' Tribune , Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens ' Propagate, The Verge , Stadium and the WNBA . as of the first quarter of 2017 , Twitter had over 200 content partners, who streamed over 800 hours of video over 450 events. Twitter Spaces
10480-570: The file had since been purged from their records. No motive has been established for the attacks. Over 25 different units of the RCMP were involved in the criminal investigation, along with the Halifax Regional Police and the Canada Border Services Agency . The Canadian Armed Forces were also dispatched on April 21 to assist the RCMP in their investigation by providing them with additional personnel and supplies. There were
10611-477: The fire. The woman's children took in the two sons of the first victims, and together they hid for several hours while on the phone with 9-1-1 waiting to be rescued. At 22:10, two of Wortman's neighbours drove to his house to investigate the fire while calling 9-1-1. Along the way, they passed by the house of a couple Wortman had shot and killed where they noticed what appeared to be a police car parked in front with its roof lights off. After confirming Wortman's house
10742-487: The flames or to help other victims. Some of the victims were not discovered until many hours later. One officer reported by radio that they could not locate the shooter and that "it's very bad, what's going on down here". The Fifth Estate reported that the first responding officers were "overwhelmed" and called for assistance in locating or engaging the shooter. First responders also found the neighbours that Wortman shot at, who identified him by name, said he had gone towards
10873-548: The house he was staying in on fire. As he left, he killed a neighbour who had been out for a walk who saw the fire and tried to help. Wortman then began driving back south on Highway 4 toward Portapique at 09:23, and at 09:35, he shot and killed another victim while she was walking on the side of the road in Wentworth Valley . At around 09:45, he went to another house in Glenholme whose residents he knew, while armed and dressed in
11004-408: The idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate to a small group in 2006. The original project code name for the service was twttr , an idea that Williams later ascribed to Noah Glass , inspired by Flickr and the five-character length of American SMS short codes . The decision was also partly due to the fact that the domain twitter.com was already in use, and it was six months after
11135-448: The investors and shareholders. Williams fired Glass, who was silent about his part in Twitter's startup until 2011. Twitter spun off into its own company in April 2007. The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference. During the event, Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000. The company experienced rapid initial growth thereafter. In 2009, Twitter won
11266-427: The latter change has yet to occur). Effective April 21, 2023, Twitter requires companies to participate in the verified organizations program to purchase advertising on the platform, although companies that spend at least $ 1,000 on advertising per-month automatically receive membership in the program at no additional cost. From April 25, 2023, verified users are now prioritized in replies to tweets. In June 2021,
11397-530: The launch of twttr that the crew purchased the domain and changed the name of the service to Twitter . Work on the project started in February 2006. The first Twitter prototype, developed by Dorsey and contractor Florian Weber, was used as an internal service for Odeo employees. The full version was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006. In October 2006, Biz Stone , Evan Williams , Dorsey, and other members of Odeo formed Obvious Corporation and acquired Odeo from
11528-460: The law enforcement response was declared on July 28, 2020, following escalating criticism of the investigation's lack of transparency. On May 1, 2020, in the wake of the attacks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , following through on a 2019 campaign promise, announced an immediate ban on some 1,500 makes and models of " military-grade assault-style " weapons, including two of the five guns used in
11659-507: The murders. How to distinguish a spree killer from a mass murderer, or a serial killer, is subject to considerable debate, and the terms are not consistently applied even within the academic literature. The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics has defined a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders". The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment lists five different categories of spree killers and cites Mark O. Barton as an example of
11790-427: The other one discharged his pistol 12 times. The shooter was struck twice in the head, twice in the neck, seven times in the right arm, once in the left arm, and had 25 wounds to his torso. Wortman's death was confirmed by police at 11:40 a.m. According to a partially redacted document, Wortman's spouse said he had been on his way to Halifax before he was killed to "get" someone, and local authorities had to go to
11921-482: The others likely came from the United States. On June 25, 2022, the National Post reported on a briefing note sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau days after the shooting, which identified the four firearms owned by Wortman and used by him in the attacks. According to the note, the rifles were a Colt Law Enforcement Carbine and a Ruger Mini-14 , both of which were among the firearm models and variants banned by
12052-472: The person's handle, would no longer count; a user photo post used to count for around 24 characters. In 2017, Twitter handles were similarly excluded. The same year, Twitter doubled its historical 140-character-limitation to 280. Under the new limit, glyphs are counted as a variable number of characters, depending upon the script they are from. In 2023, Twitter announced that Twitter Blue users could create posts with up to 4,000 characters in length. t.co
12183-482: The pivot in marketing was reportedly intended to help compete with Substack . In May 2021, Twitter began testing a Tip Jar feature on its iOS and Android clients. The feature allows users to send monetary tips to certain accounts, providing a financial incentive for content creators on the platform. The Tip Jar is optional and users can choose whether or not to enable tips for their account. On September 23, 2021, Twitter announced that it will allow users to tip users on
12314-404: The platform. Since his acquisition , the platform has been criticized for enabling the increased spread of disinformation and hate speech . Linda Yaccarino succeeded Musk as CEO on June 5, 2023, with Musk remaining as the chairman and the chief technology officer . In July 2023, Musk announced that Twitter would be rebranded to "X" and the bird logo would be retired, a process which
12445-420: The platform. Eligible users of Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows will be able to receive their earnings in the form of USD coin, a stablecoin whose value is that of the U.S. dollar. Users can also hold their earnings in crypto wallets, and then exchange them into other cryptocurrencies. From 2014 to 2017, Twitter offered a "Buy button" feature, allowing tweets to embed products that could be purchased from within
12576-472: The presentation. Daily user estimates vary as the company does not publish statistics on active accounts. A February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network based on their count of 6 million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits. An April 2017 a statista.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the tenth most used social network based on their count of 319 million monthly visitors. Its global user base in 2017
12707-644: The property in Portapique that was subject to a dispute between Wortman and his uncle. The official list of victims can be found in the statement by Premier Tim Houston, read in the House of Assembly on April 14, 2022. The RCMP identified the perpetrator as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, a denturist who operated two clinics in Halifax and Dartmouth , and who owned real estate in Halifax , Dartmouth, and Portapique . His estate, which consisted of six properties and three corporations,
12838-457: The property. In 2015, Wortman's uncle lent him a house that he purchased in Portapique while selling his Edmonton condominium. Wortman refused to release the property back to him, claiming he was owed money, until the uncle eventually sold it; one of the buyers later became a victim in the killings. Witnesses described Wortman as paranoid, manipulative, and controlling. According to Wortman's uncle, Wortman and his mother were abused by his father,
12969-412: The province about a warning at 10:15 a.m., but they did not agree on details like wording before Wortman died 71 minutes later. The United States Consulate in Halifax said it emailed US citizens in Nova Scotia warning them of the situation using the RCMP's information. Spree killer Note: Varies by jurisdiction Note: Varies by jurisdiction A spree killer is someone who commits
13100-446: The rifle. After the attacks, the decorative signs on Wortman's denture clinic on Portland Street in Dartmouth, portraying a large smile and a set of dentures, were the subject of complaints from the public. In response, Halifax Regional Police removed the signs on April 22. The building was demolished in January 2022. Wortman had previously pleaded guilty to assault in 2002 and was sentenced to nine months of probation , in which he
13231-408: The rural beachside community of Portapique , 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of Halifax , when Wortman assaulted his partner at their cottage. During the assault, he poured gasoline throughout the cottage and set the residence on fire. Wortman then forced his partner to walk to their nearby warehouse and confined her in the back seat of his replica RCMP cruiser. She was able to escape and then hid in
13362-570: The second one. He is also noted alongside mass murderers, such as Patrick Sherrill , in the respective entry about mass murder. In The Anatomy of Motive , John E. Douglas cites Charles Starkweather and Andrew Cunanan (who murdered five people over three months) as examples of spree killers, while Jack Levin calls Starkweather a mass murderer and Cunanan a serial killer. In Controversial Issues in Criminology , Fuller and Hickey write that "[t]he element of time involved between murderous acts
13493-418: The service through the iOS app store , the cost will be $ 10.99 a month as to offset the 30% revenue split that Apple takes. Twitter initially grandfathered users and entities that had gained verification due to their status as public figures, referring to them as "legacy verified accounts" that "may or may not be notable". On March 25, 2023, it was announced that "legacy" verification status would be removed;
13624-399: The service. In November 2023 a "Premium+" subscription was launched, with a higher monthly fee giving benefits such as the omission of adverts on For You and Following feeds. In November 2022, Musk announced plans to add account verification and the ability to upload longer audio and video to Twitter Blue. A previous perk offering advertising-free news articles from participating publishers
13755-415: The service. Users could also add their billing and shipping information directly to their accounts. The buy button's platform partners at launch included Stripe , Gumroad , Musictoday , and The Fancy . In July 2021, Twitter began testing a "Shop module" for iOS users in the United States, allowing accounts associated with brands to display a carousel of cards on their profiles showcasing products. Unlike
13886-696: The social network with bitcoin . The feature will be available for iOS users. Previously, users could tip with fiat currency using services such as Square's Cash App and PayPal's Venmo . Twitter will integrate the Strike bitcoin lightning wallet service. It was noted that at this current time, Twitter will not take a cut of any money sent through the tips feature. On August 27, 2021, Twitter rolled out Ticketed Spaces, which let Twitter Spaces hosts charge between $ 1 and $ 999 for access to their rooms. In April 2022, Twitter announced that it will partner with Stripe, Inc. for piloting cryptocurrency payouts for limited users in
14017-584: The start of 2019 , Twitter had more than 330 million monthly active users. Twitter then experienced considerable growth during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The platform also was increasingly used for misinformation related to the pandemic . Twitter started marking tweets which contained misleading information, and adding links to fact-checks. In 2021, Twitter began the research phase of Bluesky , an open source decentralized social media protocol where users can choose which algorithmic curation they want. The same year, Twitter also released Twitter Spaces,
14148-476: The stolen vehicle Wortman was driving in Enfield. Four of them belonged to Wortman: two semiautomatic handguns and two semiautomatic rifles, one of which was described as a "military-style assault rifle". The fifth was Stevenson's stolen service pistol, a 9mm Smith & Wesson . Police also said that while one of Wortman's firearms had originated in Canada, via the estate of a former associate who died in 2009, all of
14279-399: The two occupants and their two dogs. Wortman then remained at the house for about three hours; what he did during that time is unclear. At around that time, police located Wortman's spouse in Portapique; she had fled to a neighbour's home to call 9-1-1 since Wortman had smashed her cellphone. She was barefoot and claimed to have been hiding outdoors for much of the night. She confirmed that he
14410-464: The user had not directly followed) that the algorithm had "deemed relevant" to the users' past preferences. Twitter randomly chose 1% of users whose Home timelines displayed content in reverse-chronological order from users they directly followed. Twitter had mobile apps for iPhone , iPad , and Android . In April 2017, Twitter introduced Twitter Lite , a progressive web app designed for regions with unreliable and slow Internet connections, with
14541-448: The victims were found in the remains of structure fires. Wortman also killed two dogs and injured two others. According to RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki , some of Wortman's first victims were closely connected to him, but over time, those he attacked were selected more at random. The Globe and Mail reported that one of the victims in Wentworth had previously gone hunting with Wortman, while CBC News reported that another victim owned
14672-488: The weeks before the attacks, Wortman liquidated his bank accounts and withdrew a large sum of money in cash. News magazine Maclean's reported that a CA$ 475,000 withdrawal from Brink's and other evidence pointed to Wortman having ties to organised crime and being a confidential informant for the RCMP. In response to the allegations, the RCMP denied having any prior association with Wortman, saying his recent behaviour and stockpiling activities were driven by paranoia about
14803-404: The woods until early the next morning. Wortman then set the warehouse on fire. Beginning at 22:01, a number of Portapique residents called 9-1-1 to report gunshots and several fires. Investigative reporting by CBC News 's The Fifth Estate examining the timeline of the events found that the first call came from the wife of a victim. The woman was then shot and killed as well while barricading
14934-464: Was "well-armed" in advance. According to his yearbook , Wortman aspired to become a police officer. However, his partner informed police after the attacks that Wortman disliked law enforcement and "thought he was better than them". He had a hobby of buying law enforcement memorabilia and refurbishing old police cruisers. At the time of the attacks, he was in possession of four such cruisers. Police found two of them on fire at his Portapique property and
15065-406: Was 328 million. According to Musk, the platform had 500 million monthly active users in March 2023, 550 million in March 2024, and 600 million in May 2024. In 2009, Twitter was mainly used by older adults who might not have used other social sites before Twitter. According to comScore only 11% of Twitter's users were aged 12 to 17. According to a study by Sysomos in June 2009, women made up
15196-497: Was available (Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Spain) and examined tweets "from major political groups and politicians". Researchers used the 2019 Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHESDATA) to position parties on political ideology within each country. The "machine learning algorithms", introduced by Twitter in 2016, personalized 99% of users' feeds by displaying tweets (even older tweets and retweets from accounts
15327-465: Was based in San Francisco, California, and had more than 25 offices around the world. A signature characteristic of the service initially was that posts were required to be brief. Posts were initially limited to 140 characters, which was changed to 280 characters in 2017. The limitation was removed for subscribed accounts in 2023. The majority of tweets are produced by a minority of users. In 2020, it
15458-521: Was completed by May 2024. Since Musk's takeover, data from app-tracking firms has shown that global usage of Twitter has declined by approximately 15%, compared to a decline of 5–10% in some other social media sites. The platform has disputed that usage has dropped at all, with Musk saying that membership had grown to 600 million users as of a May 2024 tweet. By October 2024, the platform was estimated to have lost about 80 percent of its value since Musk acquired it. Jack Dorsey claims to have introduced
15589-406: Was dropped, but Musk stated that Twitter did want to work with publishers on a similar " paywall bypass" perk. Musk had pushed for a more expensive version of Twitter Blue following his takeover, arguing that it would be needed to offset a decline in advertising revenue. Twitter states that paid verification is required to help reduce fraudulent accounts. The verification marker was included in
15720-525: Was estimated that approximately 48 million accounts (15% of all accounts) were run by internet bots rather than humans. The service is owned by the American company X Corp. , which was established to succeed the prior owner Twitter, Inc. in March 2023 following the October 2022 acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk for US$ 44 billion. Musk stated that his goal with the acquisition was to promote free speech on
15851-447: Was eventually found by paramedics and was transported to hospital. Wortman proceeded less than 500 metres (1,600 ft) south into the junction with Route 224 and collided head-on with Stevenson, who was driving north. Stevenson then engaged Wortman, resulting in him returning fire and killing her. Immediately after the engagement, he stole her sidearm and remaining ammunition before setting both cars on fire. Wortman then shot and killed
15982-486: Was for his own protection, while another confirmed he loaned the Ruger P89 to Wortman "sometime within the last two to five years." An acquaintance also told police that the Colt was obtained at a gun show in the U.S. by an individual who gave it to a friend of Wortman's, who then gave it to Wortman himself. The Colt and both pistols were previously classified as restricted in Canada, meaning Wortman would have needed to complete
16113-441: Was impersonating a police officer and provided a photo of his replica police vehicle. A BOLO alert containing this updated information was issued to officers across the province at around 08:00, warning Wortman "could be anywhere" in Nova Scotia. The RCMP publicly announced that they were dealing with an active shooter situation in Portapique at 08:02. Wortman was publicly identified as the suspect at 08:54. Wortman eventually set
16244-569: Was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic , which forced all non-essential denturist services in Nova Scotia to close. According to his spouse, Wortman, who took her across Nova Scotia in the hours before the attacks, had been "consumed" by the pandemic for weeks and believed he was going to die. He was also fearful that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would begin controlling money, which prompted him to make hefty bank withdrawals. Additionally, Wortman communicated with an acquaintance via email about how other people were not prepared for it and how he
16375-458: Was on fire, the two drove back and encountered the same police car fleeing the scene of another house fire. As they pulled alongside the police car, Wortman fired at them with a handgun, hitting the driver in the shoulder. The two fled in their vehicle. When the first three RCMP officers arrived on the scene at 22:26, they slowly entered the neighbourhood on foot, eventually finding some of the victims. Police said many had died while trying to escape
16506-510: Was predetermined. Wortman is believed to have worked on refurbishing the decommissioned police vehicle used in the attacks over the course of nine months. The RCMP determined the decals used for the vehicle came from a supplier, but that they were made without the business owner's permission. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada , a Canadian money-laundering watchdog agency, found that Wortman purchased police-themed vehicle accessories via PayPal , and that PayPal flagged
16637-399: Was prohibited from possessing weapons and ordered to undergo anger management counselling. Wortman was also involved in two civil lawsuits regarding property disputes according to interviews and public records. In 2004, he offered to help a friend who had financial difficulties and was about to lose his house. Wortman then discreetly took ownership of the house, evicted the man, and sold
16768-404: Was recoloured white and stripped of its police accessories at the time of its purchase, a routine process for any recently decommissioned RCMP vehicle. Police confirmed Wortman had estranged relatives who were retired RCMP officers, but he had not obtained any police uniforms from them. The RCMP looked into the navigation logs of Wortman's vehicles to determine if the route he took during the attacks
16899-631: Was seized from the remains of Wortman's cottage after the attacks. A financial audit has been conducted as part of the investigation. On July 27, court documents were unsealed, detailing police interviews with witnesses who claimed Wortman was a drug smuggler who provided people in Portapique and nearby unincorporated community of Economy with drugs from Maine . These witnesses alleged Wortman had stockpiles of guns and drugs, along with false walls and hidden compartments, in his properties. The RCMP confirmed three days later that Wortman had kept hidden compartments in buildings, but they were unable to corroborate
17030-598: Was succeeded by Linda Yaccarino . In a move that, despite Yaccarino's accession, was widely attributed to Musk, Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023, and its domain name changed from twitter.com to x.com on May 17, 2024. X is one of the top social media platforms and the fifth-most-visited website in the world as of June 2024. Users can share posts containing text messages, images, and videos and interact with other users' content through likes and reposts. X offers additional features such as direct messaging , video and audio calling, bookmarks, lists, communities,
17161-515: Was valued at CA$ 2.1 million. Wortman had been normally living above his Dartmouth clinic, but he owned a cottage in Portapique beginning in 2004. He had a close friendship and business association with a former Fredericton lawyer who died in November 2009 and left him all of his possessions, including one of the rifles used in the attacks. Wortman did not have a possession and acquisition licence , which would have been needed to legally possess
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