Five years ago, the idea of a social media site where people could post their opinions in seconds was just a seed waiting to be watered. Today, Twitter exists, which has expanded to become one of the most highly-trafficked social networking sites ever. While Twitter is still a relatively new site, it has been integrated into some of our oldest traditions.

In the past, three generations of a family would huddle around one tiny television to watch the Oscars together. This year, all that was really needed was a phone and the Twitter app, because everything was tweeted about immediately after it happened. A second-by-second analysis was available to everyone using the hashtag, #oscars2014 or #oscars2k14. Even the stars have taken to Twitter to share their favorite Oscar moments and thank their fans.

One of the highlights of the Oscars was Ellen Degeneres’s world-famous selfie. It included stars like Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jared Leto, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o, and Kevin Spacey. Arguably, the best part of this picture was Peter Nyong’o (brother of Lupita Nyong’o) who took this chance to photobomb the stars. Ellen’s selfie has reached over 3.4 million retweets since the oscars, passing up the record previously held by President Obama at 780,000 retweets. Additionally, Ellen tweeted individual selfies of herself with famous stars throughout the night.

The 2014 Oscars demonstrated the rise of Twitter in all aspects of society. Many teachers and professors use Twitter well to communicate with their students regarding assignments. Publications also use Twitter to promote themselves and link articles to keep their followers updated. This goes to show that Twitter is a reliable site that can be used in many different situations. As of January 1, Twitter has nearly 6.5 million users and is expanding by hundreds of thousands of people every day, integrating more of society into the Twittersphere.