From @TimTebow leading the Denver Broncos to a shocking overtime win (and a new record for sports-related Tweets per second: 9,420) to San Diego Chargers receiver @ericweddle1’s sideline Tweets from the Pro Bowl—we watched all of the NFL post-season’s most memorable moments come alive on Twitter.

And while the @Giants and @Patriots’ rematch and halftime show play out on TV, the national conversation is happening well beyond your den: it also happens on Twitter. Follow your favorite NFL players, coaches and commentators during the game, or just search for #SuperBowl to see how everyone is reacting to the action on the field.

Here’s what @Giants & @Patriots‘ll be fighting 4 Sunday: Lombardi trophy, on-set 4 Super Bowl LIVE. #nfltotalaccess twitter.com/nflnetwork/sta…

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) January 30, 2012

To discover new accounts related to the Giants or the Patriots, follow @GiantsTweets and @NEPatriotTweets. These accounts automatically select and retweet the top Tweets from official team accounts, coaches, players, owners and local media.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the Super Bowl without the creative ads, and this year we’re introducing a Twitter twist. Immediately after the game, you can replay all of the ads that aired during the game and Tweet votes for your favorites on adscrimmage.twitter.com. We’ll announce which ad dominated the post-game Twitter conversation on Feb. 12, a week from Sunday. Learn more about the program here.

Twitter is the best place to see and share your take on everything Super Bowl—and for sports-related Tweets all year long, follow @Twittersports.

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One year ago, we posted “The Tweets Must Flow,” in which we said,

“The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact … almost every country in the world agrees that freedom of expression is a human right. Many countries also agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits.”

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.

We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld. As part of that transparency, we’ve expanded our partnership with Chilling Effects to share this new page, http://chillingeffects.org/twitter, which makes it easier to find notices related to Twitter.

There’s more information in our Help pages, both on our Policy and about Your Account Settings.

One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice. We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can’t. The Tweets must continue to flow.

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Beginning today, right-to-left languages are now available for volunteers to translate in the Twitter Translation Center, starting with Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu. The Twitter Translation Center takes a crowd-sourced approach to translating and localizing Twitter for people around the world. More than 425,000 volunteers contribute to the Translation Center, and to date have helped make Twitter available in 22 languages. With their help, these will be the next four.

As we prepare to add Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu to Twitter, we’ve developed new ways to ensure that Tweets and hashtags will work properly in right-to-left languages. We’ve also made changes behind the scenes to give right-to-left language speakers a localized user experience. As soon as our volunteers have completed their translation work, we’ll make Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu available for everyone on Twitter.com later this spring.

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Hack Week is one of the ways we actively promote innovation through experimentation around the company. This week, a wide range of folks here are taking time away from their day-to-day work to collaborate and develop ideas that they are passionate about.

Get comfortable with uncertainty; it leaves room for inspiration. #hackweek

— benji shine (@bshine) January 24, 2012

Employees across the company have formed nearly 100 teams to work on a variety of projects. Some are developing ways that could make Twitter even easier to use; others are testing out a new feature or tool that people might want to see in the service. Some projects are technical, and strategic; some are fun, giving people a chance to stretch their creative muscles.

We don’t know what exactly will result, but we can’t wait to find out. One thing we do know: we’ll have a bunch of awesome new products, features, and ideas. Some may launch quickly, and others will earn more time and attention to further develop. And of course, some of what happens in Hack Week will stay in Hack Week.

Stay tuned for updates about our first Hack Week of 2012.

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“He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
–The Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 3

Every year, the President of the United States delivers a kind of “status update” and his proposals for new initiatives to a joint session of Congress. In the early days, it was a private communique between two branches of government; today it’s very much a public event to which millions of Americans, as well as people around the world, tune in.

Want a peek behind the scenes of the #SOTU? Here’s the story of how it comes together youtube.com/watch?v=FxwcJx…

— The White House (@whitehouse) January 24, 2012

Tonight at 9pm ET/6pm PT, President @BarackObama will deliver his fourth State of the Union address. Whether you watch it on TV or hear it on the radio, you’ll get a richer, 360-degree experience of what he says and reactions to it when you follow along live on Twitter. Here’s how:

Get your timeline ready: Look for more from the president by following @WHLive and @whitehouse and follow the reaction from Republican presidential candidates. More than 450 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have Twitter accounts; we expect that many will be tweeting their thoughts from the chamber. And if you watch on C-SPAN2, you’ll be able to see their Tweets on screen in real time as well.

Make your voice heard: Join the conversation by adding the hashtag #SOTU to your Tweets. Immediately after the debate, a team of senior White House officials will be ready to answer your questions when you add the hashtags #WHchat and #SOTU to your Tweets. And if you have something to say about specific parts of the speech or topics, you can include one of the following official hashtags from the White House:

#jobs
#manufacturing
#energy
#education
#fairness

Republican leaders will be taking questions using #SOTUGOP. For more on #SOTU-related Q&As this week, visit http://wh.gov/sotu and http://gop.gov/sotu.

Get real-time analysis as the speech unfolds: Log in to Twitter and search for the hashtag #SOTU to see comments and ideas from many perspectives about the speech. (Last year, more than 80% of Tweets about the State of the Union used the #SOTU hashtag.)

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Every year at this time, film buffs from around the world converge on Park City, Utah to see more than 200 documentaries, dramas and short films at the Sundance Film Festival (@sundancefest). To discover the next great films, directors and stars before they make it big, just follow along on Twitter. Here’s a list of all the filmmakers at this year’s festival; you can join the conversation by sharing your opinions and comments using the hashtag #Sundance.

Throughout the festival, keep track of guest Tweeters like screenwriter and director @MichaelMohan (“Save The Date”), hip-hop artist and actor @Common (“LUV”) and comedian-turned-screenwriter/director @Birbigs (Mike Birbiglia, “Sleepwalk With Me”).From A-list directors like @SpikeLee (“Red Hook Summer”) to New York Times film critic @aoscott, you can tune into any perspective about what’s happening.

You can even go behind the scenes as Sundance directors talk about their films. Watch @aliklay describe her documentary about Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, and visit the @sundancefest profile page for more filmmaker videos.

Alison Klayman on the life of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei (@aiww) and an ever-changing documentary: youtu.be/ElrMCedVTtE

— SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) January 6, 2012

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Tonight, the remaining field of Republican candidates took to the stage in South Carolina to make their case to voters. Throughout the debate, Fox News encouraged viewers to rate each candidate’s responses in real time by tweeting #answer or #dodge plus the candidate’s name.

From Juan Williams referencing Tweets from his timeline in pressing Newt Gingrich to clarify an answer, to host Bret Baier asking candidates questions from Twitter users, you were part of the debate conversation—online and on TV.

We partnered with Mass Relevance to track the #answer and #dodge data. The tweeting was immediate, providing a rich real-time picture of audience reaction to each candidate’s answer within 15 to 30 seconds. Here are a few of the debate highlights:

Newt Gingrich
After a slow start and a net #dodge rating for an answer on his recent attacks on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, Gingrich elicited strong #answer ratings for much of the remainder of the debate. His highest #answer peaks came during his comments on unemployment and his reply to Juan Williams about characterizing President Obama as a “food stamp President.”

(click to enlarge)

Mitt Romney
While generating the highest total volume of Tweets among the candidates, Romney spent most of the debate with net Twitter user reaction firmly in #dodge territory. The former Massachusetts governor’s explanation for not releasing his tax records generated the most significant #dodge reaction, but Romney scored #answer ratings for his replies on Medicare and Social Security reform and his refusal to negotiate with the Taliban.

(click to enlarge)

Responses to the other candidates:

Rick Perry’s biggest Twitter reaction came right at the end of the debate, as Twitter users rewarded him by noting #answer for his response to a question on immigration.

Users tweeted that Rick Santorum’s biggest #dodge of the night was in his answers to questions on gun control, but they applauded his answers on employment.

Ron Paul saw his most significant number of #dodge votes in answers around foreign policy.

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As the primaries roll on, so do the political conversations on Twitter. If you want to be the first to hear what’s happening on the campaign trail as it unfolds in real time, here’s a list of accounts we suggest you follow to get in the middle of the action.

Getting the latest information and commentary by following candidates, pundits, journalists and other voters is one of the best ways to stay informed. And there’s another way to make your voice heard on Twitter, particularly during debates. Twitter gives everyone equal and unprecedented access to many of the most influential players in the election. And we know that when you tweet, they listen.

Tomorrow night, at the Fox News Republican debate in South Carolina, your Tweets will let host Bret Baier, on-air analysts, viewers and candidates themselves know your thoughts during the evening.

We’ve been through this before — so here’s a reminder of how you can have your say:

• When a candidate answers a question, tweet that person’s name with #answer (if you think they answered the question) or #dodge (if you think they, well, dodged it).

• Watch the live results at live.foxnews.com.

To further join the conversation, include the debate’s official hashtag (#scdebate) in your Tweets, or search for that hashtag on Twitter.com to see what everyone else is saying.

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This year, discovering the playoffs on Twitter is easier than ever: we’ve partnered with @chevrolet to launch Road to the #SuperBowl. Head over to get real-time updates from everyone watching every playoff game, including coaches, players, analysts and fans. While the teams move the chains on the field, on Twitter you can track who’s winning by the number of Tweets fans send about players and teams.

Last week more than 1.5 million Tweets mentioned @TimTebow during the Denver Broncos’ overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers—and, reacting to Tebow’s game-winning touchdown pass to @DemaryriusT, fans set a new Twitter sports record of 9,420 Tweets per second. That’s more than double the Tweets per second peak from last year’s Super Bowl game (4,064).

Tune in this weekend to follow every bold prediction, every sideline development and every game-changing down on Twitter. Can the @49ers defense slow down the offensive firepower of @Official_Saints? How will the breaking news and injuries reported by @JasonLaCanfora affect the match-ups during the game? And what do sportswriters like @SI_PeterKing and @sportsguy33 make of it?

If it’s happening on the field, on TV, or in the press box, it’s happening on Twitter. Game on!

Make this your Twitter profile pic leading up to the #49ers Divisional round game against the Saints. #BeatTheSaints twitter.com/49ers/status/1…

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 10, 2012

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More than 400,000 volunteers have contributed to our Translation Center, which takes a crowd-sourced approach to making Twitter available in new languages. In fact, thanks to these passionate people all over the world, Twitter is offered in 21 languages. We’ve recently introduced it in Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Polish — and today, we launch in Swedish.

As the number of volunteer translators grows, we’ll explore new ways to empower users to translate and localize Twitter for even more communities. Expect to see further improvements to the Translation Center in the coming year, including new translation tools and more opportunities to help make Twitter accessible to every person on the planet.

If you’d like to get involved, visit translate.twttr.com and follow @translator for the latest updates about these efforts. If you’d like to read Twitter in a different language, you can change your language setting.

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