Berlin Twitter Wall lets people write on wall

October 21, 2009 By LAURA STEVENS , Associated Press Writer

(AP) -- The Berlin Wall is gone, but people can still tag their memories on it online.

The Berlin Twitter Wall, which went online Tuesday, encourages people to share their memories of the wall's collapse and hopes for the future on a scrolling wall using Twitter, the social networking site.

By Wednesday, there were more than 100 comments in Spanish, English, German and French. Some said they were too young to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989.

Others called upon people to help carry the memory into the future.

"No one has the intention of constructing a Twitterwall," wrote Markus Trapp of Hamburg, echoing the words of Walter Ulbricht, the leader of East Germany's Communist Party.

East Germany began construction of the barrier on Aug. 13, 1961 in an attempt to stop the dramatic flight of people to the West.

The Web site http://www.berlintwitterwall.com scrolls messages along a backdrop of the East Side Gallery, a famous stretch of the wall still standing and painted with murals.

Visitors can also click on photo icons to see pictures of pieces of the Domino Wall, about 1,000 pieces of 8-foot (2.5-meter) tall styrofoam painted with messages of peace by students, celebrities and politicians. The Domino Wall which will snake nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) along the old wall line and be toppled during the celebrations on Nov. 9.

"I remember watching it all on TV and then getting a piece of wall for Christmas from my aunt and uncle who were right place right time," read one Tweet. Another simply commented "I LOVE BERLIN!"

The online wall is part of events organized by the city of Berlin to help mark the anniversary of the event that paved the way for a reunited Germany and Europe.

Twitter lets users post 140-character messages, which can include a hashtag, a Twitter convention grouping all tweets on a particular subject with a tagline preceded by the pound sign.

The hashtag for the Berlin Twitter Wall is (hashtag)FOTW and there is a Twitter account called "FalloftheWall" that provides daily updates detailing historic events surrounding the Berlin Wall.

"Who would have thought that possible 20 years ago?" wrote one user. "A 'Twitterwall' on the (Berlin) wall. They would have called us crackbrained."

Chris Lippert of Berlin added, "Every wall (even those in your mind) is predestined to be torn down, sooner or later."

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On the Net:

http://www.twitter.com/fallofthewall

http://www.berlintwitterwall.com

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