Twitter is a great medium for sharing nuggets of knowledge, pictures of cats and sage life advice.

Over the years it's also been a source of entertainment for the internet, even documenting important events as they happen. We've seen highs and lows, the good times and the bad.  

Here we take you on a journey through the funniest, the most retweeted and most inspiring tweets we've seen over the years. 

Carter's nuggets

Top of the list is the World record-breaking plea from Carter Wilkerson to Wendy's food chain for a year's supply of nuggets that exploded on Twitter this spring and is probably the best example of free advertising ever seen on the social network. 

Ellen's Oscars selfie

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) 3 March 2014

In second place is the previous retweet champion, now knocked off the top spot by #NuggsForCarter. However, it remains the most famous selfie on the web. Shared by Ellen DeGeneres, the tweet likely shows the most celebrities you're ever likely to see in a single selfie snap. 

Ed Balls creates an anniversary

In 2011, British politician and ex-shadow chancellor Ed Balls made a simple narcissistic Twitter gaffe that became so popular and famous that us Brits turned it into a yearly tradition known as "Ed Balls day". 

The Delta airlines prank

This tweet apparently showed a man getting kicked off an aeroplane for simply speaking in Arabic on the phone to his mother. The tweet went viral, but was later to revealed to be fake when it was discovered that this tweeter was actually an internet prankster.  

United Airlines blunder

In April 2017 a man was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight after he refused to give up his seat. A PR nightmare followed for United Airlines which tried and failed to handle the situation successfully. There were numerous amusing tweets around the incident and the follow-up.

Obama's last message as President

Barack Obama had many popular tweets during his time as President, but his parting words proved to be one of the highest performing tweets on our list. 

Obama celebrating more years

The people of Twitter were pleased to see Obama serving four more years and they showed their love with over 900,000 retweets and more than half a million faves. 

One Direction love

Some tweets do not require explanation.

Lemonade

One of the most retweeted posts of 2016 came in the form of one word - the Spanish for lemonade. The Youtuber behind the tweet managed to manipulate the numbers by offering prizes to those who retweeted him. 

Generous Celebrities

This tweet doesn't make the list because of the number of retweets it garnered, but instead due to the act of human decency behind it. Nicki Minaj spent just under an hour on Twitter handing out gifts of money to down-on-their-luck fans. She helped pay for student loans, debts and tuition fees after asking for proof that the requests were legitimate. 

Twitter's co-founder

Unsurprisingly, one of the most retweeted posts of all time also represents one of the milestones of Twitter's history with the company's co-founder Jack Dorsey setting up his own account way back in 2006.

The CIA joins Twitter

With their first tweet, the Central Intelligence Agency demonstrated that even spooks can have a sense of humour. The people of Twitter approved of the message with over 300,000 retweets. 

Wise last words

Actor, Leonard Nimoy's last tweet before he died was a poignant yet wise message which struck a chord with fans across the world and resulted in 270,000 retweets.   

Channel 4 and Game of Thrones collide

Hilarity ensues as @RyanJohnNelson picks up on the accidental collision between Jon Snow Channel 4 newscaster and the famous line from Game of Thrones. Only a couple of thousand retweets, doesn't seem like enough in our opinion. Perhaps someone was hiding the door on this going viral. 

Pizza problems

In a hilarious pizza faux pas, @SadderDre publicly messaged Dominos to tell them they'd just sent him the dough rather than the pizza he was expecting.

It quickly turned out that the customer is not always right, when this tweeter followed up to say that actually, he'd just opened the box upside down. We're not even sure how you'd do that, but it was certainly pretty amusing. 

Not an actual cloud

The readers of the Daily Mail have a certain reputation on the internet, but usually for their comments. Here, a tweeter catches the newspaper dumbing down the technology of the internet for its readers.

Taking Henry for a walk

Certainly easier to look after than a dog, Henry the Hoover even cleans up more mess than he makes. Plus walking him in public makes for hilarious tweets. 

Mistakes gone to print

We've seen far more cringeworthy errors going to print over the years, but this pitcher for the Boston Red Sox apparently has many talents including the ability to throw a ball with both hands and to live underwater as easily as he lives on land. 

Pigeon job interview

Pigeons are generally a menace to modern society, but at least every now and then they can give us some mild amusement.  Periwinkle Jones‏ managed to capture this classic moment when one pigeon was caught apparently being given a job interview in the local fast food establishment. 

Google's Teenage birthday

There's no denying Chris is right, but what makes it worse is Google not only has an answer for everything, but it's usually right too. 

Low carb diets

Actress Anna Kendrick has some interesting thoughts on why low-carb diets work and there certainly is no denying her logic. 

Ryan Reynolds hilarity

Ryan Reynolds has a reputation for amusing Twitter antics and it's pretty hard to pick a favourite. However, he's also shown himself to have some pretty smashing parenting advice under his hat and he really loves his daughter. 

Avocados are evil

Avocados have a bit of a negative reputation and not without good reason. They might be a superfood, but they're also sassy with it, tormenting us with the lack of ripeness. Elspeth captured this frustration perfectly in a tweet that 35,000 other people happily agreed with. 

Life is going well

If your life had a narrator, what would they say? 

Long-term tweet

You've got to tip your hat to this tweeter. Waiting five whole years to deliver a punchline takes some dedication. 

Dad jokes

Dad jokes are the best aren't they? We were wondering where this one was going for a moment, but we weren't disappointed. 

The taxidermist

Probably the best taxidermist joke you've seen today. Or ever for that matter. 

Contemplating life

In a classic "it's funny because it's true" tweet, Pat Tobin shares some wisdom about life as we know it.  

The DVD prank

This tweet seems like it might have been an expensive prank to carry out with very little results. We're not even sure we get the joke behind it but 60,000 other people certainly enjoyed it. 

Shipwrecked diary

Living life shipwrecked on a desert island isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.  

The self-aware printer

Sometimes it's fun to poke at those less technologically capable and if you can turn that into an internet joke, all the better.