I guess we'll call this #TurkeyFail.
One day after Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced an attempt to "eradicate" Twitter, Turkish users have used SMS, DNS, VPN and Tor to send over one million tweets in defiance of the ban.
“We will eradicate Twitter,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had said at a campaign rally on Thursday. “I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic.” Some say the ban is an attempt to silence corruption allegations that have spread on Twitter.
But if silencing Twitter was the Turkish government's goal, it clearly hasn't gone as planned.
According to data provided to Mashable by Sysomos, the social media analytics company, Twitter users in Turkey have still managed to send 1.2 million tweets since the ban was instituted overnight. That adds up to some 17,000 tweets every minute, leaking out of Erdoğan's "impregnable kingdom like it was a sieve," says Mashable's Chris Taylor.
Twitter users in Turkey, of which there are roughly 10 million, have largely gotten around the ban using a patchwork of solutions — some spread by graffiti — involving SMS, DNS, VPN, or Tor.
The international community has tuned in, too.

Image: TrendsMap

In the last seven days, tweets that mentioned both “Turkey” and “Twitter” have grown from a steady 200 per 24 hour period to more than 80,000 a day on Thursday and Friday.

Image: Sysomos

American actors Russell Crowe and Elijah Wood jumped in too, sending two of the most popular tweets about the ban, and helping spread attention to the blockage far behind Turkey’s borders.
Turkey has banned Twitter? That is a terrible decision. I don't understand it.
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) March 21, 2014
“Turkey has banned Twitter?” asked Russell Crowe. “That is a terrible decision. I don’t understand it.” As of press time that tweet has nearly 7,000 retweets.
Is Twitter genuinely blocked in Turkey? If so, this is shameful and scary.
— Elijah Wood (@woodelijah) March 20, 2014
“Is Twitter genuinely blocked in Turkey? IF so, this is shameful and scary,” added Elijah Wood. That’s garnered nearly 7,000 retweets as well.