The Pakistani Nobel laureate gets more than half a million followers in a day.
Pakistani activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai joined Twitter on Friday, having completed her high school education the same day. And by 4 pm EDT Saturday, the 19-year-old had already got 527,000 followers on the micro-blogging site.
“Hi Twitter,” the teenager wrote in her first tweet.
In a subsequent tweet Yousafzai, who has been often referred to as “the world’s most famous teenager,” wrote: “Graduating from secondary school (high school) is bittersweet for me. I’m excited about my future, but… I know that millions of girls around the world are out of school and may never get the opportunity to complete their education.”
On her second day on twitter, the children’s rights activist thanked everyone for “the warm welcome.” Yousafzai wrote that she’s “still reading all your replies and it may take awhile.” She exclaimed: “Glad I joined AFTER exams!”
In the second tweet of the day, she paid tribute to the Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi. It was in response to a tweet by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai.
Among those who welcomed Yousafzai to Twitter was Indian American actor and comedian Mindy Kaling, who tweeted: “Hi my little cousin. Welcome to Twitter! Glad to see your prioritizing your school work.”
Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, has been a student of Edgbaston High School in the English city of Birmingham for the past four years. According to reports, she plans to study politics, philosophy and economics and Oxford, beginning this fall.
She has been living in Birmingham since 2012, when a Taliban gunman tried to kill her. Her 2013 book I am Malala is a bestseller.
Yousafzai is the co-founder of the Malala Fund, a nonprofit that advocates girls’ education, in 2012.
Read Yousafzai’s tweets in her first two days on Twitter:
Hi, Twitter.
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 7, 2017
Today is my last day of school and my first day on @Twitter [THREAD]
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 7, 2017
Graduating from secondary school (high school) is bittersweet for me. I'm excited about my future, but… 2/
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 7, 2017
….I know that millions of girls around the world are out of school and may never get the opportunity to complete their education. 3/
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 7, 2017
Next week, I will be back on my #GirlPowerTrip to meet girls in Middle East, Africa & Latin America. 4/
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 7, 2017
Each girl’s story is unique — and girls' voices are our most powerful weapons in the fight for education and equality. 5/
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 7, 2017
On and off Twitter, I'm fighting for girls — will you join me?✋🏾 6/
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 7, 2017
Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome. I'm still reading all your replies and it may take awhile. Glad I joined AFTER exams!
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 8, 2017
Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome. I'm still reading all your replies and it may take awhile. Glad I joined AFTER exams!
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 8, 2017
Edhi, a selfless & devoted humanitarian, is my hero. I will give to #EdhiFoundation in Pakistan. Will you? https://t.co/PUGoZcus49 https://t.co/Yyk9Yqghcm
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) July 8, 2017