'World's oldest Twitter user' dies

A 104-YEAR-OLD British woman, thought to have been the world's oldest user of Twitter, has died, her nursing home says.

Ivy Bean, who had about 57,000 followers on the micro-blogging site - under the name "IvyBean104" - died in the early hours of Wednesday.

During her final days, nursing home staff posted regular tweets on her condition, before finally confirming the sad news with one which said: "Ivy passed away peacefully at 12:08 this morning."

Pat Wright, manager of the Hillside Manor Residential Home in Bradford, northern England, said Bean was introduced to Twitter in 2008 after the home got some laptops, which staff encouraged residents to start using.

"She was just a normal mum and grandma that wasn't frightened of trying new things," Wright told AFP.

"She would tweet about what she were having for her dinner, whether she'd played any games - but she wouldn't tweet when 'Deal Or No Deal' (a television game show) was on, everything stopped then."

Earlier this year, Bean, a former housekeeper, met the then prime minister Gordon Brown at Downing Street for a reception "celebrating our ageing society".

News of her death prompted followers from around the world to send messages of condolence via Twitter.

Her followers included several celebrities, including singer Peter Andre, and she also used Facebook.

She is survived by her daughter Sandra, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.