A little while ago, Twitter published their top trending topics for the first half of 2011. For all that has been said about Twitter promoting triviality, thoughtlessness, Biebermania and every other sign of the apocalypse, the trending topics reveal a bit of hope for the Twitter generation after all – and also emphasise Twitter’s international spread.
The topics were split into two lists: World events and pop culture. We’ll do world events first.
- #AH1N1: Swine flu was the individual topic most talked about. This one surprised me, as I didn’t really notice swine flu and it wasn’t a big issue this year in Western countries. This is the first clue in the list that Twitter trends, unlike most Internet trends, are not exclusively Western. Where was swine flu big in 2011? South America.
- #mubarak: The Egyptian revolution that overthrew the government of Hosni Mubarak was a huge story everywhere, and was kept going as the new government took shape and Mubarak moved closed to being put on trial. As with last year’s Iranian protests, Twitter was widely referenced as a means of disseminating information about events in Egypt and while the actual importance of Twitter to the Egyptian revolution is arguable, it certainly inspired a lot of tweets. You’ll notice other Egypt-related topics in this list, and if they were combined it would almost certainly be the #1 topic.
- #Easter: The major holiday of the first half of the year, and one celebrated across the Twittering world.
- #Cairo: Another Egypt reference.
- #prayforjapan: The first of multiple references to the Japanese earthquake/tsunami disaster, the only rival to the Egyptian revolution for the attention of the Twitterati. I find it interesting that the leading topic was prayer, however. Partly this may reflect the religious bent of the countries who dominate Twitter, and the fact that it’s an uncontroversial way to show support, especially if it’s a common trending topic and everyone you know is doing it. It’s still interesting. Academics, there may be grant money in this for you!
- #Chernobyl: And this is also interesting. Directly below a Japan earthquake tag, you instantly assume that some of this came out of the nuclear disaster discussions from that event and you’d be right, but 26 April 2011 happened to be the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster which helped keep the trend going and pull ahead of the 8th term on the list.
- #Libia/#Libya: The revolt and war here obviously didn’t inspire quite so many Tweets as Egypt, and certainly much less Tweeting from within the affected country, for which you could brainstorm any number of reasons. The controversy around the world and the ease of arguing it in 140 characters or less probably helped get this trend as high as it did.
- #Fukushima: The Japanese nuclear power plant at the centre of the crisis ended up below Chernobyl, the infamous disaster with which it was frequently compared. Part of this was the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, and part of this, I’m pretty sure, is that people were more confident in calling it “Japan’s #chernobyl” then trying to remember the name Fukushima among all the other unfamiliar place names flying around.
- William & Kate: I’m unsure why this ended up in world events instead of pop culture, but I’m glad it did because we get to see how it compares to real world events. While it ranked high, the Twitterati cared about Egypt, Japan, Libya, Swine Flu and Easter more than it did about a couple of inbred rich people getting married. Yay, Twitterati!
- #Gadafi: Libya again. Does it mean something that for Egypt, the leader outranked the location, but in Libya the reverse was true? Yep. In Egypt, the leader was overthrown and imprisoned awaiting trial. Gadafi was, and is, still out there. If you want Twitter to really trend your name, you’ve got to be personally involved Colonel Gadafi! Come out and get captured, and they’ll make you famous!
Not a single America-centric term made the list. Remember, this was the first half of 2011 and the debt ceiling debate didn’t bite until afterwards. It will be interesting to see how much the Twitterati end up having talked about it.
Pop Culture then!
- #rebeccablack: Does this really surprise anyone at all?
- #femmefatale: This allegedly trended because of the Britney Spears album of this name, along with Rebecca Black, a depressing sign of the musical taste of Tweeters. Although I vaguely wonder if it got a bump from people talking about other femme fatales. Perhaps there was a contest involving retweeting this hash tag to win something. Was this album really that popular? Even among a community where the most popular male on Earth is Justin Bieber? Really?
- #charliesheen: I’m amazed this was below #2. I call shenanigans.
- #tigerblood: More Sheen. I can only assume they didn’t count #winning because people used it in non-Sheen contexts. I think we all know that you couldn’t move on the Internet for a month without someone thinking that saying “Winning!” was a brilliant joke.
- #natedogg: Another sign of Twitter musical taste. Nate Dogg was not the only celebrity to die in the first half of 2011, but was the only one whose death was tweeted about so much it got into this list.
- #andersonsilva: Brazilian MMA star who fights in the UFC, and regarded as one of the greatest fighters pound-for-pound on the planet. His inclusion here ahead of any other sports star tells a story. Silva has fought only once so far this year, in February. Hey, did you know that Brazilian soccer star Kaka, despite being very much in the declining stages of his career and being a quiet, religious, controversy-free person, has 2.7 million more Twitter followers than LeBron James? South America, Brazil and Chile especially, looooove Twitter. Twitter has a higher percentage of Brazil’s population than it has of America’s population or that of any other Western country. If you keep an eye out on Twitter’s weekly trending topics and see Portuguese phrases and names, that’s where it’s coming from.
- #Tom&Jerry: I’ve seen numerous claims for how this got started. Movie rumours, a stage show version opening in Argentina (There’s that South American influence again!), people watching morning cartoons. However it started, nostalgia kept it going. It seems we all have fond memories of the little underdog mouse outwitting the big mean cat. I think this is a good sign for the world.
- #Mumford&Sons: A British rock band. No-one knows how this got there, and Twitter ain’t telling. Taylor Swift covered one of their songs. They announced a US tour. There was a Twitter push to get votes for them for a Time Magazine poll. Lots of little things. Maybe they’re just big in exactly the right demographic. Maybe this is the Twitter version of David Hasselhoff being big in Germany.
- #bieberalert: Yes, only number 9, I’m as surprised as you are.
- #queengaga: Yes, only number 10. Mumford & Sons defeat Bieber and Gaga, and they all lose to Tom & Jerry. Such is life.
What does all of this tell us?
The revolution will not be televised, but it will be Tweeted and then put on YouTube with the most horrible autotuned backing music you can think of. Where it will be the second most popular video, right after the video of Rebecca Black marrying Colonel Gaddafi in Brazil while Gaddafi is dying of swine flu.
What’s your take?
(Image: Wikipedia )
