With 2011 just around the corner and quickly approaching, Twitter, then Facebook, released their most popular trends of 2010. But a tweet from Twitter is different from a status update on Facebook, so we’ll look at how each was generated and see what the world was buzzing about in 2010.
First, Twitter:
In generating the list above, Twitter analyzed 25 billion tweets for 2010. Twitter listed its 10 most popular and talked about trends. Twitter also aggregated top 10s into eight categories: events, news, people, television, movies, technology, sports, World Cup, and hashtags. It’s fun to see what the world chirped about in 2010 – draw whatever interesting data that you can. Personally, I’m a little relieved that the Gulf Oil Spill trended higher than “Inception,” which is not to say that it was not an awesome movie.
Facebook:
Facebook used a different statistical scheme in generating its own top 10 list. Facebook analyzed status updates across 236 countries. Whichever phrases or keywords increased by both percentage and volume from 2009 compared to 2010 made the list.
Again, a tweet is different from a status update so we can’t expect Facebook to reflect an exact translation of Twitter’s top 10 list. Because of this, a big surprise is that the number 1 trend on Facebook’s list is actually a phrase, not a topic – HME as in ‘hit me up,’ meaning call or text me. Another difference from Twitter’s list is that Facebook included categories into the list, such as 3. Movies, instead of having a separate category for movies and listing the top ten most talked about movies. The last surprise is #9. The word “airplanes” actually refers to the song “Airplanes” by hip-hop artist B.o.B, and doesn’t indicate a rising interest in aircrafts.
It’s interesting to see what 2011 will bring. I’m already looking forward to December 2011 when Twitter and Facebook will again release its list of Top 10 Trends, and it’s fun to see what top 10 trends you were a part of. From now until December 2011, be part of the dialogue – engage and participate in the buzz.
Written By: Jaszver Bauzon