William F. Garrity

Courtesy of @Twitter_Tips, the observation that Twitter is more political (here reported on the Twitter blog), and Facebook, more casual (reported by Telegraph.co.uk).

Top Twitter Trends of 2009

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My name is Abdur and I'm part of the Research team here at Twitter. As Chief Scientist, it's my job to interpret data so we can understand and appreciate how Twitter is constantly evolving. Since it's the end of the year, we thought it would be interesting to review the topics and issues that captured global attention over the year. In 2009, Twitter’s Trending Topics helped us understand what was happening around the world showing us that people everywhere can be united in concern around important events; excited about a new movie; or geek-out about a major new technology.

Among all the keywords, hashtags, and phrases that proliferated throughout the year, one topic surfaced repeatedly. Twitter users found the Iranian elections the most engaging topic of the year. The terms #iranelection, Iran and Tehran were all in the top-21 of Trending Topics, and #iranelection finished in a close second behind the regular weekly favorite #musicmonday.

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Facebook reveals top status update terms of 2009

Swine flu and Lady Gaga were among the terms most used in Facebook status updates during this year, the social network has said.

By Emma Barnett, Technology and Digital Media Correspondent

Published: 12:49PM GMT 22 Dec 2009

Facebook introduced status updates earlier this year following the growth in Twitter's popularity. By September 2009 Facebook was publishing 45 million status updates a day from 30 million unique visitors, according to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer.

The most commonly used words in status updates were about Facebook applications, such as Farmville, Farm Town and Social Living.

Lars Backstrom, a data scientist at Facebook, wrote on the company's blog: “Facebook has provided a platform for developers to create a number of hugely popular applications, and it is no surprise that people are talking about them. You could almost say that 2009 was the year of the farm in status updates. Since its emergence in June 2009, Farmville became the most talked-about application in status updates and now boasts over 72 million monthly active users.”

The second most popular inclusion in status updates was the abbreviation ‘FML’. Backstrom says its meaning, which was once very specific has now broadened. “We will leave the ‘F’ open to your interpretation, but the ‘M’ and the ‘L’ stand for ‘My Life’,” he politely explained.

Swine flu and other variations relating to the illness came third in the list. The death of celebrities, such as Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze, was the fourth most popular theme, while people talking about their families came fifth.

Mentions of Twitter and related Twitter actions ranked 10th and Lady Gaga, despite being virtually unmentioned on Facebook until November 2008, was the 12th most popular topic in people’s updates.

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