Megan Cloherty, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Looking back at the year that was, 2012 was extraordinary. And its best and worst moments were shared on social media. The year held a general election, a life-changing storm and multiple advances in medicine, technology and of course, those inescapable internet memes.
Both Facebook and Twitter are breaking down how the events of 2012 were shared over their platforms.
Facebook’s 2012 review
Facebook’s review divides the topics shared the most into categories: Most talked about books, events, public figures, politics, songs, movies, check-ins, technology, television, sports and memes.
Within each category, Facebook displays the top 10 shared topics of each category in a data visualization. The data is presented in an easy-to-read chart.
The most-listened-to song this year was Fun’s “We Are Young,” featuring Janelle Monae. The band made the top 10 list twice. Maroon 5, Kanye West and Phillip Phillips also landed in the top 10.
In the world of sports, more Facebook users shared stories about the New York Giants, than they did about the London Olympics.
More people checked-in at Times Square in New York than any other spot in the country. Disneyland was a close second.
“The Hunger Games” was the top shared movie on Facebook, Skyfall came in at No. 9 and Prometheus at No. 10.
Twitter’s 2012 review
Twitter divides its most tweeted topics into five categories: Golden tweets, pulse of the planet, only on Twitter, trends and new voices.
Golden tweets are the top tweets that generated the most retweets in 2012.
President Obama’s tweet “Four more years,” accompanied by a photo of he and his wife embracing was sent out the evening of the general election. It was retweeted more than any other tweet this year — 810,000 times, according to Twitter.
Four more years. twitter.com/BarackObama/st
