Associated PressOsama bin Laden
Almost two-thirds of adults who used the Internet in 2011 also belonged to social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Most people said they adopted these tools to stay connected with relatives and friends, new and old, the Pew study found. But what were they saying and sharing, beyond a baby’s first words, prom photos and other personal status updates?
Facebook and Twitter, two of the largest social platforms, issued year-end lists last month that provide insight into the topics that drove the conversation in 2011.
Osama bin Laden topped the list of global topics discussed on Facebook, which has 800 million users worldwide. What ranked No. 2? It was not the royal wedding, or Kim Kardashian’s wedding (and breakup). It was the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl. No. 3 was the news of Casey Anthony’s acquittal in the killing of her daughter, Caylee, 2.
At No. 4, Charlie Sheen’s well-documented problems surpassed conversation about the death of Steve Jobs. This put Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton in sixth place, ahead of the death of the British singer Amy Winehouse, the release of the video game Call of Duty MW3, military operations in Libya and Hurricane Irene.
The most shared article in the United States on Facebook, however, was a link from The New York Times showing a collection of satellite photos of Japan, before and after the earthquake and tsunami.
For Twitter users, the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was the hottest news topic, followed by the raid in which Bin Laden was killed, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya.
The top hashtag in 2011 on Twitter was #egypt.
The ending of the final game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup prompted the most Twitter tweets per second in 2011. That is a metric Twitter uses to measure the intensity of conversation about a single event. There were 7,196 tweets per second for the end of the game, compared with the 5,106 per second generated by the killing of Bin Laden.
“The most-shared stories have a couple of things in common: They are subjects that are compelling or fascinating at a human-interest level,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “Most people don’t have conversations about the latest doings of Congress or the Federal Reserve Board; they talk about things with a human, often celebrity face on them. And these stories are almost always fueled by traditional media.”
Facebook also made top 10 lists of musicians, athletes, television shows and movies discussed on the platform. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final installment in the series, was the most-discussed movie. “House” was No. 1 on the list for television shows. “Pretty Little Liars” was the most-discussed television show on Twitter.
In sports Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer star who plays for FC Barcelona, was the most-talked-about athlete on Facebook.
The top soccer player talked about on Twitter was Wayne Rooney of England.
The Facebook page with the most highly engaged audience in 2011? It was not Justin Bieber’s or Lady Gaga’s. The Jesus Daily, run by a doctor from North Carolina who posts inspiring words of Jesus from Scripture, maintained the top spot for most of the year.
“Spiritual groups are one of the oldest forms of social networks,” Mr. Rainie said. “They understood a fundamental truth about networks eons before the Internet existed: The most effective way to get things done and to survive is to form a community.”
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=fed86ab165fcedfae3136a85d274df8d
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.