The Biggest Twitter Trends of 2011
There’s no denying that Twitter is getting bigger and better every year. 2011 has been no different, and has been a landmark year, seeing the site reach the 250 million members mark. Although this is a long way from challenging the Social Networking giant Facebook, it’s still pretty damn impressive.
The great thing about Twitter is that is leads the field when it comes to trending. Any popular subject can be tweeted thousands of times in Twitter, and it really is a great way to find out just what people are talking about all around the world.
Common Themes:
Leading trends tend to follow the same patterns year-on-year. The most popular topics on Twitter generally focus on celebrity culture and follow musical artists, actors, TV personalities and new film releases. Big news and sports items can also make it into the top Twitter feeds from time to time. So what caught our attention on Twitter this year?
2011 Trends:
Research service, ‘What The Trend’ has analysed thousands of Tweets to determine the most popular trends of 2011 on Twitter. This top ten includes buzz about big films of the year and pop culture icons. Here they are, from 1 to 10, believe it or not!
Justin Bieber
The pint-size pop star has sold millions of records around the world and was this year’s biggest teen crush. Two big album releases and intensive promotion in 2011 pushed him to the top of the Twitter feeding frenzy.
Football
The surprise entry in second place was the Women’s FIFA World Cup. This subject attraction millions of Tweets and attracted more attention online than ever before. Who could have predicted this would become the second most Tweeted topic of the year?
Lady Gaga
The mad world of the House of Gaga continued to impress the punters in 2011. Several top selling singles, a record smashing album, a monster tour and numerous scary outfits secured Lady Gaga’s prominence in the top three this year.
NBA
Another sporting trend pushed into the top 5 here. The NBA season was closely followed online by fans and detractors alike. The finals in which the Dallas Mavericks triumphed created a lot of interest online and sent Twitter into near-meltdown.
The Jonas Brothers
Despite not really doing anything noteworthy in 2011 the Jonas Brothers still manage to feature high in the Twitter trends. Give yourself a slap on the back Jonas fans, your loyalty to these guys is what pulled them through to the top 5.
Christmas
As soon as November hit, Twitter trending for Christmas started to escalate. By December, millions of Christmas related tweets had appeared and the trend looks set to continue through to January. (remember the year isn’t over yet).
Super Junior
You may have never heard of this nine piece boy band from South Korea but they are extremely popular throughout Asia and attract a lot of attention on Twitter. Well done guys!
Britney Spears
Poor old Britney continued to grab attention for all the wrong reasons in 2011. Despite achieving 4 hit singles from her new album most of the buzz was circled Round rumours of her miming to tracks on tour, and using body doubles in videos.
Japan Earthquake
The Japanese earthquake and resulting tsunami that devastated much of Japan’s beautiful coastline areas, and brought sadness to so many, was big news back in March. Twitter was abuzz with reports about the event and the international relief efforts.
One Direction
X factor itself didn’t even get a peep into the top 10 which was surprising. However former contestants One Direction from season 7 of the U.K. series secured a top space by proving that actually, they did have the X Factor. Thousands of fans attested to this fact by buying their music and tweeting them.
The year isn’t quite over yet, but unless there’s some dramatic occurrence over the next few days, these are your 2011 top Twitter trends!
Izaak works for and Social Media and SEO Agency. His clients include, No1 Traveller, operators of airport lounges across London.
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by wharman
Really interesting article, it is important to keep this kind of information in mind when using social media with your business because then you can understand what is most important to the world. Granted that some companies may not benefit from using someone like Justin Bieber as their spokesperson, however these are key interests world wide and should be taken into concideration when constructing any social media campaign.
Very well said, so true Twitter is getting bigger and better every year. This year 2012 I am pretty sure that there are a lot of trendings to look for.
Congratulations to twitter for achieving much in 2011 and I believe this year they are going to score high. The 2011 trends were great and amazing and I believe more are on the way coming this year..