Giving meaning to what is otherwise a pursuit arguably devoid of meaning, the powers that be over at Facebook have ‘taken the pulse of this global community’ of 800 million users and developed the trend-mapping 2011 Facebook Memology Page, a telling look at the way we spend our time online, what we talk about while we’re wasting it, as well as who we ‘Like’ and what articles we deem worthy of sharing. It’s kind of like what Shakespeare did with that guy, you know, Hamlet, when he talked about the importance of theatre ‘holding a mirror up to nature’, except Zuckerberg’s mirror is half-obscured by the camera flash of some pouting pre-teen mastering the art of the awkward lean.
The most talked about global topic was the death of Osama Bin Laden, with almost 10% of all status updates in English on May 1st mentioning news of his death. Following that, the Superbowl victory of the Green Bay Packers came in at number two, with the murder trial of Casey Anthony in Florida following (law) suit. Conversation took on a more international flavour then with the #winning meme-generating antics of Charlie Sheen in March, the death of Steve Jobs, the Royal Wedding and the passing of Amy Winehouse ‘checking in’ at places four to seven. The launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in November marked the biggest entertainment launch of all time and took out position eight, with the just slightly more pertinent United Nations military operations in Libya and Hurricane Irene rounding out the top ten.
A few discrepancies emerge when comparing the top ten most talked about topics in Australia, with planking the most (de)pressing subject on the minds of the masses, followed by Cyclone Yasi and the Census taking out the top three. Music producer Skillrex experienced a 76-fold increase in popularity on account of his 2011, record label launch and a kollaboration with – how do I type a backwards K? – Korn. The floods in Victoria and the resurgence of the Daniel Morcombe case drew more attention than Sheen and Winehouse, who came in ahead of certified #winner Cadel Evans.
Alongside planking and Skillrex, one of the year’s biggest memes came in the form of the smallest of acronyms: ‘LMS‘ and ‘TBH‘ emerged as the most desperate popular ways to prompt interaction with others on Facebook, with the most iconic status for 2011 deemed ‘LMS for a TBH.’ Thankfully, growth in the use of these two acronyms is slowing, with experts at Facebook issuing the statement “IDK if they’ll BRB anytime soon.” JK guys.
Megan Fox, Harry Potter, Dr. House, Rihanna and her collaboration with Calvin Harris all took out the fastest growing pages, all it seems, finding ‘Like’ in an equally hopeless place.
Via Facebook
