Findings from our Facebook overlord’s zeitgeist-capturing, trend revealing and slightly frightening if you’re Kate Middleton “Year In Review” report have been released this morning, with the data hoarding social media specialists attempting to divine useful insights and data from the giant pile of charts, spreadsheets and numbers it has accumulated on us this year and detail the people, moments and things that Australians found most important and worthy of talking about this year.
From a pop culture standpoint, chatter surrounding reality television programming prevailed with Big Brother and The Voice placing first and second respectively as the most talked about entertainment topics in Australia this year, #legitimising #their #need #to #literally #hashtag #everything. Those ratings hits were followed by conversations about British boy band phenomenon One Direction, AMC meth drama Breaking Bad, and touring mother of light, Beyonce.
In general, though, discourse surrounding the Australian federal election, sport and Kate Middleton dominated our news feeds this year. “Vote”, “Kevin Rudd”, “Election” and “Tony Abbott” all placed in the top ten most used terms in Australia this year, as did “Cricket”, “Grand Final” and “Lions”.
Kate Middleton, the second most discussed topic in general was far and away this year’s most discussed public figure (hey Australia, talk about Kate Middleton more why don’t you?) followed by the participants of this year’s excruciating round of leadership musical chairs – Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard – and pristine human chia seed, Miranda Kerr.
But, guys, let’s not get too enamoured with the “data” and “insights” and “trends” and move away from Facebook’s real function here. Making you feel like you’ve lead a rich and exciting life this year. With that in mind, Facebook have again enabled you to mind-masturbate to the personal triumphs of your own year in review. A look at your 20 biggest moments on Facebook will automatically generate when you click on the URL www.facebook.com/yearinreview, reminding you to feel elated at how many cool parties you went to this year or quietly depressed and alarmed that your best friend is a cat named George.
Top ten check-ins – Australia
1. MCG
2. Crown Melbourne
3. Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
4. Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
5. Darling Harbour, Sydney
6. Sydney Opera House, Sydney
7. Dreamworld Australia, Gold Coast
8. The Star, Sydney
9. Bondi Beach, Sydney
10. ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Most talked about entertainment topics – Australia.
1. Big Brother
2. The Voice
3. One Direction
4. Breaking Bad
5. Beyonce
Most talked about topics overall – Australia
1. Vote
2. Kate Middleton
3. Cricket
4. Kevin Rudd
5. Grand Final
6. Election
7. GST
8. Lions
9. Tony Abbott
10. Big Brother
Most talked about public figures – Australia
1. Kate Middleton
2. Kevin Rudd
3. Tony Abbott
4. Julia Gillard
5. Miranda Kerr
