Twitter have released their annual review of the year, revealing what dominated the social media conversation in 2015. And while there was, as expected, a lot of celebrity-driven content that trended (the most retweeted tweet was by Harry Styles, natch), 2015 was also the year when we got more political than ever, and connected with other people about the big issues of the day.
‘Political expression and people expressing their opinions has been stronger than ever,’ European Twitter boss Bruce Daisley told BBC Newsbeat.
With world issues like terrorism and the refugee crisis dominating the headlines, as well as huge political change like the marriage equality movement in Ireland, Daisley comments that Twitter is now one of the main ways people showed their solidarity and expressed their opinion on social media.
‘We always wore poppies to express solidarity with people who have given their lives for us... I think the old phenomena are being transferred through to new social forms. So showing “I support marriage equality” or showing that “I’m against the savage attacks in Paris” is a 21st-century digital poppy, really.’
Twitter’s whole annual report is on a similarly positive note, with the most influential trending topics all related to showing support and love for other people, from #RefugeesWelcome to #BlackLivesMatter unifying communities after events like Ferguson. But there's also a good dose of showbiz and viral weirdness – like #TheDress baffling millions and a lot of One Direction tweets dominating the most-retweeted list.
So here’s what we all tweeted about in 2015:
The Celebrity
Harry Styles wins the award for most-retweeted, when he simply wrote, ‘All the love as always, H,’ after Zayn Malik left One Direction. Most of the top ten retweeted tweets are by the 1D boys – but in general, it was Taylor Swift, and then Justin Bieber that dominated the Twitter conversation. According to Bruce Daisley, Justin staged a social media ‘takeover’: ‘The second half of the year [saw] the Justin Bieber take-over of the world... Justin has reinvented himself using the power of social media. That’s the genius of Bieber.’ And it wasn't all just down to the whole #WhatDoYouPeen drama-rama.
The Viral Moment
#TheDress sparked a huge gloabl conversation, with more than 4.4 million tweets about colour it was (black and blue, totally) in February this year.
The Emoji
The most popular emoji of the year was the crying with laughter face, followed by the face with heart for eyes.
The Newcomer
Caitlyn Jenner’s Twitter account amassed 1 million followers in 4 hours, breaking the record set by POTUS. She also was one of the most retweeted of the year with her very first tweet.
The TV Show
No British shows made the list (probably because there was way more Americans using the site), but The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars and Empire made the top trending shows, alongside awards shows like the #AMAs.
The Pastime
Erm, ‘Love’ was listed as the number-one pastime (does this have anything to do with Netflix and Chill?!), followed by art, fashion and photography. So, basically, everyone is showing off about how cultured they are.
**Liked this? You might also be interested in: **
It's 2015 and feminism is still a "dirty word" on the internet
An Adele fan's heartfelt letter to the singer has gone viral
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.