Twitter has revealed the top trends of 2010, with Inception, vuvuzuelas, the Gulf oil spill and Justin Bieber being the most tweeted subjects of the year.
The most popular term of all was ‘Gulf oil spill’, referring to the accident on board the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April which caused the biggest environmental disaster America has ever seen.
Second most popular overall was the FIFA World Cup, then Inception and the Haiti Earthquake.
Also in the top ten were the Vuvuzuela, the deafening horn used by supporters at the World Cup, Apple’s iPad and the Google Android phone.
The most popular film on Twitter was the science fiction film Inception, followed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
When it came to sports, U.S. basketball player LeBron James was the most popular search, although the Wimbledon Tennis tournament was in second followed by Manchester United.
Marion Cotillard and Leonardo DiCaprio starred in Inception, a film so talked about – and confusing – that it too was a big Twitter topic.
Teen pop star Justin Bieber was the most searched-for person, followed – unlikley though it may seem – by Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rouseff and then Lady Gaga.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange came in at fourth, followed by Mel Gibson who has been involved in a bitter and public battle with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva that has dragged on throughout most of the year.
When it came to technology, Apple’s iPad which launched this year was the most popular term, followed by Google’s Android phone, the iPhone and the computer game Call of Duty Black Ops.
In 2010 the television programme we Tweeted most was the MTV Music Video Awards, although vampire drama True Blood wasn’t far behind.
Tony Hayward, ex-BP CEO, left his job shortly after the Gulf oil spill, another popular topic
According to Twitter’s official blog, its Trends for 2010 are calculated by an algorithm that ‘attempts to identify topics that are being talked about more right now than they were previously’.
The Trends list is designed to help people discover the ‘most breaking’ breaking news from across the world, in real-time. The Trends list captures the hottest emerging topics, not just what’s most popular,’ they say.
Some 25billion Tweets were sent on Twitter in 2010, up from eight billion last year and 400million the year before.
The site was founded in 2006 and already has 190million users, compared to Facebook which has more than 500million.
The full top 10 rankings are listed below:
Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2010
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul
News Events
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. Haiti Earthquake
3. Pakistan Floods
4. Koreas Conflict
5. Chilean Miners Rescue
6. Chavez Tas Ponchao
7. Wikileaks Cablegate
8. Hurricane Earl
9. Prince Williams Engagement
10. World Aids Day
People
1. Justin Bieber
2. Dilma Rouseff
3. Lady Gaga
4. Julian Assange
5. Mel Gibson
6. Lil Kim
7. Zilda Arns
8. Kate Middleton
9. Kim Hee Chul
10. Joannie Rochette
Movies
1. Inception
2. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Despicable Me
5. Karate Kid
6. The Last Airbender
7. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
8. The Expendables
9. The Chronicles of Narnia
10. Paranormal Activity 2
Television
1. MTV Video Music Awards
2. Pretty Little Liars
3. True Blood
4. Walking Dead
5. Grammy Awards
6. Glee
7. Family Guy
8. CSI
9. MTV Movie Awards
10. American Music Awards
Technology
1. Apple iPad
2. Google Android
3. Apple iOS
4. Apple iPhone
5. Call of Duty Black Ops
6. New Twitter
7. HTC
8. RockMelt
9. MacBook Air
10. Google Instant
World Cup
1. FIFA World Cup
2. Vuvuzela
3. Pulpo Paul
4. Dunga
5. Diego Maradona
6.Cristiano Ronaldo
7. Cala Boca Galvao
8. Lionel Messi
9. Oranje
10. Felipe Melo
Sports
1. Lebron James
2. Wimbledon
3. Manchester United
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Celtics
6. Brett Favre
7. Tony Parker
8. Antonio Margarito
9. Blake Griffin
10. Mike Vick
Hashtags
1. #rememberwhen
2. #slapyourself
3. #confessiontime
4. #thingsimiss
5. #ohjustlikeme
6. #wheniwaslittle
7. #haveuever
8. #icantlivewithout
9. #thankful
10. #2010disappointments
For more information, view Twitter’s blog on the top trends of 2010 here.
