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Twitter in 2015: Political chat ‘stronger than ever’

Robin Langford

Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber were the most talked about celebrities on Twitter in 2015, but social media conversations have become increasingly political, according to new data.

The hashtag #JeSuisParis, used to show solidarity with the French capital in the wake of its second terrorist attack, marked the most talked-about moment of the year on Twitter, according to the social media site.

This was followed by the Black Lives Matter movement, which began in the US and has become a social campaign discussing alleged police brutality against black citizens. The hashtag or phrase was used more than nine million times in 2015.

In both the US and Ireland this year, same-sex marriage was legalised nationally, and as a result #MarriageEquality appears third on Twitter’s list. The companion trends were #HomeToVote, used by Irish citizens who returned to the country to support the motion, and #LoveWins which trended on June 26 when the US Supreme Court confirmed the legalisation.

Lewis Wiltshire, Twitter’s director of media partnerships, said: “2015 has been another phenomenal year on Twitter. Across the world people have come together to celebrate, support one another, to show solidarity and of course to laugh.”

As refugees fleeing war in the Middle East flooded into Europe, debate raged on Twitter over how to manage the situation, with #RefugeesWelcome dominating the site enough to reach fourth on the influence list for the year.

This was followed by #IStandWithAhmed, a trend in support of Texas schoolboy Ahmed Mohammed, who was arrested when the ticking home-made digital clock he had in his bag was mistaken for a bomb. Images of teenage school children in handcuffs went viral, and more than 370,000 tweets were sent – including one from US president Barack Obama.

National elections in the UK, Canada and India combined to be sixth on the list, while the top ten was completed by the Women’s Football World Cup, Nasa’s Pluto flyby in July, #TheDress which divided the world over whether it was blue and black or white and gold, and Caitlyn Jenner joining the site following her gender transition. Ms Jenner broke a Twitter record, gaining a million followers in just over four hours, earning her a Guinness World Record.

The biggest hashtags of the year on Twitter were as follows:

#ParisAttacks: As the horrific attacks in Paris unfolded in November, the world united to support people in the City of Light using the hashtag #PrayForParis. Just 10 months prior, terrorists attacked the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. After that incident, citizens rallied around the phrase “Je Suis Charlie” to show their support and sorrow for the victims.

#BlackLivesMatter: BlackLivesMatter began as a Twitter hashtag and has come to represent a social movement. The hashtag or phrase was Tweeted 9 million times in 2015. It now serves as a unifying message for communities discussing events around #Ferguson, #Charleston, the#BaltimoreProtests, and individual incidents involving police and Black citizens.

#MarriageEquality: People used Twitter this year to celebrate the national legalization of same-sex marriage, notably in the US and in Ireland. The #HomeToVote hashtag became hugely popular when Irish citizen expats shared their experiences returning home to vote, and#LoveWins celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage in the US on June 26.

#RefugeesWelcome: As many thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa seek asylum in Europe, human rights activists and other citizens around the world have chimed with the hashtag #RefugeesWelcome.

#IStandWithAhmed: When 14-year-old Ahmed Mohammed was detained and handcuffed at his Texas school for bringing in his homemade digital clock (the ostensible fear: it was a bomb), a photo of the high school freshman in handcuffs went viral on Twitter. In less than six hours, the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed sparked a global conversation with more than 370,000 Tweets, including one from President Obama.

National elections: Twitter is a place for voters to partake in public discourse, and this year, conversations around major national elections rocked Twitter as citizens converged on voting booths and ballot boxes in Argentina, Canada, Singapore, India and the UK.

#FIFAWWC: Football (a.k.a. soccer) fans created a massive global conversation around this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada. Whether it was a celebratory “gooooaaalll!” Tweet or commentary on a save or penalty kick, Tweets about the #FIFAWWC were viewed 9 billion times from June 6 to July 5, making the tournament one of the largest global sporting events of the year.


#PlutoFlyby: Twitter did not exist when @NasaNewHorizons left Earth in 2006 – but it’s where the whole world came to marvel over the historic #PlutoFlyby. Buzz around the spacecraft, which came within 7750 miles of Pluto’s surface, and the close-up images it captured, generated more than 1 million Tweets on July 14.

#TheDress: A photo of the same dress seen in different light suddenly went viral, and captured the attention of millions of people who marveled at the optical illusion or delved into the science behind the visual puzzle. As we debated #BlueandBlack or #WhiteandGold, the dress sparked a global conversation on Feb. 26-27, with more than 4.4 million Tweets.

@Caitlyn_Jenner joins Twitter: In June, the world met @Caitlyn_Jenner via Twitter: in just over four hours, she amassed over 1 million followers (breaking the record set by @POTUS) to claim the title of fastest time to reach that mark, which in turn led to recognition in the Guinness World Records.

Read more of the top 2015 Twitter trends here

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