What got us tweeting in 2015: JeSuisParis, Refugees Welcome and The Dress top the bill
When it came to the last 12 months, there were plenty of big hitting topics that got us talking – or rather, tweeting – in 2015.
The hashtag #JeSuisParis was Twitter's top “influential moment” of 2015, trending last month after Islamic State carried out a number of terrorist attacks in Paris, killing 129 people. It came on the back of #JeSuisCharlie, a hashtag started in January following another set of terrorist attacks in the French capital, this time targeting journalists at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. #PrayforParis was also widely popular, as people demonstrated solidarity with the city and its residents.
Second on the list was #BlackLivesMatter, which was tweeted more than nine million times this year. The social network said that what had begun as a hashtag “has come to represent a social movement”.
#RefugeesWelcome was also a hugely popular trend, as the UK and the rest of the world showed support for displaced people, particularly from Syria. In all three cases, the social media movement prompted protests and action in the real world.
Coming in at 10th place was Caitlyn Jenner, who amassed over one million followers in just over four hours when she joined Twitter earlier this year – breaking the record set by the US president. Jenner also wrote the 10th most retweeted tweet of the year.
But just pipping the former Olympian and reality star was the infamous dress, which attracted 4.4 million tweets. White and gold or blue and black? The debate rumbles on… in social media land at least.
But what about individual tweets? It seems even the President of the United States can’t command more attention than boyband One Direction – at least on Twitter anyway.
The social network has unveiled the 10 most retweeted tweets of 2015 – with teen favourite Harry Styles claiming the top spot with the following, which was retweeted 708,195 times:
All the love as always. H
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) March 26, 2015
A tweet from his ex-bandmate Zayn Malik came in second, while Liam Payne, who is still in One Direction, wrote the third most retweeted tweet of the year. A tweet marking the legalisation of gay marriage from Barack Obama’s @POTUS account was fourth, followed by a message from Louis Tomlinson, a member of – you guessed it – One Direction.The band’s fifth member, Niall Horan, wrote the sixth most retweeted tweet of 2015.