DataTwitter, a look at 2015: from #PrayForParis to #OneDirection

dotmug8 years ago9 min

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December, a good time for gifts, good intentions and evaluations. With 2015 almost behind us, new hopes start to rise for 2016 as well as a recap of the good and bad days of the past year. Events, meetings, speeches, emotions that changed our lives.

Even Twitter sat for a moment and did its homework. The difference between us and Twitter is that for as much as we consider ourselves wise and prepared, it would be hard to summarize the thoughts of more than 315 billion people from all over the world.

140 characters, the right hashtags no matter if you have 3 or 3 million followers, your message can be read everywhere. Truth is, numbers do make the difference. I can tweet “Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins”. Just Barak Obama, alias @POTUS, the real author of this tweet, will be shared more than 450 thousand times.

Most influentials: history in hashtags

Let’s take a little tour on 2015.twitter.com, among hashtags and profiles that made history.

Let’s look at the category “Most Influentials”: “Incredible things happen on Twitter each day. Here are the moments that had the biggest impact across the world”.

#JeSuisCharlie

Here we find #PrayForParis and #JeSuisCharlie the two hashtags linked to the attacks in Paris of January and November. #BlackLivesMatter started from Twitter to become a social movement in the US: life is always important, no matter if you are black or white. This was the constant during the events in Ferguson, Charleston and the riots in Baltimore.  #HomeToVote and #LoveWins accompanied the decision of the US Supreme Court to approve homosexual marriages while #RefugeesWelcome was the one used to support the reception of refugees in Europe. #IStandWithAhmed tells the story of discrimination experienced by Ahmed Mohammed, a 24 year old arrested in Texas because of a homemade clock, mistaken for a bomb. The report highlights the worldwide attention for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the voyage to Pluto, elections in Canada, Argentina, Singapore, India and UK.

How can we forget the case of the dress that drove the world nuts, #Blueandblack or #WhiteandGold? And last, the phenomenon of the profile of @Caitlyn_Jenner that reached 1 million followers in just 4 hours was just incredible.

#LoveWins

Popular or not, Twitter conquers the whole world

Let’s have a look at the section “Top Trends”. Here there are neither comments nor explanations, just 9 charts (Music, Tv, Tech, News, Politics, Sports, Pastimes, Stars, Emojis). Also, hashtags to which Twitter dedicates “Most Influentials” don’t stand out as thought. Of course, they took the ones which, created on a special occasion, spread widely. The strange fact is that hashtags on lighter, frivolous topics like #OneDirection are not highlighted. Curious, especially because among the 5 most shared tweets, 4 belong directly or indirectly to the outrageously popular band (Obama takes 4th place).

Twitter is a less visceral social network if compared to Facebook.  The 140 characters allows the simple and effective spreading of information and messages that – even if politically, culturally and socially characterized – cannot result in ramblings. This is something that journalists and professionals appreciate about Twitter. But according to their annual report, intellectuals and communication experts are not the only ones using this social. Among the top 10 (considering the number of followers), 6 are singers. Are we looking at a pop-invasion? Anyway, the report wants to highlight other aspects, and we understand why. The power of a tweet is galactic – besides being revolutionary – for its informative-propulsive potential. Hashtag and Tweet are words that have changed the language code, giving us the opportunity to communicate and share our thoughts in an immediate way.

dotmug

"C’è una sola cosa orribile al mondo, un solo peccato imperdonabile: la noia". Oscar Wilde. Dalla redazione di Dotmug non ci annoiamo di certo. Sempre alla ricerca di notizie, condiviamo, twittiamo, instagrammiamo in costante connessione con il mondo digital.

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