Twitter has released its annual end-of-year lists for 2015, and each of them gives a slightly different insight to what the year’s been like. The place to start is its Top Trends section, which shows the top 10 things people discussed within various categories this year – from music to politics. Then there’s its New Voices section – showing the biggest names who signed up to the microblogging service this year. Finally there’s its Most Retweeted section, which proves that One Direction members are among the most followed names on the platform. Here’s what we’ve learned from how Twitter breaks it down.
1. CAITLYN JENNER REACHED ONE MILLION FOLLOWERS FASTER THAN OBAMA
Obama made quite the entrance back in May with the below tweet. He managed to get a million followers in five hours – a record – but Caitlyn Jenner’s entrance in June managed the same feat within just four. Obama now has 5.46 million followers to Jenner’s 3.4 million, though.
Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 18, 2015
I'm so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self. Welcome to the world Caitlyn. Can't wait for you to get to know her/me.
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) June 1, 2015
2. 16 OF BROOKLYN BECKHAM’S 32 TWEETS SO FAR ARE PHOTOS OF HIMSELF OR HIS SHOES #SHOES
Beckham is one of 25 ‘New Voices’ Twitter has publicised – these guys are all essential new follows, apparently – and scrolling down his feed reveals shi partiality to selfies and ‘Hot Dogs Or Legs’-style shots exhibiting his #shoes. Others include ex-footballer and pundit Alan Shearer, Diana Ross, POTUS, and Caitlyn Jenner. Not forgetting, of course, Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford, who’s tweeted publicly exactly four times since joining in May. One of those was an advert for Absolut Vodka, so don’t worry if you don’t feel like following all of them.
Rainy day in London ☔️ pic.twitter.com/Mwh8nKdYSY
— Brooklyn Beckham (@brooklynbeckham) May 7, 2015
3. ONE DIRECTION MEMBERS’ BORING TWEETS WERE THE MOST RETWEETED THIS YEAR:
2010’s X Factor third-placers One Direction are responsible for five of the ten most retweeted tweets of the year via their own accounts – and four of those are reprehensibly nothing-y. Here they are, stamped and dated. First up – Harry Styles’ reaction to Zayn Malik leaving the band in March:
All the love as always. H
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) March 26, 2015
Then there’s this eloquent July reaction to 1D’s five years of ‘journey’
Wowwwww 5 years 5 boys what an amazing journey I couldn't thank you all ever enough and thank you Louis Niall Harry and zayn for everything
— Liam (@LiamPayne) July 23, 2015
In August ex-1D man Zayn was boringly positive about the band’s first single after his departure:
Proud of my boys the new single is sick.
Big love. 🙂 x— zayn (@zaynmalik) August 1, 2015
Niall Horan wished Liam a happy birthday in August. This one is at least a bit silly:
Happy birthday @Real_Liam_Payne .. Have a great day man …. Here we are making strange faces pic.twitter.com/VgZRN7VIPs
— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) August 29, 2015
This one doesn’t really need a date or circumszzzzzz
Our fans support really has been a different class ! Huge love to you guys !!
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) May 7, 2015
4. BUT TWITTER KNOWS A GOOD TWEET WHEN IT SEES ONE:
Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy posted a final tweet before he died in February – one that was heartfelt and wise, and the ninth most retweeted this year.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP
— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015
Kanye’s Twitter version of Shia Labeouf’s ‘JUST DO IT’ speech, meanwhile, was the seventh most retweeted of 2015.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/646504665929027584
5. EMOJIS TRENDED. EMOJIS.
This is them:
Here are Twitter's top 10 emojis from 2015. What's your fave? pic.twitter.com/y0RIqkfSU6
— Jaden Digital (@JadenDigital) December 13, 2015
6. SO DID ONE DIRECTION, OBVIOUSLY
The most tweeted about musical act in 2015 was One Direction. X Factor USA group Fifth Harmony also made the list, coming an apt fifth, but otherwise it was dominated by award ceremonies – the scandalous MTV VMAs and EMAs, for example – and a load of K-Pop acts including Big Bang and GOT7.
#OneDirection was the most used music hashtag on @Twitter in 2015, thanks to all of you! https://t.co/ZwR1STyfYG
— One Direction (@onedirection) December 7, 2015
Donut-licker Ariana Grande wasn’t filed under the music list – instead she topped the slightly nebulous ‘stars’ hashtag chart, which also contained Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. How progressive, Twitter!
#INFO @DulceMaria es la #3 en la categoría #Stars en los TOP TRENDS de Twitter 2015 pic.twitter.com/WSotZPuaXu
— Espacio DulceMaria? (@EspacioDMES) December 8, 2015
7. HASHTAGS CAN TELL STORIES
Twitter chose its favourite hashtags of the year to show how the world changed in 2015. Here’s how it’s represented its own sociological significance this year, in two minutes:
Look back at the most influential moments of the #YearOnTwitter: https://t.co/xPFcNl1GzWhttps://t.co/2UnakTtWE7
— Twitter (@Twitter) December 7, 2015