Anything interesting happen on Twitter lately? “If it happened in the world, it happened on Twitter and is part of our Twitter review 2014.”
It’s hard to argue with #YearOnTwitter’s year end catchphrase. Looking back on monumental events that took place in 2014, perhaps the only common thread is that they were all poignantly captured in millions of tweets from around the world.
Let’s try a quick sum up of four of the most trending topics of the year in this Twitter review 2014.
1. Goodbyes
Philip Seymour Hoffman. Maya Angelou. Robin Williams. Three very different figures who passed away during 2014.
Fans from around the world used Twitter to commemorate them and make sense of their deaths.
PSH was the first to go, dying in February from combined drug intoxication. He’d long struggled with drug addiction, and his death gave us the opportunity to bring greater attention to the disease, reigniting old debates over Twitter and other social media.
On the lighter side, his legacy was celebrated by peers and fans alike. Fellow players in the film industry considered him one of the most promising actors of our time and made it known. Their glowing eulogies caused a sharp increase in viewings of his filmography, helping to cement his interrupted legacy.
Maya Angelou was a very different type of celebrity, and the reaction to her death indicated exactly what type of impact she had on our world. The eighty-six year old left a vast collection of poetry, touching people of all types. Twitter was awash with sentiment and tributes, reminding us of her influence and bringing her work to those who were yet to know her.
Robin Williams was perhaps the most shocking of all the celebrity losses. The man who touched us all with his humour, unexpectedly committed suicide, leaving the world to question how such an exuberant human being could have faced such darkness.
Figures from Barack Obama to Whoopi Goldberg were out in force to send tribute to the 64 year old who “arrived in our lives as an alien – but ended up touching every element of the human spirit.”
2. Protests and campaigns
Ferguson, Hong Kong, and Chibok, Nigeria all have one thing in common – each inspired a Twitter campaign to rectify injustices carried out in their cities.
You can debate their levels of success – after all, our girls haven’t been brought back and Michael Brown’s killer didn’t face indictment – but each campaign attracted attention from the
common man to world leaders. More importantly, the capability to use Twitter to organise mass action has never been so obvious. It often took just one tweet to organise a major protest.
3. Fifa World Cup
This year’s world cup was perhaps the most exciting in recent history and therefore is no suprise this made it into Twitter review 2014. Goals rained in from the beginning of the group stages, including the Netherlands’ 5-1 thrashing of champions Spain. Even more significant was Germany’s 7-1 demolition of hosts Brazil, engrossing and painful to watch at the same time.
Twitter provided a great platform for team news, fixtures, and results. It was also the perfect context to mock FIFA’s many gaffes and facepalm – some serious, many lighthearted.
4. Ebola… everywhere?
Twitter’s influence extends from the serious to the ridiculous; restoring sanity to maintaining hysteria. One of this year’s big stories is the Ebola outbreak in North Africa. #YearOnTwitter’s caption reads, “The world rallied to fight a dangerous epidemic.”
But that may be a rose-tinted perspective, to say the least. What we saw from news outlets, politicians, and bigots alike was unnecessary and sensationalist panic. As certain voices of sanity pointed out – ebola is transmitted only through fluid contact. And although certain countries in North Africa do not have the hygiene standards to contain it, one or two infected Americans are not going to cause the end of the world, no matter how much freedom they have to go for walks.
These are just the biggies. Twitter still serves as a major means of communication between public figures and fans, organisations and supporters, and between businesses and customers. After almost eight years, it has changed and continues to change the face of public relations – keeping the world connected and giving its users the voice so desperately needed. Hope you enjoyed our Twitter Review 2014, let us know what story you got involved behind.