To mark the end of 2014, Twitter has delved into its data to create its annual Year on Twitter roundup. Due to its real time nature, whatever is happening in the world happens on Twitter and this even includes spacecraft @Philae2014 landing on the Rosetta Comet.
Most Retweeted
Every year, Twitter crowns the most retweeted Tweet of the year as the “golden tweet”.
This year, Ellen Degeneres’ (@TheEllenShow) tweet from the Oscars is not just the most Retweeted Tweet of 2014, but also the most Retweeted Tweet ever, topping the most Retweeted Tweets from 2013 (Lea Michele) and 2012 (Barack Obama). Ellen’s Tweet has been retweeted more than 3 million times to date, making it the most shared message ever on the platform.
Year of the Selfie
Since January 1, the term ‘selfie’ has been mentioned more than 92 million times on Twitter – a 500 percent increase and 12 times more than in 2013. Other memorable selfies in addition to Ellen’s smash hit included:
- Lukas Podolski selfies taken as the German team celebrated their World Cup victory which can be seen here and here.
- Princes Harry and William sent their first ever selfie as they celebrated the launch of the Queens Young Leaders awards at Buckingham Palace
- Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic’s selfie at Madison Square Gardens.
Be a sport
This year saw an increased emphasis on sports related tweets. Worldwide, a record 672 million tweets were sent about this year’s World Cup finals in Brazil, which was the highest number of tweets to date related to an event. It’s hard to compare the 32-day, 64-match World Cup to, for example, the single-game Super Bowl, the one-night Oscars, or the 16-day Olympics, but the World Cup was a resounding Twitter success.
With regards to the UAE, some of the top moments were holidays and social gatherings, such as the first day of Eid al Fitr. Twitter’s results reveal UAE to be a nation of Twitter users tuned into what’s happening locally and who express their feelings on Twitter.
Follow the leader
Neymar Jr. is the VIT with the most follower growth in 2014, having gained more than 1.5 million followers. Neymar Jr. led Brazil with 4 goals through the quarterfinals, but in that quarterfinal game against Columbia, he suffered an injury and was out for the rest of the World Cup.
2014 is also the year that Twitter’s most-followed star Katy Perry hit the 60 million-follower mark. She’s closely followed in second place by Justin Bieber and Barack Obama, who, with 50.8 million followers, is the third most-followed person in the world, and the most-followed political or world leader on the platform.
The top 10 most followed accounts in the world are:
- Katy Perry – 61.1 m
- Justin Bieber – 57.5m
- Barack Obama – 50.8m
- Taylor Swift – 48m
- YouTube – 46.9m
- Lady Gaga – 43m
- Britney Spears – 39.8m
- Justin Timberlake – 38.5m
- Rihanna – 38.3m
- Instagram – 36.4m
Closer home, the most followed accounts in the UAR are largely dominated by TV-channels, shows, stars and presenters. Two notable exceptions are His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Ambassador-at-Large Hussain Aljassmi.
Here’s how the UAE’s top ten shape up:
- Al Arabiya Breaking News – 6.07m
- Al Arabiya News – 4.63m
- Ahlam – 4.16m
- His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – 3.4m
- Mustafa Agha – 2.57m
- Faris Awad – 2.41m
- Ola Al Fares – 2.26m
- Al Hadath News – 2.18m
- MBC Group – 2.05m
- Hussain Aljassmi – 1.99m
