The Year in Tweets

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Twitter has posted its annual retrospective on the past year. It posted a new section on its website that recaps the year’s “golden tweets” (the most retweeted tweets), top trends, notable new users and other highlights from the year.

According to the Twitter blog, “In 2012, everyone on Twitter brought us closer to moments and places that used to be far away or inaccessible: A Tweet from the bottom of the ocean. Tweets from Mars. An extraordinary view from space of Superstorm Sandy. A quiet backstage moment with a presidential candidate. All of these and millions of other such moments were ours to experience directly wherever we were, in the midst of work or play or travel.”

The Washington Post’s Hayley Tsukayama reported, “The most retweeted message of the year — and in the history of the network — came from President Obama, whose message ‘Four more years’ accompanied by a picture of the first couple garnered 810,000 retweets. The second most-shared message came from Justin Bieber, who occupies the highest echelon of the Twitterati, as he mourned the loss of six-year-old fan Avalanna Routh to brain cancer.”

PCMag’s Chloe Albanesius observed, “In a section dubbed the ‘Pulse of the planet,’ Twitter took stock of the events that prompted the biggest conversations this year. Not surprisingly, the Summer Olympics were very popular, generating 150 million tweets. ‘The closing ceremonies (specifically, the Spice Girls’ performance) amassed the largest Games-related spike, 116,000+ Tweets per minute,’ Twitter said. ‘The largest competition-related conversation: when Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (@UsainBolt), most-discussed athlete, won gold in the 200m sprint (80,000 Tweets per minute).'”

And CNET’s Shara Tibken added, “For the tech category, Twitter noted that new product announcements — like the iPad, iPhone, and Kindle — caused spikes in their Twitter discussion. And other buzzworthy tech terms reflected the social nature of sites like Skype, Pinterest, and Draw Something. Here’s the top 10 trends for tech: