Facebook unveils 2010

Facebook today revealed the list of top trends in status updates in the UK, giving an insight into the sporting, TV and cultural moments which prompted national conversations in 2010. The Facebook Memeology study looked at what terms grew the most in status updates in 2010 compared to the year before from 26 million UK Facebook users.

Facebook has also published the global statistics, which show that natural disasters and human triumphs made their mark in our 2010 list of top trends in status updates. It seems, however more than anything else people wanted to spend time with their friends and family. The fastest growing trend was the use of a new digital shorthand for people to ask their friends to hang out – HMU (Hit me up).

The most popular event in the UK was the World Cup, which was discussed over three million times. Subjects that divided opinion did well – with the vuvuzela rising rapidly up Facebook’s list of popular status update phrases in 2010.

Sport was a key interest – the leading sportsperson was Wayne Rooney, whose prolonged contract negotiation led to enormous levels of discussion on Facebook. Rooney was trailed by his England colleagues Joe Cole, Emile Heskey, John Terry and Rob Green, whose World Cup calamity led him to Facebook infamy as it was discussed by thousands of people.

In the worlds of music and entertainment X-Factor was king. Whilst not making it to the final, the Brazilian Wagner led other contestants, with a number of supportive groups and pages driving discussion of Wagner past that of Prime Minister David Cameron, despite 2010 being an election year. The next most discussed X-Factor contestants were Cher Lloyd, One Direction and Matt Cardle.

If a Facebook music chart were to exist without X-Factor, it would be topped by Tinie Tempah, with The Wanted and Ellie Goulding some distance behind.

Whilst TV may be the way that people unwind in the evening, it is quickly becoming a more social experience. The dominance of some TV shows in 2010’s Facebook words prove how the UK is becoming a two screen nation, where people watch TV but use their laptop or smartphone at the same time to share their views about the shows with their friends on Facebook. The TV shows Celebrity Juice and The Only Way Is Essex captured the imaginations of people on Facebook, while the participants in the final series of Big Brother, including John James and Josie Gibson, driving a substantial amount of discussion – no other contestants came close.

To conduct this year’s list of popular memes and discussion topics, Facebook aggregated status updates from 26 million people using the site in the UK and conducted an analysis of the most frequently used terms. All personally identifiable data was removed from the status updates to conduct this analysis.

Globally, in May, Apple surpassed long-time rival Microsoft in market capitalisation, thanks in large part to two of the most discussed products of the year: the iPad and iPhone 4. These two products combined to account for over 25 million bragging, lusting or the occasional condemning posts during the year.