Justin Bieber most tweeted about, Katy Perry most followed

’Twas the year of social media, and it necessarily acted as a real-time soundtrack to the biggest moments and events as they unfolded in the world.

To mark the end of 2014, Twitter has delved into their data to create their annual ‘Year on Twitter’ roundup. This is what got the world tweeting this year — the biggest tweets, the stand-out moments, who joined, and what trended.

Whether it was the World Cup final or @Philae2014 landing on the Rosetta Comet, what happened in the world was simultaneously happening on social media, and Twitter was right up there.

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 results reveal UAE to be a nation of twitter users tuned into what’s happening locally and who express their feelings on Twitter.
 
Golden tweet

Each year, Twitter crowns the most retweeted tweet of the year – the “golden Tweet.” Each year, this tweet tells a different story about what message resonated with millions of twitter users around the world.

This year, Ellen Degeneres’ (@TheEllenShow) tweet from the Oscars became the most Retweeted Tweet of 2014 and 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 per cent increase and 12x more than in 2013 – as people from all walks of life have come to Twitter to share their photos with followers around the world. Other memorable selfies in addition to Ellen’s smash hit included:

● Lukas Podolski’s (@Podolski10) selfies taken as the German team celebrated their World Cup victory

(Twitter)

(Twitter)

● Princes Harry and William sent their first ever selfie as they celebrated the launch of the Queens Young Leaders awards at Buckingham Palace

(Twitter)

● Andy Murray (@andy_murray) and Novak Djokovic’s (@DjokerNole) selfie at Madison Square Gardens

(Twitter)

Sport takes the top spot

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.

Most Followed

Neymar Jr. (@neymarjr) was 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 quarter-finals, but in that quarter-final game against Columbia, he suffered an injury (broken bone in back) and was out for the rest of the World Cup.

It was 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 (57.5m) and Barack Obama, who, with 50.8m 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:

1. Katy Perry @katyperry - 61.1 m

2. Justin Bieber @justinbieber - 57.5m

3. Barack Obama @BarackObama - 50.8m

4. Taylor Swift @taylorswift13 - 48m

5. YouTube @YouTube - 46.9m

6. Lady Gaga @ladygaga - 43m

7. Britney Spears @britneyspears - 39.8m

8. Justin Timberlake @jtimberlake - 38.5m

9. Rihanna @rihanna - 38.3m

10. Instagram @instagram - 36.4m

Closer to home in the UAE, the most followed accounts are largely dominated by TV – channels, shows, stars and presenters.

Here’s how the UAE’s top ten shape up:

1. Al Arabiya Breaking News @AlArabiya_Brk - 6.07m

2. Al Arabiya News @AlArabiya - 4.63m

3. Ahlam @Ahlam_Alshamsi - 4.16m

4. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum @HHShkMohd - 3.4m

5. Mustafa Agha @mustafa_agha - 2.57m

6. Faris Awad @farisf9 - 2.41m

7. Ola Al Fares @OlaAlfares - 2.26m

8. Al Hadath News @AlHadath - 2.18m

9. MBC Group @mbc_group - 2.05m

10. Hussain Aljassmi @7sainaljassmi - 1.99m

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