Each year, Twitter rounds up the biggest events that its users have been talking about — and 2014 is no exception. Can you guess the biggest Twitter event of the last 12 months?
Twitter’s roundup suggests that — somewhat depressingly — the biggest thing to happen on the social network all year was Ellen Degenere’s selfie at the Oscars. So big that it broke Twitter, and the record for retweets, it’s been dubbed 2014’s “golden tweet”.
If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014
Elsewhere, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and the World Cup in Brazil were big sporting events everyone talked about, while Ferguson and the #bringbackourgirls campaign were among the biggest examples of social activism.
More tragically, disasters like the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and the disappearance of flight MH370 in March rocked Twitter, as did Robin Williams’ death and the Ebola crisis. You can check out all those big moments on Twitter’s special 2014 page — but you’ll notice that Gamergate is curiously absent. We don’t know why.
There’s also a page of celebrity perspectives, where you can read the top five 2014 Twitter moments of the rich and famous — from Lady Gaga to JK Rowling. Time to settle down and reminisce about the year. [Twitter]