by Ben Parr – One of the best aspects of Twitter is that it has become a central nexus for discussion of the topics of the day. Twitter is figuring out what’s being discussed across the world. Twitter’s Trending Topics are especially useful, as they highlight whether the Twitterverse is talking about Tiger Woods, the Mashable.
Just a short time ago, Twitter released new data on the top trending topics of 2009. It’s a collection of the most discussed news events, people, movies, TV shows, technologies, sports and hashtags from the last 12 months. While some of the rankings won’t come as a surprise (e.g. Michael Jackson is the #1 most discussed person of 2009), you may not have expected some of the others.
The full list, which we are reprinting below from Twitter’s blog post, is a unique and interesting insight into what trended in our culture. Clearly the IranElection Crisis, where Iranians utilized Twitter and social media in its protests against the election of President Ahmadinejad, was incredibly important to the Twitterverse as it claimed three of the top 10 trending topics for news events in 2009. Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, American Idol, Google Wave, the Super Bowl and musicmonday were all top of their respective categories as well.
The list speaks for itself. Tell us what you think of Twitter’s most discussed topics of 2009. Does anything surprise you about it? Is there something that you thought would be included? Let us know in the comments.