In review: The best of the best of 2011
Yes, it’s that time of year again. The season of giving, sharing and presenting what has happened over the last calendar year in various amusing and strange ways. “What are you talking about?” I imagine you crying as you read this. Over the last few weeks my inbox and Twitter stream have been filled with “Top 10s” and “Best of 2011s”. Some are quite interesting, some thought provoking, some witty and some are down-right dull.
Here’s my pick – a best of the best ofs.
2011 was a big year for Google. Not only did the world’s number one search engine continue its domination of that market, it rolled out its new social platform, Google+ and +1, its social bookmarking/recommendation system. However, Google remains a search engine to most and Zeitgeist is a compilation of the fastest rising search terms for 2011. Apple has made a big impact with iPhone 5 (which turned out to become the mere iPhone 4S), iPad 2 and the late Steve Jobs all making the list. Late Jackass Star Ryan Dunn makes it to number three; Google+ pops in at number two, and number one? How could it be anything else.
YouTube’s Most Viewed Videos of 2011
YouTube’s Trend blog recently published its list of the most viewed videos of 2011. Amongst cute animals, Nyan Cat and talking babies, we see music being a key driver to video popularity, with four entries reaching the top ten. Most interestingly, there was only one brand created video. Volkswagen’s “The Force” video was already a major internet sensation before it hit the air during the Super Bowl half time show and generated over 1 million views in the first 24 hours. As for number one it’s a Black day for music.
This pictorial look at the year’s event may well be a very cunning product advertorial, but it captures the imagination, recalling key moments of 2011 through the medium of Danish plastic. With creative types sourced from Flickr, News-In-Lego makes my list due to ingenuity and nostalgia. Lovely stuff.
Twitter- What’s the Trend 2011
In early December, What’s The Trend published its Top 10 trending topics on Twitter. The list is available through Mashable and highlights the top 10 hash tagged topics throughout 2011. Analysis of the terms suggests that like, YouTube, music was a key motivator, with Britney Spears, The Jonas Brothers and Lady Gaga all featuring alongside eventual winner Justin Bieber. The interesting revelation from this may well be that, political events that claimed to have been driven by social activity, such as the Arab Spring, do not make the overall top 10.
BBC Magazine- 2011: The Year where a lot happened
The BBC’s look back at the year is interesting and informative as it gives a good indication of the events which captured the attention of the site’s users. This is demonstrated by an infographic showing relative traffic levels to its news site during the calendar year. The events that most affected traffic to the site were the Japanese Earthquake, the royal Wedding and the London riots, the latter of which generated 15.9 million unique browsers.
One thing is certain, 2011 was a year of change. We can read what we want into these different best ofs/statistics and make judgements about the way people are using technology and their interests. Socially, politically and technologically we have all been a part of it through the way we have interacted online.
At LBi, we too are trying to change things a little, which is why we set up our GIF shop allowing the sharing of shiny home-made GIFs for a donation to one of our three selected charities (we’ll even match any donation up to £2000!). Please have a gander, choose the GIF of your liking and share away.
Hope you enjoyed our best of 2011. Stay tuned next week when we’ll bring you our own take on predictions for 2012.
Have a happy Christmas and a happy New Year!
Tags: 2011, 2011 trends, best of, Google Zietgeist, twitter, year in review, YouTube
