Yesterday, we posted a list of the global top ten Facebook status trends of 2010.
‘HMU’ (hit me up) was the top trend with ‘World Cup’ ’ Bieber’, ‘Haiti’ and ‘Apple’ making appearances too.
In this period of year-end statistics, we were interested to see what our fellow UK ‘Facebookers’ have been talking about over the last 12 months.
It’s been a big year for news – BP oil spill, Chilean miners, elections, Wikileaks, snow, coalitions, student protests… the list goes on.
So did any of these feature in the UK’s top Facebook trends?
No. But don’t panic as the good news is, there’s no Justin Bieber.
The bad news is, we got Wagner;
There has been a lot of negative response to this list. If the recent comments on the Guardian blog are anything to go by then our nation is “doomed”. One reader commented, “A good and worthy news piece, but it does terrify me how stupid and vacuous the masses really are!”.
We think this is a little harsh.
- Firstly, Facebook is a huge part of ‘youth culture’. Although the 13 – 19 age bracket may not be the biggest on the site, they’re more than likely the ones who update most frequently.
- Secondly, Facebook is a place for friends. And people talk to their friends about things that interest them, evidently, X Factor, sport and music.
- It would be rather snobbish to think that everyone only discussed important world issues with their friends. Especially on Facebook.
- Watching X Factor doesn’t *necessarily* make you stupid.
It’s important to take note that the majority of the status trends were related to TV broadcasts (World Cup, X Factor, Big Brother.) The rise in smartphone usage has lead to people updating their status’ as they watch these shows. It’s the same on Twitter, people love to share their opinions, and what better place to do that than on your social networks.
And so what if we’re a nation of showbiz obsessives anyway. Right? At least we didn’t get Bieber…
