During a year in which Twitter continued to drive the news cycle in unexpected ways, the events in Ferguson, Missouri surrounding the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson created more mentions on the social media platform than any other story.
Digital research firm Echelon Insights has put together an infographic that charts the year in news as seen through 185 million Twitter mentions. And between the initial protests that followed Brown’s death and the grand jury decision months later that cleared Officer Wilson of any charges, #Ferguson was far and away the most talked-about event of the year:
Midterm Election Day created the second-biggest spike, followed by the State of the Union and the Donald Sterling L.A. Clippers controversy.
The firm also broke down Twitter mention by political leaning and found that while conservatives had more to say about Benghazi, guns, Iraq and Ebola, liberals were more likely to talk about Chris Christie, Obamacare, Ferguson/Eric Garner and the midterm elections. But regardless of political persuasion, the most-talked about politician for both sides, by far, was President Barack Obama.
As the for the single most-retweeted tweet of the year? It had nothing to do with Ferguson or any other major news story but it did have a ton of celebrities in it:
If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014
View the full infographic here.
[h/t Washington Post]
[Photo via Jamelle Bouie/Flickr]
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