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Top Twitter Trends of 2012

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2012 twitter trendsTwitter is one of the most used social media outlets in the world and everyone from the average Joe and Jane to famous celebrities and businesses use it. In 140 characters an individual or business can share thoughts, opinions, even advertisements. Part of using Twitter means learning how to use hashtags (#) to create a common subject of discussion within the so-called Twitterverse. This created trends that many people latched onto and thus became popular. Here are a few trends that became popular in 2012.

  • The Olympics: a game the entire world gets involved in, it does not come as a surprise London’s 2012 Summer Olympics trended the highest last year.
  • 2012 Presidential Election: from each candidate’s tour across the country all the way up to election night, millions of people tweeted about this very contested election, reaching hundreds of thousands of Tweets in a single minute.
  • The Super Bowl: we Americans love our football and the Super Bowl is the culmination of our love of the sport. Super Bowl XLVI saw the New York Giants duke it out against the New England Patriots, with many fans speaking for one team and against another on Twitter.
  • Hurricane Sandy: Super Storm Sandy hit the East Coast – especially the Tri-State Area – very hard and was a topic of much conversation before, during, and after the event. Topics ranged from emergency broadcasts, making preparations, well wishes, and simple forms of communication with the rest of the world.

2012 Presidential Election Set Twitter Record

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The election this past Tuesday night garnished a record 20+ million tweets in one single night, effectively making it the most tweeted government ever in the social networking site’s history. This just goes to show that social networking truly is becoming a valid news source, and a reputable way to communicate about important historical events. Tell us, are any of your tweets part of the 20 million that attributed to Tuesday night’s record?

Follow #Frankenstorm

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For the best Twitter coverage…

@NHC_Atlantic - National Hurricane Center, providing facts and tips
@WSJweather - Wall Street Journal, with a focus on New York weather
@breakingstorm - Constant national weather updates
@capitalweather - Washington Post, with a focus on DC weather
@weatherchannel - National weather updates
@RedCross - Focus on natural disaster preparation
@ASPCA - Offering tips about pet preparation
@NASA - Showing satellite pictures from the storm
@HuffPostGreen - For the latest storm updates from HuffPost
@fema - The official Federal Emergency Management Agency
@twc_hurricane - More information from The Weather Channel
@alroker - Al Roker, meteorologist of NBC’s Today Show
@cnnbrk - Breaking news from CNN, including storm updates
@wunderground - Following weather from around the world

Twitter: Perfect Platform for #CustomerService

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Twitter is excellent for a lot of things, but have you considered using it for customer service? Twitter and customer service go together like white on rice. Here’s why.

When a customer has a problem that needs resolution, the wait time is a critical factor. The  issued needs to be taken care of ASAP and email or phone do not always achieve that. Twitter is fast and easy, and if the problem turns out to be more complicated than a tweet can handle, that tweet is a great starting point.

Because Twitter is a social platform that’s all about sharing, it sets clients up to share their positive experience with your company right away. That’s positive PR!

Cheap and easy! Twitter is less expensive than a call center or email system, and it really streamlines and simplifies that customer service process. Also, because Twitter is public, it forces quick turn-around time and high-quality service from your team.

#FollowFriday

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You may have noticed that on Fridays, the hashtag #followfridays starts showing up in your Twitter feed. What’s this all about? #Followfriday is a tradition in which Twitter users recommend interesting people to follow. It’s a great way to find new and worthwhile Twitter accounts. You can see ALL #followfriday tweets by clicking on the hashtag itself.

#followfriday with @ajaxunion!

Twitter Backgrounds 2.0

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A customized Twitter background is a big step toward company branding. Take a look at any major business and you’ll see a logo-inspired Twitter background.

The best part is, a personalized Twitter background is easier than it looks. First, you come up with the image that you want to present to your followers. This is actually the hardest part, as it requires some thought, and possibly some skills. Many companies incorporate their logo into their Twitter background. Popping a logo with some blocks of color into an image in Photoshop requires little skill, and if you can’t do it, a friend surely can. If you want something a bit more sophisticated, there are many graphic designers who’d love to make an extra $100. Find them on craigslist, or shout out on Facebook. Or why not try a group shot of your employees as your background image? Or a photo of your storefront? Or a montage of the products you sell?

Then, simply go to Settings, Design, and click “change background image.” Browse your computer’s store of images until you find the one you want to use. Voila! You are done.

There are a few things to keep in mind, however. First, keep the image under 800k in size. Second, keep the dimensions around 1600px wide by 1200px tall. By sticking to these measurements, you’ll keep the image from tiling, and your profile won’t awkwardly get in its way.

 

 

Gender Distribution by Country on Twitter

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Interestingly, while India has the most Twitter users overall, it is also the country with the greatest difference between male and female users. The US, on the other hand, has almost equal gender distribution. The UK and Australia are the only countries will noticeably more female users. Why are there so many more male Twitter users in India? Tweet at us @ajaxunion.

Tweet About #Love

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A new video posted to Mashable reveals tons about Twitter users’ behavior, which is good news for any business using Twitter as part of their marketing scheme.

Data from 27 million active Twitter users was analyzed by Beevolve and put into an ENORMOUS  EXHAUSTIVE report called “An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Around the World.” This report explores users’ demographics, follower stats, gender preferences, most-used keywords and device preferences. The most commonly used keyword on Twitter? #LOVE.

Find out more HERE. Or better yet, read the report, linked to above.

Social Media Increases Dopamine!

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In a paper titled “Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding,” published by the Harvard Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab, it is revealed that humans devote up to 40 percent of their overall speech to telling others about their personal experiences. But why? Why do people love to talk about themselves? According to the study:

Self-disclosure was strongly associated
with increased activation in brain regions that form the mesolimbic dopamine system, including the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area. Moreover, individuals were willing to forgo money to disclose about the self.

 

Translated into plain English, this means that talking about oneself releases dopamine, which is, according to Psychology Today, “a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.” In short, self-disclosure makes people feel REALLY GOOD.

Where do you see the most self-disclosure? Where, in fact, do you see virtually nothing but self-disclosure? SOCIAL MEDIA. FACEBOOK. TWITTER. PINTEREST. All anyone does on social media is talk about themselves, and what they are doing, and who they are with, and what they are eating! Harvard’s study basically reveals why social media is so popular. Self-disclosure feels rewarding.

Now, to capitalize on this information! By encouraging social media users to share their thoughts and feelings about your service or product, you make them experience increases in dopamine, which they can then associate with your product or service.

This is dopamine!

Marketing Music Online

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If you get bored of Pandora and Spotify, there’s a new music listening website on the scene, and it’s markedly more social.  Serendip is social media and music united. It’s a website that curates your playlist based on what users are talking about via Twitter, Vimeo, SoundCloud and other websites related to music listening. After compiling data from nearly 114 million music-related comments from roughly two million unique users, Serendip had a lot to say about the music-listening habits of people worldwide. This infographic tells all, and is great news for those in the music marketing business.

 

#neverforget

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Today marks eleven years since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The NYPD has turned to Twitter to memoralize those officers killed in the line of duty eleven years ago today.

The Police Department’s official Twitter handle, @NYPDnews, has been tweeting information about those who lost lives on 9/11 along with a link to a Facebook page with additional information. The hashtag #neverforget strings these tweets together.

#Forward2012

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Did you know you can purchase a nationwide promoted trending topic on Twitter? Well, you can. However, they might cost you an arm or a leg, or over $100,00 a pop. Which means politicians are doing it!

Mitt Romney purchased #RomneyRyan2012, which was followed by the GOP’s purchase of #AreYouBetterOff.

Obama recently join in with his purchase of #Forward2012.

Are these hashtags going to backfire in the hands of opposing party’s fans?

Rebel Youngsters #BrownBagginIt

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Social media is a force to be reckoned with, whether you own a business, are building a personal brand, or want to take a political stance! With election energy building, it’s more and more clear that social media is a campaign tool with never-before-seen power. Obama is on Instagram,  campaigners can check-in via Twitter and FourSquare to show support and Facebook is teeming with politcal-statement memes. On a smaller scale, school age kids in Pennsylvania are using Twitter to protest an injustice all their own. Check out this article to see how adaptable Twitter is to your game-changing needs.

Seven Social Media Tactics

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According to eMarketer, Facebook, Twitter and other social media are expected to surpass search engine optimization in 2013 as the driving force behind business growth online. Thus it is critical that Internet marketers take note of how search engine algorithms are incorporating social media, and how this changes the way we approach search engine friendliness and online brand engagement. Check out this article from clickz.com to read about seven social media tactics you need for 2013.

What Language Do Birds Speak?

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Birds tweet of course! But the question remains, what language do most tweets come in?

It’s no surprise that English is the most tweeted language, as roughly one third of the world’s population speaks English, and Twitter boasts American origins. However, it’s curious that Chinese doesn’t even make the top ten list, as Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. Worldwide, over one billion people speak Chinese while 510 million people speak English. These numbers reflect that Japan’s interest in Twitter must be unparalleled by countries who outweigh them in sheer number of speakers. Check out this infographic by Carolann Belk to see what other languages rank.

It’s Friday! Time to Tweet!

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Analysis of over five million Twitter accounts reveals that Twitter usage steadily increases as the work week progresses, with the majority of Twitter activity peaking on Thursday and Friday. Tweet rates plummet over the weekend, with Saturday have the littlest Twitter activity.

What does this data mean?

The increased use of Twitter as the week progresses, and the sudden drop when it ends, suggests to me that one of the many functions of Twitter (and social media in general) for the individual is brief respite from work. In the beginning of the week, the work force is refreshed and more focused, thus spending less time using social networking sites. However, as the weekend approaches, employees grow restless and excited, thus requiring more quick breaks to clear their mind and move forward with the day. Once Saturday arrives, however, individuals are too busy enjoying the weekend to pay attention to Twitter.

Check out the graph below and let us know how you interpret the information! Tweet us your thoughts @AjaxUnion.

One Million Tweets in 16 Days

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Now that the Olympic dust has settled in London, here’s a chance to go back and see what you missed, but it might take a long time. This year, Twitter was a top player in the Olympic Games. Proof of that lies in the ten athletes who were tweeted about over one million times… EACH! Here are the top ten Twitter stars. Even if they didn’t win medals in London (which they did!) they certainly broke some social media world records. Be sure to take note of number seven, Kobe Bryant, who lacks a twitter handle but is referred to by fans using a hashtag.

1.Usain Bolt (@UsainBolt)
2. Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps)
3. Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994)
4. Ryan Lochte (@ryanlochte)
5. Gabby Douglas (@gabrielledoug)
6. Andy Murray (@andy_murray)
7. Kobe Bryant (#GetKobeOnTwitter)
8. Yohan Blake (@YohanBlake)
9. Lee Chong Wei (@Lee_C_Wei)
10. LeBron James (@KingJames)
Even Obama was tweeting about the Games!