It’s that time of year – the time when people start looking back on the previous year’s events. Top lists and year-in-reviews can be found all over, but what about your own top moments? Facebook has tried to help you look back at your year by providing personalized top 20 moments of 2012.
The new feature, called Facebook Year In Review, compiles each person’s most popular (most comments, likes, and shares) life events, created posts, and posts in which others tagged them and displays them in the now familiar Timeline format. The list also shows the number of new friends, new pages liked, and birthday wishes received in 2012.
Although the site claims to show your “biggest moments from the year,” it may not show what you consider to be the biggest highlights of the year. What appears on your list depends on what you share on Facebook as well as what your friends respond to. If you tend to share life events, your list will likely give you a nice recap of the year. However, if you tend to share interesting news and information or just the latest funny cat video, your list might be less personal. Similarly, because the list is determined by the most popular stories, it also depends on what your friends tend to like.
For example, while my list consisted primarily of fun events and photos of my nephew, it also included a post I made on April 25 in which I wished everyone a happy “Perfect Date,” referencing the beauty pageant mishap in Miss Congeniality.
So, for some, the year in review might be a fun trip down memory lane, but for others, it may be more of a recap of the funniest memes and cats of 2012.
At the end of the list, Facebook encourages you to share your year in review with your friends. You can also view your friends’ years in review by entering your friends’ uniqu Facebook url after the link. For example, if you were friends with Justin Bieber, you could go to facebook.com/yearinreview/justinbieber (however, this feature only works for people you are friends with).
USA and Global Trends on Facebook
In addition to showing your personal highlights from the year, Facebook also compiled lists of popular trends from 2012 based on the “pulse” of the social network’s global, 1-billion member community.
While some of the trends were no brainers (The Hunger Games topped both Movies and Books categories, and Barack Obama and Mitt Romney topped the Public Figures and Politics categories), the list also held a few surprises. For example, Duck Dynasty and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo took the top two spots on the Television list while Gangnam Style was nowhere to be found on the Top Listened to Songs.
In addition to U.S. trends, Facebook also offers similar lists for 12 other countries. Otherwise, here are the lists of all the Facebook Trends from 2012 for the U.S.:
Events
US Presidential Election
Superbowl XLVI
Death of Whitney Houston
Superstorm Sandy
London 2012 Olympics
Death of Trayvon Martin
Facebook IPO
Aurora Shootings
Death of Dick Clark
Obama’s Endorsement of Gay Marriage
Songs
We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe) – Fun
Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye
Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
Payphone – Maroon 5
Mercy – Kanye West
Some Nights – Fun
Home – Phillip Phillips
Boyfriend – Justin Bieber
Take Care (feat. Rihanna) – Drake
Movies
The Hunger Games
The Avengers
Magic Mike
The Vow
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
21 Jump Street
The Dark Knight Rises
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax
Skyfall
Prometheus
Check-Ins
Times Square, New York
Disneyland, California
AT&T Park, California
Yankee Stadium, New York
Rangers Ballpark, Texas
Fenway Park, Massachusetts
Dodger Stadium, California
Universal Studios, Florida
Wrigley Field, Illinois
Angel Stadium, California
Public Figures
Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
One Direction
Tim Tebow
Eli Manning and Peyton Manning (tie)
Madonna
Honey Boo Boo
Jeremy Lin
Paul Ryan
Phillip Phillips
Books
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) – Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) – Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) – Suzanne Collins
Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) -E.L. James
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1) – J.K. Rowling
The Help – Kathryn Stockett
Twilight (Twilight, #1) – Stephenie Meyer
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen
Technology
Timeline
Draw Something
iPhone 5
Kindle Fire
SOPA
News Feed
Siri
SongPop
Politics
Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
Voted
Four More Years
Paul Ryan
Rick Santorum
Gay Marriage
Obamacare
The Polls
DNC
Television
Duck Dynasty
Honey Boo Boo
Big Bang Theory
Game of Thrones
Downton Abbey
Breaking Amish
Ink Master
Long Island Medium
Wife Swap
Two Broke Girls
Sports
NY Giants
New England Patriots
Tim Tebow
London 2012 Olympics
OKC (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Denver Broncos
San Francisco 49ers
Eli and Peyton Manning
Jeremy Lin
Los Angeles Clippers
Memes
TBH (to be honest)
YOLO (you only live once)
KONY
One-word Comment
Gangnam Style
Cinnamon Challenge
Cray
SMH (shake my head)
Big Bird
Linsanity
