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Chewbacca Mom. Facebook

From the All Ireland Final to Chewbacca Mom - here are the most talked about things on Facebook this year

From elections to David Bowie, it has been a busy year for Facebook.

THE UNITED STATES general election was the most talked about thing on Facebook in Ireland and the rest of the world in 2016.

The election topped the list for Facebook mentions throughout the year, highlighting just how many people felt the result would impact their lives.

Data released today shows off the most talked about things on Facebook both in Ireland and around the world so far this year.

In Ireland, our own general election came second place in most talked about moments this year.

The fact that the Irish general election was early in the year (February) compared to the US election in November means that the online interest wouldn’t have been sustained throughout the year.

Brexit, David Bowie, the Easter Rising and GAA All-Ireland Final all made the top 10 in mentions for Ireland this year.

The full list for Ireland is below:

  1. US Presidential Election
  2. Irish General Election
  3. Brexit
  4. Olympics
  5. UEFA Euro 2016
  6. David Bowie
  7. Easter Rising
  8. GAA All-Ireland Final 2016
  9. Rose of Tralee
  10. Six Nations Championship

In terms of events that generated the most global interest, Pokemon Go, the Black Lives Matter movement, Brexit and the Super Bowl all feature in the top 10 list.

The full list of the most talked about items on Facebook around the world is:

  1. US Elections
  2. Brazilian Politics
  3. Pokemon Go
  4. Black Lives Matter
  5. Rodrigo Duterte
  6. Olympics
  7. Brexit
  8. Super Bowl
  9. David Bowie
  10. Muhammed Ali

The lists are created by measuring how frequently a topic was mentioned in Facebook posts made between 1 January and 27 November, 2016.

Mentions are analysed in an aggregated, anonymised way and then ranked in terms of popularity.

Facebook also released its most popular Facebook Live videos of the year in Ireland and the rest of the world.

In Ireland, a video of traditional Irish dancers the Byrne brothers dancing in Eyre Square in Galway was the most popular Facebook Live, garnering three million views and  75,000 likes.

Globally, the most popular video was Chewbacca Mom from Candace Payne, which had 162 million views and 2.9 million shares.

Read: Did Pope Francis really endorse Trump? Pressure grows on Facebook and Google to reduce fake news

Read: An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from the world’s fact-checkers (including TheJournal.ie)

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Cormac Fitzgerald
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