The top 10 most discussed topics on Facebook in 2015

It’s that time of year when all the big tech titans reveal key trends from the past year — and today it’s Facebook’s turn to share the most discussed topics on its social network in 2015.

Using data from January 1 to December 1, Facebook revealed that the U.S. presidential election has been the number one hot topic, globally. The full top 10 are:

1. U.S. presidential election
2. Paris terrorist attacks (November)
3. Syrian civil war & refugee crisis
4. Nepal earthquakes
5. Greek debt crisis
6. Marriage equality
7. Fight against ISIS
8. Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks (January)
9. Baltimore protests
10. Charleston shooting & flag debate

Perhaps the most obvious observation that can be made from this list is how prominent a role Facebook plays in the sharing and disscussing of news, particularly one-off short- or long-term events.

Looking back at 2014, Facebook’s stats reveal a similar picture, with the soccer World Cup in Brazil coming out on top, followed by the Ebola outbreak, and Brazilian elections:

1. World Cup
2. Ebola Virus Outbreak
3. Elections in Brazil
4. Robin Williams
5. Ice Bucket Challenge
6. Conflict in Gaza
7. Malaysia Airlines
8. Super Bowl
9. Michael Brown / Ferguson
10. Sochi Olympics

Given that Facebook has emerged as a pivotal tool for many media companies, it has been building tools specifically for this purpose. Indeed, earlier this year the company lifted the lid on Instant Articles, which effectively lets a select band of publishers pump fully optimized content directly into Facebook.

Meanwhile, here’s a visual reminder of all the top discussion points of 2015.

https://vimeo.com/148313339