THATBlog

Facebook is the world’s source for information, entertainment, communication, and the minutia of hundreds of millions of people around the globe. The status updates reflect an astonishing variety of interests on the part of account holders, which makes looking at the top Facebook status trends of 2010 somewhat of an exercise in sociology, psychology, and anthropology. So what were people talking about this year?

Events, movies, and, of course, themselves. This is what has captivated Facebook users over the course of 2010. The rescue of the Chilean miners was a topic of intense discussion, particularly in the hours leading up to the rescue of Florencio Avalos, the first miner to be brought to the surface after 69 days 2000 feet below ground. The Haitian earthquake also caused a Facebook and Twitter frenzy, particularly as Haitians tried to use these forums to contact family members. The first status was posted within one minute of the quake. After four minutes, about 120 firsthand reports were coming in per minute, and after one day, there were 1800 posts per minute discussing the devastating earthquake.

A world away, movies ranked high on Facebook users’ statuses. They were talking about Inception, Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2, and, of course, the Twilight saga. Another entertainment event took a top spot on the status list: the World Cup was much discussed on both Twitter and Facebook. Incredibly, during the start of the games and the finals, about half of all status updates were related to soccer’s biggest event. Justin Bieber mania struck as countless pre-teens made their voices heard.

But really, when it comes down to it, what do Facebook users care about? Talking. Preferably about themselves. HMU was the number one status of 2010. Hit me up. Call me, text me, email me, message me. The acronym barely registered in 2009, but its use exploded this year. At summer’s end, more than 80,000 posts featured “HMU.” Of course, they could be talking about hydromechanical units or Hanoi Medical University – but we doubt it.