Sport, crime and natural disasters were the type of topics that most frequently appeared on the timelines of Facebook users in 2017.
The top three moments that people discussed globally in 2017 were:
- International Women’s Day: This was the number one most talked about moment in 2017, doubling from last year, with people around the world talking, sharing and posting in celebration of women and related issues.
- Super Bowl 51: Fans around the world turned to their news feeds to cheer for their favourite teams, celebrate with Lady Gaga and debate the top TV ads, with more than 262 million views of Super Bowl-related videos on the platform.
- Las Vegas Violence: This tragic incident drove conversation from around the world, which in turn motivated more than 3 300 people to offer community help through crisis response on the social media platform.
Facebook users also supported one another in times of crisis. The money generated around events is breathtaking. The top three moments where people came to each other’s aid were:
- Earthquake in Mexico: The response to this crisis in late September drove the highest number of total interactions within crisis response on Facebook during the year, with millions of people marking themselves safe, offering help to their community or donating to the cause.
- Hurricane Harvey: In late August, the community rallied to help those in need by raising more than $20 million, in the biggest fundraising effort for a single crisis in 2017 on Facebook.
- One Love Manchester: The most viewed video and live broadcast on Facebook in 2017, this benefit concert generated over 80 million views and raised more than $450,000 for those affected by the Manchester terror attack.
Along the lines of one of its primary purposes, people also used Facebook to get together in person. The top two ways people connected through these offline moments were:
- Total Solar Eclipse: This celestial moment in August brought the world together through more than 20 000 Facebook Events in more than 80 countries.
- Women’s March on DC: On 21 January the Women’s March on DC brought over 500 000 people together on and offline as the largest Facebook event for a single cause in 2017.
Your year in review
Facebook also activated its regular feature which creates personalised videos for each user, which then appear on their news feed. The video is a look back on the user’s year, including moments that they shared or ones they have been tagged in. This video can be edited and shared and you can access your video by visiting facebook.com/yearinreview.
Methodology
The top moments of this year’s Year In Review were determined by gathering a list of the top keywords by volume mentioned in a single day on Facebook between 1 January and 1 November 2017. To identify the topics that were unique to 2017, Facebook compared these keywords to the previous year’s maximum single-day volume. This means that keywords like Mother’s Day and Halloween, which typically represent the top moments every year, do not repeatedly appear at the top of the list.
Image: Women’s March, This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
