Earth’s Most Tweeted Events in 2011
By LIM YUNG HUI on December 13, 2011
Twitter fairly captured the essence of 2011. Below is a list of top 16 events tweeted this year, ranked by tweets per second (TPS). TPS as a yardstick to measure the intensity of reaction by Twitter users and thus, signifies the level of significance of an event.
Only five events in the list were dominantly US-centric, namely Troy Davis execution, NBA Finals, East Coast Earthquake, Home Run Derby, and Superbowl. The others have more global appeals. Yet another indication of growing internationalization of Twitter.
| Most Tweeted in 2011 | Rank | Events | Tweets Per Second | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MTV Video Music Awards | 8,868 | August 28 |
| 2 | Troy Davis executed | 7,671 | September 20 |
| 3 | End of FIFA Women’s World Cup | 7,196 | July 17 |
| 4 | Brazil eliminated from the Copa America | 7,166 | July 17 |
| 5 | Steve Jobs resigns | 7,064 | August 25 |
| 6 | New Year | 6,939 | January 1 |
| 7 | BET Awards | 6,436 | June 27 |
| 8 | UEFA Champions League | 6,303 | May 28 |
| 9 | Steve Jobs passes away | 6,049 | October 6 |
| 10 | NBA Finals | 5,531 | June 13 |
| 11 | Japanese earthquake and tsunami | 5,530 | March 11 |
| 12 | East Coast earthquake | 5,449 | August 23 |
| 13 | Raid on Osama bin Laden | 5,106 | May 2 |
| 14 | Home Run Derby | 4,995 | July 11 |
| 15 | Superbowl | 4,064 | February 6 |
| 16 | UK Royal Wedding | 3,966 | April 29 |
Source: Twitter’s 2011 Year in review
