Facebook top status trends of 2009

The Facebook Data Team has analyzed all hundreds of millions of status updates in the U.S. ─rest assured, they processed all data anonymously─ to discover the top trending words and phrases for 2009. Here’s the top 15 from the Facebook Memology report: 

1. Facebook applications (Farmville, Farm Town, Social Living)
2. FML (F*ck my life)
3. Swine flu (Flu, Swine Flu, H1N1)
4. Celebrity deaths (Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Billy Mays)
5. Family (Family, Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter, Kids)
6. Movies (New Moon, Transformers, Star Trek, The Hangover, Paranormal Activity and Harry Potter)
7. Sports (Steelers, Yankees)
8. Health care (Health Care, No one should have to…)
9. FB (FB, FB Friends, News Feed)
10. Twitter (Twitter, RT)
11. Years (2008, 2009, 2010)
12. Lady Gaga (Gaga, Poker Face)
13. Yard
14. Religion (Easter, Lord, God)
15. I (I, is)

 

Let’s take a closer look at two of the strangest trends.

13) Yard

This is a trend that nobody would have guessed. The word “yard” seems fairly uncommon, and indeed it barely breaches a rate of five mentions in every 10,000 status updates. When we compare 2009 to 2008, however, we see a huge increase. Have all the hipsters turned to yard work as the latest fad? Probably not. A more likely explanation is that hipsters’ moms and dads are also on Facebook, and these folks have yards that require some tending.

15) I

Until March of 2009, people updated their status in a box that appeared next to their name on the home page and, consequently, many updates started with the word “is.” Once that box no longer was shown next to people’s name, the usage of “is” dropped off dramatically and usage of “I” doubled almost overnight. Prior to March of 2009, “is” represented about 9 percent of all words in status updates. With the change in interface, it remained high in absolute terms, but dropped all the way to about 1.5 percent recently while “I” increased from 1 percent to about 2.5 percent. 

» Read the entire post at the Facebook blog.