Twitter: bigger than Michael Jackson and Obama

Posted by Daniel Bennett on Wed 2 Dec 2009

2009: the year of the tweet

Twitter has achieved global supremacy, at least in the eyes of the internet, in the space of the year and has been named the fastest rising search term of 2009 by Google as well as “word of the year” by the Global Language Monitor.

- Watch our exlcusive video interview with renowned Twitter-lover Stephen Fry and see what he has to say on Apple, Google and Twitter

The San Francisco-based site started up in 2006 but the site’s popularity sky-rocketed this year with celebrities ranging from P Diddy to Stephen Fry adopting the service.

In Google’s end of year Zeitgeist – an indicator of the year's hottest trends – Twitter surprisingly came in ahead of Michael Jackson as the fastest rising search term at Google.com. It was telling that Twitter was two places ahead of the former social network champion Facebook.

Meanwhile, the Global Language Monitor named Twitter the Word of Year ahead of Obama and H1N1.The suffix 2.0 came in sixth place in the list where almost every manufacturer has latched onto the number to give their latest product some “edge”.

Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor, said: “In a year dominated by world-shaking political events, a pandemic, the after effects of a financial tsunami and the death of a revered pop icon, the word Twitter stands above all the other words.”

Here are the lists in full:

Google's fastest rising search terms:

1. Twitter
2. Michael Jackson
3. Facebook
4. Hulu
5. Hi5
6. Glee
7. Paranormal Activity
8. Natasha Richardson
9. Farrah Fawcett
10. Lady Gaga

Word of the Year

1. Twitter
2. Obama
3. H1N1
4. Stimulus
5. Vampire
6. 2.0
7. Deficit
8. Hadron
9. Healthcare
10. Transparency

Link: Google Zeigeist | Global Language Monitor