What better way than to celebrate the new year with a look back at 2011's "Best of the Web" courtesy of Nielsen. Find out the top web brands of 2011 along with the top social networks, blogs, movies, songs, musicians, actors, actresses, Twitter and Facebook topics, popular sports athletes, world news.
According
to Nielsen, the top web brands in 2011 (in the U.S.) were:
1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Yahoo
4. MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
5.
YouTube
6. Microsoft
7. AOL Media Network
8. Wikipedia
9.
Apple
10. Ask
For social networks and blogs (again, in the U.S.) the list was:
1. Facebook
2. Blogger
3. Twitter
4. WordPress
5. MySpace
6.
LinkedIn
7. Tumblr
8. Google+
9. Yahoo Pulse
10. Six Apart
TypePad
The Top online destinations for video (in the U.S.) were:
1. YouTube
2. VEVO
3. Facebook
4. Yahoo
5.
MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
6. AOL Media Network
7. Hulu
8. The CollegeHumor
Network
9. CNN Digital Network
10. Netflix
Twitter
Twitter's most tweeted
events (in terms of tweets per second):
6,939 - JAN 1 - New Years
4,064 - FEB 6 - Super Bowl
5,530 - MAR 11 -
Japanese earthquake and tsunami
3,966 - APR 29 - UK Royal Wedding
5,106 -
MAY 2 - Raid on Osama bin Laden
6,303 - MAY 28 - UEFA Champions
League
5,531 - JUN 13- NBA Finals
6,436 - JUN 27 - BET Awards
4,995 -
JUL 11 - Home Run Derby
7,166 - JUL 17 - Brazil eliminated from the Copa
America
7,196 - JUL 17 - End of FIFA Women's World Cup
5,449 - AUG 23 -
East Coast earthquake
7,064 - AUG 25 - Steve Jobs resigns
8,868 - AUG 28 -
MTV Video Music Awards
7,671 - SEP 20 - Troy Davis executed
6,049 - OCT 6
- Steve Jobs passes away
The top hashtags of the year were:
1. #egypt
2. #tigerblood
3. #threewordstoliveby
4.
#idontunderstandwhy
5. #japan
6. #improudtosay
7. #superbowl
8.
#jan25
The top topics were broken down by category:
TV:
1. Pretty Little Liars
2. Two and a Half Men
3. The Craigslist
Killer
4. Golden Globe Awards
5. People's Choice Awards
Movies:
1. Thor
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. X-Men: First Class
4. Fast
Five
5. Green Hornet
Music:
1. Rebecca Black and Friday
2. Nate Dogg
3. FEMME FATALE
4. Gerry
Rafferty
5. Gil Scott-Heron
Actresses:
1. Elizabeth Taylor
2. Mila Kunis
3. Anne Hathaway
4. Raven
Symone
5. Natalie Portman
6. Elisabeth Sladen
7. Jennifer Lopez
8.
Nina Dobrev
9. Emma Watson
10. Fernanda Vasconcellos
Actors:
1. Charlie Sheen
2. Macaulay Culkin
3. Ryan Dunn
4. Ricky
Gervais
5. Pete Postlethwaite
6. Tracy Morgan
7. Jake Gyllenhaal
8.
Ashton Kutcher
9. Colin Firth
10. James Franco
Soccer:
1. Wayne Rooney
2. Fernando Torres
3. Howard Webb
4. Wembley
Stadium
5. Colo Colo
Football:
1. Dallas
2. Green & Yellow
3. Superbowl MMXI
4. Jim
Harbaugh
5. Pittsburgh Steelers
NBA:
1. Rashard Lewis
2. Ray Allen
3. Derrick Rose
4. Jason Terry
5.
Dallas Mavericks
Baseball:
1. Texas Rangers
2. Bert Blyleven
3. Roberto Alomar
4. Vernon
Wells
5. Justin Verlander
Food and drink:
1. McLobster
2. Fried Kool-Aid
3. Starbucks Trenta
4. Devassa
Beer
5. Guinness
6. BBQ
7. Mac & Cheese
World News
1. Mubarak's resignation
2. Raid on Osama bin Laden
3. Japanese
earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster
4. Shooting of Gabrielle
Giffords
5. Gaddafi's death
6. Swine Flu outbreak
7. WoW Gold Guide
Cities and countries:
1. Cairo
2. Egypt
3. Japan
4. Libya
5. Tokyo
6. Dallas
7.
Vancouver
8. Hawaii
9. Joplin
10. Austin
Tech:
1. Mac App Store
2. Sony NGP
3. Guitar Hero
4. Mozilla Firefox
5.
Duke Nukem Forever
6. iPad
7. iPhone
8. Nintendo 3DS
9. Mortal
Kombat
10. iPod
Facebook
Facebook's top games:
Gardens of Time (Playdom)
The Sims Social (EA)
Cityville
(Zynga)
DoubleDown Casino (DoubleDown Interactive)
Indiana Jones Adventure
World (Zynga)
Words With Friends (Zynga)
Bingo Blitz (Buffalo
Studios)
Empires & Allies (Zynga)
Slotomania-Slot Machines
(Playtika)
Diamond Dash (wooga)
Facebook also shared the following topic lists for 2011:
US Top 10 status trends
1. lms (like my status)
2. tbh (to be honest)
3. Death of Osama bin
Laden
4. Charlie Sheen
5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
6. Casey
Anthony found not guilty
7. Packers win the Super Bowl
8. Hurricane
Irene
9. Insidious (movie)
10. Death of Amy Winehouse
Fastest growing areas of interest on Facebook globally:
Entertainment:
Actors and TV Personalities
1. Megan Fox
2. Vin Diesel
3. Adam Sandler
4. Selena Gomez
5.
Will Smith
6. Taylor Lautner
7. Jackie Chan
8. Ashley Tisdale
9. DJ
Pauly D
10. Kim Kardashian
Movies
1. Harry Potter
2. The Twilight Saga
3. Toy Story
4. Avatar
5.
Jackass
6. Shrek
7. Saw
8. Pirates of the Caribbean
9. Fast
&Furious
10. Titanic
TV Shows
1. House
2. Two and a Half Men
3. The Simpsons
4. Family Guy
5.
South Park
6. Grey's Anatomy
7. SpongeBob SquarePants
8. CSI:
Miami
9. iCarly
10. The Big Bang Theory
Fictional Characters
1. Dr. House
2. Dory
3. Patrick Star
4. Mr. Bean
5. Upin &
Ipin
6. Bob Esponja
7. Mario
8. Doraemon
9. Ari Gold
10. Sue
Sylvester (GLEE)
Music:
Musicians
1. Rihanna
2. Bob Marley
3. Avril Lavigne
4. David Guetta
5.
Enrique Iglesias
6. Usher
7. Lady Gaga
8. Metallica
9. Green
Day
10. Black Eyed Peas
Most Listened To Songs
1. We Found Love - Rihanna and Calvin Harris
2. Last Friday Night
(T.G.I.F.) - Katy Perry
3. Sexy And I Know It - LMFAO
4. Titanium - David
Guetta and Sia
5. First of the Year - Skrillex
6. Scary Monsters and Nice
Sprites - Skrillex
7. Without You - David Guetta and Usher
8. Stereo
Hearts - Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine
9. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster
the People
10. Someone Like You - Adele
Sports:
Athletes
1. Leo Messi
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. John Cena
4. Ricardo Kaka
5.
David Beckham
6. Michael Jordan
7. Sachin Tendulkar
8. Andres
Iniesta
9. Kobe Bryant
10. Cesc Fbregas
Sports Teams
1. FC Barcelona
2. Real Madrid C.F.
3. Manchester United
4. LA
Lakers
5. Chelsea Football Club
6. Liverpool FC
7. A.C. Milan
8.
Arsenal
9. Galatasaray
10. Fenerbahce
News:
News Outlets
1. CNN
2. Fox News
3. NPR
4. The Onion
5. The New York
Times
6. Al Jazeera Channel
7. Yahoo! News
8. The Times of India
9.
BBC World News
10. PBS
Most Shared Articles
Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami (New York
Times)
What teachers really want to tell parents (CNN)
No, your zodiac
sign hasn't changed (CNN)
Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps
(CNN)
(video) - Father Daughter Dance Medley (Yahoo)
At funeral, dog
mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan (Yahoo)
You'll freak when
you see the new Facebook (CNN)
Dog in Japan stays by the side of ailing
friend in the rubble (Yahoo)
Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines
(Yahoo)
New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign? (The Huffington
Post)
What was your best memory of 2011? Let us know in the comments section!
About the Author
Formerly an editor at Demand Media, writer at Citysearch, The Examiner, LA Youth Newspaper and proofreader at The Los Angeles Daily News, Christy Buena decided to start Disarray Magazine because she missed writing what she wanted. From hiring writers, to contacting publicists and making assignments, Christy is responsible for the editorial strategy of Disarray Magazine.
Questions, comments or suggestions?