Twitter, founded in 2006, has gotten a lot of attention in 2017, thanks largely to President Donald Trump. He is known for going on Twitter to air his grievances, express himself and make his opinions public.
And in fact, Trump was the most-tweeted-about global leader in the world and in the United States, according to annual data released by the San Francisco-headquartered technology company Tuesday. (Twitter measured data through Nov. 20, according to an email Twitter sent to CNBC Make It.)
Trump’s predecessor, however, President Barack Obama, had two of the three most-liked tweets of the year (“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…” and “John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”). Obama also had three of the top 10 most-retweeted tweets of 2017. None of Trump’s tweets ranked on those lists.
The attention Trump has helped bring to Twitter this year has not come without intense scrutiny too. Twitter has been aggressively criticized for not removing at least one particular Trump tweet regarding North Korea. Some felt the tweet threatened nuclear war and as such, was of such a violent nature that should it should be removed. Twitter said the tweet was newsworthy.
Similarly, when Twitter temporarily partially suspended the account of vocal Harvey Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan, the social media company was said to be unfairly censoring content and many called for a boycott. Twitter apologized and said the McGowan content was removed because it included a telephone number, which violated its terms of service and that, in the future, it will do a better job of communicating reasons for removing content. Also, in November, Twitter updated its rules for what is permissible to publish on the platform.
Have a look at the year in review, as it happened on Twitter. The lists are not exclusively dominated by politics, it should be noted. The most retweeted tweet of the year was an attempt to get a year’s worth of free chicken nuggets at Wendy’s.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
1.
2.
3.
- @RealDonaldTrump SHOULD WE LINK TO THEIR PAGES?
- @narendramodi
- @NicolasMaduro
- @RT_Erdogan
- @EmmanuelMacron
- @EPN
- @mauriciomacri
- @theresa_may
- @JuanManSantos
- @jokowi
- @RealDonaldTrump SHOULD WE LINK
- @VP
- @SpeakerRyan
- @BarackObama
- @TedLieu
- @SenJohnMcCain
- @SenWarren
- @SenateMajLdr
- @SenSanders
- @SenSchumer
- @NancyPelosi
- @RepAdamSchiff
- @MarcoRubio
- @MaxineWaters
- @TedCruz
Methodology Note: The Twitter usernames that appeared most frequently in Tweets, including replies and Retweets
- @PreetBharara SHOULD WE LINK
- @SallyQYates
- @brhodes
- @PeteSouza
- @SHSanders45
- @AmbassadorRice
- @SamanthaJPower
- @SecretaryCarson
- @BetsyDeVosED
- @SecretaryZinke
- #Resist
- #MAGA
- #ImpeachTrump
- #TrumpTrain
- #WomensMarch
- #NotMyPresident
- #BlackLivesMatter
- #NoDAPL
- #TakeAKnee
- #BoycottNFL
Note: No.s 1 and 2 combine variations on the hashtags, like #Resistance and #MakeAmericaGreatAgain
See also:
Why Twitter won’t take down Donald Trump’s tweet which North Korea called a ‘declaration of war’
Some women call for a boycott of Twitter after actress Rose McGowan is partially suspended
Rose McGowan lashes out at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Twitter tirade about Harvey Weinstein
Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook.
Source: Tech CNBC
Twitter 2017: Trump is the most tweeted about, Obama has the most-liked tweets