What did we talk about on the internet in 2020?
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 8:20 am
It's hard to describe 2020 with any commentary, because there are simply no words for what we've been dealing with over the past 12 months. Today, however, I want to focus on analyzing the behaviors and trends that dominated social media and the Internet in general during this time from a user perspective . To what extent did the situation in the world determine the topics that most interested us in 2020? What did the Internet live for? And by extension, what did we live for?
Contents
COVID-19
Farewell to stars and icons
Environment
Policy
Social awakening
If someone were to wake up unexpectedly at the end of 2020 and ask what they missed, it would be hard to summarize it in a nutshell. I think this post could provide a little guidance.
COVID-19
Stay Home - coronavirus
Undeniably the number 1 topic in 2020. Actually, 2020 and coronavirus should be synonymous. Google published a report showing that the most searched term was "coronavirus". We were equally often looking for an idea on how to make pasta, how to sew a mask and how to make antibacterial gel. Hashtags related to coronavirus and pandemics did not break into the ranking bahrain telemarketing data of the most popular this year, but the confusion around this topic caused the bodies filtering content on the Internet to take special care to block any publications about the pandemic that are not reliable and verified. Well, the flood of frequency of such content has already caused us to deal with hundreds of fake news every day.
The lockdown itself has inspired challenges, trends and other movements. #Pillowchallenge has caught the attention of many Instagram and TikTok users - not only influencers, but also regular "like-eaters". #Stayhome was used to tag a large part of the photos published during this time. It is impossible to ignore TikTok .
Check out our list of 14 recommended remote work tools that will increase efficiency in your company - regardless of the industry.
Quarantine was his ticket to a stunning rise in popularity - he was on the list of the most downloaded apps in 2020 and there is no indication that his good streak will break. Looking at how quickly he also made it to the list of marketing tools , it is safe to say that it has solidified his strong position. There, you could also observe trends corresponding to life in the pandemic. #gesturechallenge and #savagechallenge became viral. I would call Tyge's "Bored in the house" the anthem of the lockdown - this song has already gained almost 14 million views since March and slightly fewer adaptations to TikTok videos.
Farewell to stars and icons
Rest in Power - RBG
The entire procession of sad components of 2020 should be added to the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and the passing of Ruth Bader Gingsburg. The former event was one of the most sincerely commented on topics in the world for many weeks, especially on Facebook. After the passing of the Notorious RBG, #restinpower circulated around the world in the amount of over 10 million tags . The deaths of Diego Armando Maradona, Sir Sean Connery and Kirk Douglas also echoed in the internet world, taking on various forms. From memes to solemn memorials dedicated to them, which were published on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
Environment
Nitrogen oxide (IV) air pollution map - China - January and February 2020
The environment and its problems have never been so intensely outlined and delivered to people around the world as this year. In fact, we got a very strong dose of sobering up at the beginning of the year, when the Australian forests were burning. Facebook and Instagram became the main tool for sharing information about the situation, and then - for disseminating collections to fight the element in Australia . Non-governmental organizations and influencers around the world were involved in the campaigns. #buyfromthebush, #bushfires and other related to fires were used millions of times on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram . Later, we tried to find positives from the pandemic, so we focused our attention on the drastic decrease in air pollution in China and went crazy at the news that dolphins appeared in Venice. This was actually huge fake news, but it does not change the fact that the cleanliness of the waters in Venice has reached a level not seen in decades. The bad news in the context of climate, however, outweighed the bad news – record temperatures in Antarctica were broken, floods flooded Indonesia, and massive earthquakes in Asia, reaching as far as the Caribbean, claimed 41 lives. All of this information flowed to us daily through all sorts of social media platforms, increasing the already hopeless level of the year. On the good news, climate and environmental organizations raised over $80 million through their Facebook activities.
Policy
Elections
The hot election period is 2020. Not only were we absolutely absorbed by the presidential elections in Poland, but at the end of the year we were following the US elections with the whole world. It should come as no surprise that phrases like "US elections" are the third fastest growing phrases in Poland in 2020. Half of the 10 most searched for people are politicians: Joe Biden, Rafał Trzaskowski, Donald Trump, Kim Dzong Un and Krzysztof Bosak. Anyone who has watched "The Social Dilemma" (or is very clear-headed) has seen for themselves how social and political polarization depends on the operation of social media. This year was truly the hottest in terms of addressing political and social topics online - we all felt the domination of Polish Instagram by content against the current government, about the Women's Strike, especially in November. At the peak of the OSK, Instagram probably blocked all content related to this movement, as influential users of this application warned. Stories and posts simply disappeared or could not be published. Instagram did not respond to these allegations.
The Facebook accounts of conservative politicians in the Polish government were often hacked or blocked. Similar situations befell accounts publishing different content - most often those whose materials satirically commented on the current situation in Poland, such as Tygodnik NIE or Make Life Harder, were hit.
Contents
COVID-19
Farewell to stars and icons
Environment
Policy
Social awakening
If someone were to wake up unexpectedly at the end of 2020 and ask what they missed, it would be hard to summarize it in a nutshell. I think this post could provide a little guidance.
COVID-19
Stay Home - coronavirus
Undeniably the number 1 topic in 2020. Actually, 2020 and coronavirus should be synonymous. Google published a report showing that the most searched term was "coronavirus". We were equally often looking for an idea on how to make pasta, how to sew a mask and how to make antibacterial gel. Hashtags related to coronavirus and pandemics did not break into the ranking bahrain telemarketing data of the most popular this year, but the confusion around this topic caused the bodies filtering content on the Internet to take special care to block any publications about the pandemic that are not reliable and verified. Well, the flood of frequency of such content has already caused us to deal with hundreds of fake news every day.
The lockdown itself has inspired challenges, trends and other movements. #Pillowchallenge has caught the attention of many Instagram and TikTok users - not only influencers, but also regular "like-eaters". #Stayhome was used to tag a large part of the photos published during this time. It is impossible to ignore TikTok .
Check out our list of 14 recommended remote work tools that will increase efficiency in your company - regardless of the industry.
Quarantine was his ticket to a stunning rise in popularity - he was on the list of the most downloaded apps in 2020 and there is no indication that his good streak will break. Looking at how quickly he also made it to the list of marketing tools , it is safe to say that it has solidified his strong position. There, you could also observe trends corresponding to life in the pandemic. #gesturechallenge and #savagechallenge became viral. I would call Tyge's "Bored in the house" the anthem of the lockdown - this song has already gained almost 14 million views since March and slightly fewer adaptations to TikTok videos.
Farewell to stars and icons
Rest in Power - RBG
The entire procession of sad components of 2020 should be added to the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and the passing of Ruth Bader Gingsburg. The former event was one of the most sincerely commented on topics in the world for many weeks, especially on Facebook. After the passing of the Notorious RBG, #restinpower circulated around the world in the amount of over 10 million tags . The deaths of Diego Armando Maradona, Sir Sean Connery and Kirk Douglas also echoed in the internet world, taking on various forms. From memes to solemn memorials dedicated to them, which were published on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
Environment
Nitrogen oxide (IV) air pollution map - China - January and February 2020
The environment and its problems have never been so intensely outlined and delivered to people around the world as this year. In fact, we got a very strong dose of sobering up at the beginning of the year, when the Australian forests were burning. Facebook and Instagram became the main tool for sharing information about the situation, and then - for disseminating collections to fight the element in Australia . Non-governmental organizations and influencers around the world were involved in the campaigns. #buyfromthebush, #bushfires and other related to fires were used millions of times on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram . Later, we tried to find positives from the pandemic, so we focused our attention on the drastic decrease in air pollution in China and went crazy at the news that dolphins appeared in Venice. This was actually huge fake news, but it does not change the fact that the cleanliness of the waters in Venice has reached a level not seen in decades. The bad news in the context of climate, however, outweighed the bad news – record temperatures in Antarctica were broken, floods flooded Indonesia, and massive earthquakes in Asia, reaching as far as the Caribbean, claimed 41 lives. All of this information flowed to us daily through all sorts of social media platforms, increasing the already hopeless level of the year. On the good news, climate and environmental organizations raised over $80 million through their Facebook activities.
Policy
Elections
The hot election period is 2020. Not only were we absolutely absorbed by the presidential elections in Poland, but at the end of the year we were following the US elections with the whole world. It should come as no surprise that phrases like "US elections" are the third fastest growing phrases in Poland in 2020. Half of the 10 most searched for people are politicians: Joe Biden, Rafał Trzaskowski, Donald Trump, Kim Dzong Un and Krzysztof Bosak. Anyone who has watched "The Social Dilemma" (or is very clear-headed) has seen for themselves how social and political polarization depends on the operation of social media. This year was truly the hottest in terms of addressing political and social topics online - we all felt the domination of Polish Instagram by content against the current government, about the Women's Strike, especially in November. At the peak of the OSK, Instagram probably blocked all content related to this movement, as influential users of this application warned. Stories and posts simply disappeared or could not be published. Instagram did not respond to these allegations.
The Facebook accounts of conservative politicians in the Polish government were often hacked or blocked. Similar situations befell accounts publishing different content - most often those whose materials satirically commented on the current situation in Poland, such as Tygodnik NIE or Make Life Harder, were hit.