It's that time of year when all the big tech titans reveal key trends from the past year -- and today it's Facebook's turn to share the most discussed topics on its social network in 2015.
Using data from January 1 to December 1, Facebook revealed that the U.S. presidential election has been the number one hot topic, globally. The full top 10 are:
1. U.S. presidential election 2. Paris terrorist attacks (November) 3. Syrian civil war & refugee crisis 4. Nepal earthquakes 5. Greek debt crisis 6. Marriage equality 7. Fight against ISIS 8. Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks (January) 9. Baltimore protests 10. Charleston shooting & flag debate
Perhaps the most obvious observation that can be made from this list is how prominent a role Facebook plays in the sharing and disscussing of news, particularly one-off short- or long-term events.
Looking back at 2014, Facebook's stats reveal a similar picture, with the soccer World Cup in Brazil coming out on top, followed by the Ebola outbreak, and Brazilian elections:
1. World Cup 2. Ebola Virus Outbreak 3. Elections in Brazil 4. Robin Williams 5. Ice Bucket Challenge 6. Conflict in Gaza 7. Malaysia Airlines 8. Super Bowl 9. Michael Brown / Ferguson 10. Sochi Olympics
Given that Facebook has emerged as a pivotal tool for many media companies, it has been building tools specifically for this purpose. Indeed, earlier this year the company lifted the lid on Instant Articles, which effectively lets a select band of publishers pump fully optimized content directly into Facebook.
Meanwhile, here's a visual reminder of all the top discussion points of 2015.