Twitter releases top trends of 2012

Twitter let loose with its list of the top trending topics for 2012. Slicing its massive store of data several ways, the company has highlighted the most popular single tweets, trends across a number of topics and the biggest conversations of the year. The most retweeted message of the year — and in the history of the network — came from President Barack Obama, whose message “Four more years” accompanied by a picture of the first couple garnered 810,000 retweets. The second most-shared message came from Justin Bieber, who occupies the highest echelon of the Twitterati, as he mourned the loss of six-year-old fan Avalanna Routh to brain cancer. The Summer Olympics generated 150 million Tweets, spiking with 116,000 tweets per minute during the closing ceremonies. Usain Bolt gained the distinction of being the games’ most-discussed athlete. The U.S. election produced more than 31 million tweets on Election Day, and 10 million during the first presidential debate alone. The MTV Video Music Awards, Super Bowl, Euro 2012, Hurricane Sandy, UEFA Champions League Semi-Final and the death of Whitney Houston were also subjects of debate.