The Twitterati have spoken!
Throughout 2009, a few tech topics got so much attention that they managed to make Twitter’s trends. Google Wave was one of the most notable of these, obviously, but what were the other subjects of such interest to Twitter-using geeks? Twitter has just released a list of the top 10 technology-related trending topics of the year; here’s what tweeps have been talking about.
1. Google Wave
The most-talked-about app of the year – on Twitter and likely in many other circles – was Google Wave. As invitations rolled out in waves, each initiate was given a limited number of invites to pass on to friends and colleagues. This left the twittersphere clamoring for Wave invites and drove the keyword into Twitter’s general trending topics on multiple occasions.
If Wave did nothing else right, they certainly mastered the art of the viral marketing campaign.
2. Snow Leopard
Apple fanboys (and girls) the world around rejoiced when the newest Mac operating system was released this year. Snow Leopard was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June 2008, which meant that Mac geeks had been waiting to buy their copies for more than a year by the time the OS hit shelves in August of this year.
3. Tweetdeck
This Twitter app became wildly successful this year and made tech headlines for its Facebook and LinkedIn integration, its iPhone app (a strong competitor to challenge Tweetie 2), its themed interfaces and more.
4. Windows 7
The long-suffering Windows users among us had long been suffering when Windows 7 was released this year. Better, smarter, faster and less buggy, the OS promised to be the answer to our prayers and a reason to hold our heads up in front of Mac users. Windows also had an interesting marketing campaign that kept their OS on the tips of tongues – and the top of trends – for several months running.
5. CES
The Consumer Electronics Show, held each year in Las Vegas, is a gadget geek’s version of the AVN Awards, also held each year in Las Vegas. Coincidence? Most definitely.
6. Palm Pre
Several years ago, geeks fell in love with the Treo. Then Palm devices kind of fell off the face of the earth and out of public favor until this year, when the company released the tiny touchscreen device known as the Pre. The first iteration of the device hasn’t yet become overwhelmingly popular, but the Pre definitely has its fans.
7. Google Latitude
In 2005, location-based app Dodgeball was bought by Google. The Dodgeball creators went on to make Foursquare, and this year, Google replaced Dodgeball with Latitude, which very simply shows you where your friends are on Google Maps. Latitude could be the basis for more tricky applications in the future, but location tech in general can be a difficult technology to master.
8. #E3
Another yearly holy-grail-of-its-industry conference, E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is held in Los Angeles. This con is where gamer geeks die and go to heaven.
9. #amazonfail
Amazon suffered public criticism this year when certain gay and lesbian books were removed from sales rankings for containing adult content. The trouble was, most of the titles in question weren’t “adult” in nature at all, leading media and the general public to the conclusion that Amazon execs were deeply and terribly homophobic. In the end, it turned out that a single Amazon employee in France set a Boolean flag on adult content from false to true, taking out 57,000 books in his wake. Whoopsie!
10. Macworld
And finally, there was MacWorld. Steve Jobs was unable to make the event, and Apple announced that the 2009 con would be the last year the company would participate in the show. The company announced a few modest treats, including new versions of iLife and iWork, as well as a 17-inch MacBook. Apple further announced that music sold on iTunes would be DRM-free.
And that’s it for Twitter’s top trends! Do you think the right topics got the most attention? What do you think would have been trend #11? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
