There’s a lot that happened in 2015 across the globe. Some events were so unfortunate that they ended up harming the lives of many and some made us feel grateful about the fact that the world is just a small community of people who are constantly on a look out for each other.
The common thread between the events is that they brought people together, not just from different cities but from many nations and all we have to thank is the power of social media and hashtags.
Let us now take a recap into the year and the top Twitter trends of 2015 that caught the attention of the Indian audience and what they were all about.
1. #JeSuisCharlie
Je Suis Charlie, the French phrase for ‘I am Charlie’ was an unfortunate event that took place in early January 2015 in Paris and the world is still recovering from it. The mishap involved a massacre of twelve people at the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s offices.
2. #AIBRoast
Talking about roasts, All India Bakchod released their roast on Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor in late January 2015 and boy, it was big (no pun intended). With Karan Johar as the roast master, the AIB knockout garnered innumerable views on YouTube before it got involved into many controversies and was eventually taken down from the site. For those who didn’t get an opportunity to watch it, you have no idea what you’ve missed.
3. #TheDress
A dress photo that went viral in February 2015 with over ten million tweets gave us sleepless nights all because of its colours that varied from one eye to another. ‘The dress’ divided the people of the world into two halves, with the first half seeing its colours as white & gold and the other half of the human population perceiving it to be as black & blue. The real colours of the dress are still a mystery to us and we’d be happy to be a part of the much-awaited reality.
4. #BieberRoast
The Comedy Central roast of singer Justin Bieber took place in March 2015 and gave the world a good laugh all at his expense. The roast made headlines while giving birth to one of the biggest Twitter trends of the year involving celebrities like Kevin Hart, Ludacris, Martha Stewart, Shaquille O’Neal among others. We bet none of us missed that!
5. #DadBod
Gone are the days when women used to drool over ripped men with abs and a balanced diet. Spending all those hours at the gym while checking out every chiseled muscle in front of the mirror is just passé. What’s new is the DadBod, appreciation for those extra kilos, which started trending with the hashtag #Dadbod. It was an Internet sensation where women expressed their love for flabby men. The point here to be noted here is that dadbod is NOT about fat men, it’s about those guys who perhaps were really fit once and have been taking it easy for a bit. Afterall, those few slices of pizza with beer never killed anybody!
6. #LoveWins
American Supreme court’s ruling on marriage equality gave the world a new hope and a beautiful reason to celebrate. The hashtag ‘Lovewins’ was a part of millions of tweets across America and around the world. The best part about the social media outburst was the fact that (reportedly) Twitter too added a small rainbow heart next to #LoveWins with every user’s tweet.
7. #ShahidKiShaadi
Yes, that legendary day when the Bollywood heartthrob Shahid Kapoor married Mira Rajput. We bet lots of hearts were broken that day and people flooded the Internet with pictures and wishes for the fabulous couple.
8. #IStandWithAhmed
Ahmed Mohamed is a 14-year-old kid from Texas who built a clock from a pencil case so he could impress his teachers. Little did he know that there was massive trouble coming his way when the teachers called the cops on him. The authorities at the Irving High School thought that the 14 year-old made a ‘hoax bomb’ and got it to school. Ahmed was handcuffed and taken to the police station where he was denied the right to make a call to his parents and was questioned without his attorney’s presence. The issue got so out of control that some big, we mean, BIG names came to Ahmed’s rescue. President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg amongst others made a genuine effort for his case!
9. #DilwaleTagline
Red Chillies Entertainment asked people on Twitter to come up with a tagline back in September for their upcoming movie Dilwale and the results made us literally want to break the Internet.
10. #PrayForParis
The evening of 13th November will always be remembered as one of the most dreaded days of 2015. The series of coordinated terrorist attacks that took place in France did not just include hostage-taking but mass shootings and suicide bombings as well. Many innocent people suffered the darkness of terrorism for reasons everyone is trying to fathom. People were killed, faith was shattered and around midnight emerged the ‘Peace For Paris’ symbol sending out a strong message to the heartless that the world is united and will fight back.
11. #ISIS
The Islamic state of Iraq and Syria reportedly claimed responsibility for the recent tragedy that occurred in Paris and left the world flabbergasted. For the same reason and many more, the Islamic militant group (ISIS) was a part of the trending tweets on the social networking site.
12. #FlyToFreedom
On The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, Indian celebrities Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol were seen helping CNN spread awareness about modern slavery by shooting paper planes with a message written on them followed by a hashtag that read ‘Fly to Freedom’. CNN’s Freedom project is a humanitarian news media campaign that seeks to educate and advocate against modern slavery. The Diwale team too came together in support of the cause urging everyone to join the movement.
13. #LastMessageReceived
A hashtag full of heartbreaking posts from users that submitted the last message they received from their loved ones (not just their partners) started trending in November 2015. Boy oh boy, this is something you don’t encounter every day.
If we’ve missed out on any Top Twitter trends of 2015 , do let us know in the comments section below.
