What a year it’s been for Twitter, eh? Not only has the micro-blogging service seen an increased usage of, err, a gazillion percent*, the word Twitter has now been declared the most popular word in the English language for 2009.
The Global Language Monitor uses its incredibly complicated sounding Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) – an algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the web – to compile its annual list and, this year, Twitter beat Obama, H1N1, stimulus and vampire to the top spot.
GLM President, Paul Payack said: “In a year dominated by world-shaking political events, a pandemic, the after effects of a financial tsunami and the death of a revered pop icon, the word Twitter stands above all the other words. Twitter represents a new form of social interaction, where all communication is reduced to 140 characters.”
Twitter was also the second most popular search term of 2009 on Microsoft’s Bing – behind Michael Jackson.
The list, although produced a little early in our opinion as it’s still only November, highlights what a mainstream term Twitter has become. It’s everywhere and there’s no escaping it. Who knows what lays in store for Twitter in 2010? Maybe it might even make some money.
*A gazillion percent may be a slight exaggeration.
