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.
There’s something vaguely ironic about people using the non-realtime Google to search for Twitter. And how hard is it to type in Twitter.com? It’s not like people are looking for pictures of Biz Stone when they search for Twitter, like they do when they Google Britney.