#RepealThe8th storms past #Ophelia in top Irish Twitter trends of 2017

5 Dec 2017

‘Repeal the 8th’ march in Dublin in March 2017. Image: Remizov/Shutterstock

So, all #ThisHappened on Twitter in Ireland during 2017.

Twitter has revealed the most trending tweets in Ireland during 2017, with #RepealThe8th sweeping past even Hurricane #Ophelia.

The social media platform revealed that the most tweeted news subject in Ireland was #RepealThe8th followed by #Brexit, #Ophelia, #IrishWater and the #TuamBabies controversy.

The storm-whipped Irish love a cup of tea and some telly to whinge about most evenings and so, #vinb (Tonight with Vincent Browne) was the most tweeted about TV programme, followed by #Eurovision, #rtept (Prime Time) , #cbb (Celebrity Big Brother) and the #latelateshow.

Sports topics that topped the Irish public conversation were: #RealMadrid, #MUFC, #COYBIG, #LFC and #MayoGAA while the most tweeted about sporting events of the year were: #WRWC2017, #MayweatherMcGregor, #AllIrelandFinal, #IREvENG and #Superbowl.

Unsurprisingly, Conor McGregor (aka @TheNotoriousMMA) was the most tweeted sports star handle of the year followed by @WayneRooney, @Carra23, @GaryLineker and @FlyodMayweather.

From an international news perspective, #Trump continued to trump everyone else with his bizarre antics and tweets followed by #Syria, #GE2017, the tragedy in #Manchester and #Resist.

The most shared tweets of 2017

The true meaning of sport:

While the nation was battening down the hatches for Hurricane Ophelia, humour reigned:

The moment Irish sports fans celebrated a memorable win over rival England in rugby:

The funniest Irish video of the year was created when Tadhg Fleming and his dad went viral trying to catch a bat:

And let’s not forget how Justine Stafford stole the show on Twitter with one of the most retweeted Irish tweets of the year, thanks to a hilarious lyrical pun:

Conor McGregor had an eventful 2017 as well as one of the most retweeted tweets of the year:

Carter Wilkerson’s attempt to win a lifetime supply of chicken nuggets from American restaurant chain Wendy’s was retweeted an astonishing 3.6m times in 2017. This made it the most retweeted tweet of all time, pushing Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie at the 2014 Oscars into second place.

In August, former US president Barack Obama’s heartfelt call for tolerance and equality was the most liked tweet of 2017 on Twitter, and is now the most liked tweet of all time, attracting more than 4.5m likes.

‘Repeal the 8th’ march in Dublin in March 2017. Image: Remizov/Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com