It's that time of year again. When people take a moment out of their insanely busy holiday planning to reflect on the year behind them. Look back on the things that made them happy; the weekend getaways, family birthdays, morning hikes through the woods. Have you forgotten what your 2017 looked like? Have no fear; all you have to do is find your Year In Review on Facebook and you'll be able to take a winding trip down memory lane in no time.
Facebook launched it's annual Year In Review on Wednesday. The Year In Review has become popular with Facebook users; its a personalized video that shares all of your most memorable moments of the last 12 months. Facebook users can edit the short video if they choose, and share it with friends and followers. If you haven't seen your Year In Review pop up in your news feed just yet, you can access it by visiting facebook.com/yearinreview. Facebook allows users to preview their Year In Review and edit, which is great if you've made any changes in your life over the past year. Like having gone through a job change or break-up... nobody needs that reminder popping up in their Year In Review, right?
While hopefully your Year In Review was chock full of beautiful sunsets, smiling selfies, friends and family, it doesn't look as though Facebook's official Year In Review was all sunshine and roses. When the social media sharing giant was researching the most talked about events of 2017, the list looked pretty dismal, apart from a few notable exceptions.
International Women's Day, which fell on March 8, was the single most discussed event of 2017, according to Facebook. In 2017, International Women's Day was also marked by a worldwide initiative, "A Day Without A Woman" strike, which found women rising up against sexism by staying away from work, wearing red, and taking to the streets to protest gender inequality. In that same vein, Facebook also announced that the single most attended event was the Women's March in Washington D.C. to protest the newly sworn-in President Trump in January; more than 500,000 people checked in on Facebook at the Women's March in D.C., a movement that was initially sparked on Facebook.
International Women's Day actually beat out Super Bowl 51 as the most talked about event of 2017.
After International Women's Day and Super Bowl 51, the most discussed events of the year were by and large tragedies. The shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1 that saw 58 people killed and hundreds more injured, an earthquake in central Mexico in September that killed more than 200 people, Hurricane Harvey in Texas, and the shooting at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, United Kingdom, were all discussed frequently on Facebook.
But there is a positive light at the end of that tunnel. Facebook users were discussing these tragedies beause they were sending aid to victims. According to Facebook Vice President of Social Good Naomi Glett, the earthquake in Mexico:
...drove the highest number of total interactions within Crisis Response on Facebook of the year, with millions of people marking themselves safe, offering help to their community or donating to the cause.
The Facebook community raised $20 million in relief for the victims of Hurricane Harvey, and 80 million people watched the live broadcast of the One Love Manchester benefit concert to support victims of the Manchester terrorist attack.
So yes, 2017 was a difficult year. A year of challenge and tragedy. But it was also a year defined by people coming together, rising up, and supporting each other.
Not such a bad Year In Review after all.
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