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Brian O'Driscoll, an episode of Love/Hate and the All Ireland football semi-final got the country tweeting in 2014, according to the annual "Year on Twitter" roundup.
The company delves into its data every year to find the most popular events, trends and Tweets from Ireland and around the world.
Sorry to open old wounds, but #GarthBrooks was one of the year’s notable hashtags, along with the #WorldCup.
Phew! Worked out ok! Thanks for all the messages of support. Unreal feeling. Not easy taking this off for last time pic.twitter.com/Sq89BdLOnw
— Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) March 15, 2014Flying high with the team after my 4th Major victory!!! NYC here we come!! Thanks for all the support and well wishes pic.twitter.com/zK1q8xnwA8
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) August 11, 2014We're looking for the Queen's Young Leaders. #TheSearchIsOn
http://t.co/VXygkYuUkS pic.twitter.com/CRvRDHxwGt
— Queens Young Leaders (@QueensLeaders) July 9, 2014AHA! pic.twitter.com/iK5hbfm7Hr
— Lukas-Podolski.com (@Podolski10) July 13, 2014The data has spoken, and it shows Ireland is a nation of TV and sports addicts. The Irish event that created the biggest spike in Twitter traffic in 2014 was a particularly gruesome episode of Love/Hate, which aired on October 26th.
Shocked Twitter users took to the platform to discuss the episode, which saw a child shot, a character pushed off a roof, and another character slitting someone’s throat.
The second highest Twitter spike was during the All Ireland football semi-final. The suspenseful match between Kerry and Mayo on August 24th featured a last minute point from Kerry to take the match to a replay.
Rugby fans took to Twitter on March 15th to celebrate Ireland's Six Nations win when it defeated France. Revellers sent more than 210,000 Tweets celebrating the victory.
The same day, rugby star Brian O’Driscoll called time on his career, while fans Tweeted their emotional farewells.
O’Driscoll tweeted a photo of the last time he hung up his number 13 jersey and his boots. It was retweeted over 39,000 times. As for the rest of the world, Ellen DeGeneres’s selfie at the Oscars was retweeted over three million times, making it the most shared message ever on the platform.
In fact, the word “selfie” was mentioned over 92 million times on Twitter in 2014, 500 per cent more than in 2013 when it was the Oxford Dictionaries word of the year.
Rory McIlroy’s picture of the winning Ryder Cup team on a plane was one of the most memorable selfies of 2014. There’s a first for everything. Princes William and Harry tweeted their first selfie from the launch of the Queen’s Young Leader awards at Buckingham Palace in July.
Also popular: Lukas Podolski’s exuberant selfies after the German team’s World Cup win.
The full Twitter #YearInReview can be found at 2014.twitter.com.