#YearOnTwitter: Top political moments of 2014

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Between in-jokes, movements and events, Twitter has has a very busy political year in 2014.

Among the leading U.S. government and political trends on the popular micro-blogging platform: #Ebola, Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama’s #TanSuit.

On Wednesday, Twitter released some of the most influential digital moments over the past 12 months:

#WelcomeToTwitter

On February 4, for his one-year anniversary as Secretary of State, John Kerry renewed his Twitter account – becoming the first U.S. Secretary of State with an active Twitter account while in office. After that, Kerry re-tweeted global issues such as #BringBackourGirls, ISIL, and Ukraine.

In June, the Central Intelligence Agency joined Twitter with its inaugural Tweet, which received more than 300K re-tweets. Later, @CIA live­-tweeted the “reel” vs. “real” story of the #Argo mission on the 35th anniversary.

 

#BringBackOurGirls

This year, #BringBackOurGirls received 4.5 million mentions on Twitter, where @FLOTUS’ Tweet became her most re-tweeted post, topping 9 million impressions and 4 million embedded impressions.

 

#ISIS

Five million tweets talked about either #ISIS or #ISIL in 2014, as the Pentagon’s Press Secretary used Twitter in August to announce a military action – another first for social media.

 

#Ebola

As the global health story developed this year, more than 4 million Tweets mentioned #Ebola. The Centers for Disease Control also hosted a series of Twitter #CDCchat information events in August and October. On October 15, @WhiteHouse tweeted facts about Ebola, which became its most shared tweet of the year.

 

#TanSuit

Obama’s choice to wear a tan suit for an August press conference generated enough buzz for 50K Tweets, which included few noteworthy responses:

 

@Madeleine

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright put the smackdown to talk show host Conan O’Brien, by tweeting her Halloween costume.

 

#Sports

Elected officials – both current and former — took to Twitter to root for favorite teams, but not without a few political jabs. Hillary Clinton’s Superbowl Tweet during was her most re-tweeted at 55k. Vice President Joe Biden and Condoleeza Rice displayed custom World Cup jerseys, while Obama used Vine to support Team USA during the Winter Olympics. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s tweeted jab at Chicago’s quarterback brought him the most re-tweets this year.

 

@NASA

Twitter feeds around the world filled with spectacular images and Vines from NASA astronauts like Reid Wiseman. His first Vine from space has nearly 10 million loops.

Also in 2014, NASA’s @MarsCurisosity rover Tweeted congratulations to ISRO’s @MarsOrbiter for its successful landing on the surface of the Red Planet.

 

POLITICO has provided a full list of Twitter’s top political moments for 2014 here.

Phil Ammann is a St. Petersburg-based journalist and blogger. With more than three decades of writing, editing and management experience, Phil produced material for both print and online, in addition to founding HRNewsDaily.com. His broad range includes covering news, local government and culture reviews for Patch.com, technical articles and profiles for BetterRVing Magazine and advice columns for a metaphysical website, among others. Phil has served as a contributor and production manager for SaintPetersBlog since 2013. He lives in St. Pete with his wife, visual artist Margaret Juul and can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @PhilAmmann.