We look back at all things social in 2022
What a year that was. Our Social Media team Talor, Elena and Emma take a look back at 2022 and share the social events of the year.
January
From huge and devastating news stories such as Adele cancelling her Las Vegas residency, (well, devastating for some), to the ever-looming Sue Gray report hanging over Boris and his pals - January certainly lived up to its usual very cold, long month.
But we’re here to talk about social, so what happened?
Twitter published a report to help brands connect with consumers on the platform by studying interactions from previous years, which you can find here.
An ironic publication when in only a few short months sh*t would hit the fan and Elon Musk would be scaring multiple brands away, but more on that later.
February
There’s news of talks between Ukraine and Russia about the ongoing war, with hopes not being high of a peaceful resolution and the U.K. is being reminded of the ever growing energy crisis with bills set to skyrocket.
So, not a positive month in the news sphere (is it ever?), but what happened in social?
Instagram announced they were getting rid of IGTV, yes, we forgot about that too…remember the confusion between Reels and IGTV - what was the point of both? One was long form, the other short form? Did anyone actually use IGTV?
Anyway, it’s gone now.
March
Party Gate continues to ensue, with Boris Johnson denying everything and the MET handing out at least 20 penalty notices to people who attended social gatherings at No.10.
However on social…
Facebook launches Facebook Reels due to the intimidation coming from TikTok, personally, I think they are…awful and aren’t ingrained in this particular platform very well (and this is in November), so we can see what happens.
April
It’s April 11th, and there’s only one thing everyone is talking about Depp vs. Heard. No matter what your opinions were, they were passionate, and all eyes were glued to screens. Who knew we could all become body language experts in such a short period of time?
Anyway…
It officially happened, Elon bought Twitter, Social Media Managers and advertisers across the world collectively sobbed as we all knew something bad was about to happen… and I’ll tell you now readers - it certainly did.
May
Conversation of the Depp vs. Heard trail heated up as a clip from the trial was one of the most trending sounds on TikTok, signalling a new way Gen Z consume news. This NY Time article gives a breakdown of the online frenzy, a must-read for anyone interested in Gen-Z.
On a lighter note, Ukraine won Eurovision as the international song competition successfully ushered in a more social media focused era with the contest mentioned more than events such as the Champions League final.
June
June was all about entertainment. You couldn’t open up a social media app without seeing a Stranger Things related meme, gif or trending song.
Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill that was featured in the series was used over 2 million times on TikTok, hit Harry Styles off the number 1 spot and was the most trending throwback song on Spotify for the whole year.
The Netflix show basically owned online conversation in June with content geared towards Gen-Z from TikTok trends, twitch streams and my millennial fave Twitter memes.
There were so many TikToks created that someone has created a one hour long compilation on YouTube of Stranger Things TikTok… if you are so inclined to watch here it is.
July
July was a big month. England’s Women's Football team won the European Championships, Nasa's new $10bn space telescope showed incredibly detailed pictures of our universe, scorching temperatures landed across the UK and last but not least Boris Johnson announced his resignation as Prime Minister…
Most importantly, however, Queen B came back, and the arrival of her latest album Renaissance sent everyone on social media wild!
One notable difference in the promotion of her album is how important TikTok was. 4.4 million followers, 4.8 million likes and 689.4 million views on the #CuffItChallenge alone with no music videos, only social media and user-generated content. Truly Queen behaviour.
August
My favourite social media trend of the year has to be Corn Boy. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me introduce you to TikTok Channel Recess Therapy, where presenter Julian Shapiro-Barnum asks kids for advice on life's big questions.
Audio from the video of Corn Boy, A.K.A Tariq, talking about his love for the grain went viral on TikTok. What really put the wheel in motion for the trend to take over was a remix of the audio by Schmoyoho, a music group behind several viral memes, that turned it into an incredibly catchy song.
Here are some of my top uses of the audio by @Pokemonmaster, the TikTok Make-up community, and cute cat owners. We stan wholesome social media trends.
September
September started off with the ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ drama between Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde and Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival keeping us all on the edge of our (Twitter) seats. Needless to say, the memes came pouring out of that situation in a matter of days…
On a more serious note, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on September 7th meant that the vast majority of advertisers and brand across the country suspended some or all advertising temporarily - including social media ads and scheduled organic content, as a mark of respect for the sovereign.
October
Spooky season on social media was largely celebrated with this viral meme - the Spirit Halloween costume. From your iced coffee addition to the East London sommelier, we saw some pretty niche ones out there… But this, this has to be our favourite ✨
The hottest TikTok trend of the month was *obviously* sparked by Taylor Swift’s new album, particularly the record-breaking song Anti-Hero. The TikTok audio currently records more than 313.8K videos and is still counting.
Alas, as far as social media is concerned, in October the real winner was… the lettuce. More specifically, a 60p iceberg lettuce in a blonde wig who won a social media competition after its shelf-life outlasted Liz Truss’ career as prime minister.
November
The Addams Family spinoff, Wednesday, was released on Netflix surpassing Stranger Things’s record as the platform’s most-watched title ever in a single week. Fans on TikTok revamped Lady Gaga's 2011 song "Bloody Mary" by editing it over a groovy dance sequence from Jenna Ortega’s performance on the Netflix show. The audio became so viral that even the Queen of Pop herself recreated the trend in an iconic TikTok of her own.
During Apple’s AppStore Awards 2022, a new exciting social media app called BeReal was crowned ‘iPhone app of the year’. Whether or not the app is here to stay is still a mystery, but other social media apps have already started copying BeReal’s features, such as TikTok’s TikTok Now and Instagram’s Dual Camera feature.
Source: BeReal
Dec
In December we saw the return of Spotify’s annual ‘Spotify Wrapped’, which came back better than ever. And so did the memes.
Source: Spotify
Now tell me… who was your most listened artist of 2022, and why was it Taylor Swift? 😉💖
December’s TikTok trends include this Alexis Rose audio from Schitt’s Creek and Mariah Carey squealing in high octave “It’s TIIIIIIIIME!” - use it to share something you’re looking forward to.
And that’s a wrap for 2022 folks! Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year with a whole new series of social media updates 🎉
