YouTube was the top Twitter conversation topic in the business category in early January 2010, followed by Facebook, and Google, according to a study from Sysomos.
The surge of YouTube-related conversations on Twitter was ignited by news of viewership data from The Nieslen Company, which reported that 105.5 million unique US visitors to YouTube in December watched a total of 6.4 billion videos on the site.
Below, other findings from the Sysomos study, which examined more than 100 million tweets sent during the first two weeks of January, across six categories: business, miscellaneous entities, people, location, film, and sports.
Miscellaneous Entities. iTunes was a dominant theme on Twitter in January, likely because of the intense speculation that the much-anticipated Apple iPad might have the same impact on books that iTunes has had on the music industry, according to Sysomos.
The Xbox attracted the second-most attention in the category, followed by American Idol. WordPress was fourth after it unveiled a fairly significant update to its popular blogging platform, followed by the iPhone OS, which also benefited the iPad buzz.
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People. Barack Obama was the person most talked about on Twitter amid growing criticism of his presidency, followed by Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson. Pat Robertson moved to the fifth spot after he claimed the earthquake in Haiti was a result of a "pact with the devil" made by Haitian rebels when it was a French colony.
Location. Haiti was the location most talked about on Twitter as a result of the Jan. 12 earthquake. The US, China, Texas, and Canada followed, in that order.
Film. The most talked about film on Twitter was the 3D movie Avatar, which has attracted worldwide ticket sales of more than $1.85-billion, making it the highest-grossing movie of all time. Sherlock Holmes attracted the second-most attention, followed by Star Wars, Daybreakers, and Star Trek.
Sports. The NFL's Cincinnati Bengals generated the most sports conversation on Twitter following the death of wide receiver Chris Henry, who died after falling out of the back of his fiancée's pick-up truck. The Seattle Seahawks were second, followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks, and the Cleveland Browns.
About the data: Findings are based on the analysis of over 100 million tweets collected by Sysomos, a provider of social media analytics, from Jan. 1 to Jan. 15, 2010.
