To make the understatement of the year, 2020 has been quite the year. And while some companies have decided not to look back on the last twelve months (YouTube's annual Rewind video has been shelved), others are feeling a little reflective. Reddit has just revealed its 2020 Year in Review, and the results perfectly capture a most unusual year.
Along with a charming video (below), the company shared an in-depth blog post revealing several stats from 2020, from the most-up-voted posts to the most-discussed recipes. If you're fancy making your own roundup video, our best laptops for video editing have you covered.
"In a year marked by life-changing, world-shifting and often tumultuous events," the blog post begins, "Reddit users came together in powerful ways". The three most popular topics of the year were r/coronavirus, r/blacklivesmatter (which saw a staggering 9972.4% increase in activity) and, thanks the sheer amount of cancellations and postponements, r/weddingplanning.
While the top three topics are pretty unsurprising, some of the stats in the roundup offer some fun (and often unexpected) insights into what made the internet tick in 2020. The most up-voted post of the year came from the human meme himself, Rick Astley, who shared an 80s photograph discovered during lockdown:
I’ve found a few funny memories during lockdown. This is from my 1st tour in 89, backstage in Vegas. from r/pics
It's perhaps telling that the most popular post (with 406k upvotes) is a nostalgic photo from the 1980s – suggesting that this year more than any other, internet users have found themselves for simpler times. Indeed, we've seen no shortage of retro comebacks in 2020, from Twitter going wild for translucent tech to the return of Instagram's original app icon.
Meanwhile, the blog post is full of intriguing stats that reveal just how much self-isolation and lockdown took over our lives this year. Some of the most notable activity increases belonged to r/homegym (612%), r/sourdough (379%) and mentions of "cut my own hair" (121.7%).
And judging by the comments on YouTube, Reddit's video roundup is a more than worthy replacement for YouTube's Rewind. "We get this instead of youtube rewind and i'm not mad at it," one user comments, while another adds, "YouTube Rewind but it's made by Reddit and actually good."
As Giphy's top 25 GIFs of the year show, there'll always be room for humour online, even during dark times. But if you're ready to look ahead to next year (and we don't blame you), check out these 8 surprising design trends for 2021.
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