President Obama and Justin Bieber Hold The Golden Tweets

As 2012 dwindles down to its final weeks, the folks over at Twitter have decided to compile a collection of the social network’s most memorable moments. From events that have broken Twitter statistics to tweets that have generated the most retweets ever, Twitter has it all outlined on its official website.

The top two individual tweets of the year come from none other than President Barack Obama and pop music sensation Justin Bieber. After President Obama won this year’s presidential election against Republican candidate Mitt Romney, he tweeted "Four more years" to commemorate his second term. Within hours, this victorious tweet was retweeted more than any other tweet in Twitter’s history, sent by people in more than 200 countries around the world.

The second most retweeted message of 2012 comes from Justin Bieber, who sent a tweet to honor the memory of a fan that passed away at the age of six due to a rare form of brain cancer. "RIP Avalanna. i love you," the tweet read. Avalanna Routh was a big fan of Bieber’s music, and the 18-year-old pop star spent time with her during her illness.

When she passed away in September, Bieber sent the heartwarming tweet that was repeated by legions of his followers. As for events that generated the most conversation in the 140 character social media space, the 2012 Summer Olympics came out on top. The 16-day-long London games generated 150 million tweets, with the closing ceremony by the Spice Girls accounting for more than 116,000 tweets per minute. The year’s second largest Twitter conversation occurred during the 2012 presidential election, and the third was during the MTV Video Music Awards.

Beyond that, the Super Bowl, Euro 2012 and Hurricane Sandy sparked massive Twitter activity over the past year. In addition to tracking the most prominent trending topics and tweets, Twitter also paid tribute to moments that were historically captured through the social network. For example, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (@NASAJPL) live-tweeted the Curiosity rover’s descent to Mars.

The International Space Station (ISS) also live tweeted images of Hurricane Sandy as she made her way up the East Coast of the United States. Perhaps one of the most iconic and recognizable part of Twitter culture is its worldwide trending topics section, and the website was sure to include this in its 2012 recap. From sports to movies to food, Twitter tracked down the biggest trends from 2012.

The number one trend in politics over the past year was #tcot, an acronym that stands for Top Conservatives on Twitter. For sports, the number one hashtagged term was #nfl. But, most importantly, Twitter gives users the chance to analyze their own year on the social network. Click on the "Your year on Twitter" tab to see an infographic highlighting your golden tweets and most used hashtags.

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