technology

Yesterday Twitter unveiled the top trends of 2012 in the UK. Some of the results are exactly what you'd expect, whilst others are pretty surprising. Here we have the full run down:

Top Ten Trending Issues

1. NHS
2. Syria
3. #Assange
4. Prince Harry
5. Samantha Brick
6. #NHS
7. Afghanistan
8. VAT
9. Leveson
10. Rebekah Brooks

People love to use Twitter to ‘debate' issues (/push their opinion forward). Various issues have dominated the headlines in 2012, often for weeks on end. From the ongoing farce that is the Julian Assange situation, to the challenges to the NHS, to ridiculous articles appearing in the Daily Mail (Samantha Brick we're looking at you).

With Barack Obama's victory today being attributed to women voters, it looks like we still live in a quasi-patriarchal world as far as the alpha male territory of social media is concerned.

In the 2012 US presidential election the traditional ways of campaigning- canvassing, fund-raising and character assassination, played the same part they always have. However, this time the tools were the top social media networks and content optimised for mobile devices.

The Gender Divide

Facebook and Twitter were the top names and weapons of choice for Romney and Obama, with Tumblr also gaining increasing momentum to distribute images which reflected election trends. Tumblr's animated gif images make it the perfect medium to ridicule, as the jokes loop on and on.

However, it seems that very few female voices triumph amongst this onslaught of channels, which serve to accentuate male prowess. To some extent this is true both in the design of many types of new media and the gender of those who are top influencers amongst their peers.

As you may of heard, there is a US election taking place at the moment, with the results just a matter of hours away. Instead of going through opinion polls, repeating tired old quotes and trying to guess who is going to win, we're taking a look at the slightly more light-hearted side of things- how the internet has treated the election campaigns.

Just because Obama and Romney have spent billions of dollars over the course of months on their election campaigns, it doesn't mean everyone is going to take them seriously. Below you can find some of the funniest and weirdest memes that have come out of the last few months of campaigning.

1) Big Bird's Appearance

Things really started to take off once the presidential debates began. With a live audience of millions, any small mistake or odd phrase was quickly picked up on. The biggest thing to come out of the first debate in October was, strangely, Big Bird from Sesame Street.

A PBS (the public TV network) journalist was chairing the debate and Mitt Romney admitted that he would cut the government funding currently given to PBS. The quote that really grabbed everyone's attention was this: "I like PBS, I love Big Bird, but I am not going to keep spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for".

Hurricane Sandy has devastated the East Coast of America this week, leaving flooding, power cuts, fires and fallen trees. As with any big event these days, the internet has been awash with photos, updates and videos from people suffering the storm first-hand.

The storm has taken centre stage on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as thousands of people share their experiences. Here we bring you a look at some of the most shocking, terrifying and amazing videos and photos to have appeared online. 

TVs are getting better and better so quickly now. Just think, it wasn't so long ago that flat screen TVs were pretty rare and cost A LOT of money. Now you can get huge flat screen, HD, 3D televisions for not all that much.

The technology company LG have found a novel way to advertise their new TV, by convincing people that what they're are seeing is real life. They think that their TVs give the most 'real' picture ever and to prove it they set up a prank on the unsuspecting public. They set up their TVs on the floor of a public lift to then create a terrifying effect whenever anyone entered the lift. 

Well that's what they want you to believe, but YouTube users are a suspicious bunch and reckon it is all a fake. Watch the video above and see what you think.