It's December 21, 2012, so you know what that means. The End Of The World is nigh, at least according to the ancient Mayans. But where the Mayans communicated via pictograms carved in rocks, today's global conversation is more generally carried out on the open forum that is Twitter. And so it is that Twitter is awash today with hashtags like #RepentYeSinners, #TheEndIsNigh, #OhHellTheVolcanoIsExploding, or #LetsAllJustHaveSex (DM me! Kidding!) Here's a closer look at what is on the minds of citizens around the world, as the world may or may not come to an end today.
New Zealand
Twitter's top trends in New Zealand, one of the first large nations to hit December 21, have #followmeskip as number one, and Merry Christmas as number two. #Mayan lands in third place, and #theendoftheworld is in 9th place, well below #XFactorTV3 and just after #laugh. Oh, that Kiwi sense of humor!
News site DTN New Zealand even led with a tweet that noted
DTN New Zealand: Paul Casserly: Armageddon makes good TV: It's the end of the world, pass the popcorn. I remembe... bit.ly/UZaTfd
— DTN New Zealand (@DTNNewZealand) December 17, 2012
France
The ever stoical French are busy tweeting about #FFBack, Audrey Pulvar, Inrocks in that order of excitement. Gangnam Style and Sarkozy even come in above Maya and #findumonde.
One Southern French village, on the other hand, is being tweeted about a whole bunch:
Bugarach, le buzz de la fin du monde lanouvellerepublique.fr/France-Monde/A…
— Thierry PICARD (@Thierry_AlaNR) December 15, 2012
Bugarach was said to be the only place that would survive the apocalypse. Mais...non. All the rest of France did too.
Australia
The Aussies are busiest tweeting about #JaydenTo44k... a push to get more followers for a member of boy band The Collective, an entrant in the local X Factor. And even a match by the Western Sydney Wanderers Football club, #wswvreds, was more important than the end of all things.
#jaydento44k retweet and I will follow :) and if I reach it before 12 I'll go on a follow spree! GO
— Jayden Sierra(@JaydenSierra) December 21, 2012
U.K.
The Brits too are most concerned with #followmeskip, followed by #FearnesXmasParty (a music gig thrown on air by popular radio DJ Fearne Cotton) and #Mayan is only the third most trending topic, with #endoftheworld in fifth place after Merry Christmas.
Journalist Heidi N. Moore pointed out that the live blog of the end of the world, provided by U.K. newspaper The Guardian is a perfect example of "service journalism."
Service journalism RT @nprinskeep: Also we are pleased to note the @guardian is live-blogging the end of the world. bit.ly/12DNaYL
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) December 21, 2012
USA
And in America everyone's busy tweeting about #IllNeverRegretMeeting and...(well, what a surprise!)... #Endoftheworldconfessions and #mayans, with #apocalypse in ninth place. The moment of silence for the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting comes in in fourth place among the trends.
Even the Library of Congress felt it had to comment on the apocalypse phenomenon
Trending: The End of the World: (The Maya calendar has generated a lot of buzz about the impending end of the wo... 1.usa.gov/Ypgxyt
— Library of Congress (@librarycongress) December 20, 2012
And now we rally have to ask: Facing the impending doom of the planet, what would your final tweet be about?
[Image: Flickr user atoach ]
