The Best and Worst Media From 2020!

This month we have been looking back at the most popular and most influential media of last year and discussing what they had to say about relationships. For this our last week, we are going to look at the biggest trends, hottest hashtags and viral videos from the largest source of media content, the internet!

2020 was a whirlwind year and the internet was there to catalog every moment of it!

So, let’s start with TikTok. From viral dances, to time lapse illusions, home cooking and life hacks to I don’t even know what, TikTok was huge! To me, it looks a lot like Vine, and Vine was just YouTube in 6 seconds.

One thing that did stand out to me was how goofy so many of the videos were. At first, it seems very much like an escapist type of entertainment where you’re simply trying to find or do something to pass the boredom. I think, when you look at the platform a little bit deeper, it does inherently allow its users to connect with people with shared interest like music or food, but rather than just watching someone else perform, it invites the users to join in on the fun and create their own videos to share. That is what I think TikTok, has over Vine, it’s greatest achievement is that it has been able to digitally connect people and help them feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves, eve. If it’s just a silly dance video. Now, sticking with the theme of social media, what would you guess was the number one hashtag of 2020?

#Love! Instagood was second followed by photooftheday, fashion, beautiful and art. To me, this was very interesting considering everything that happened last year. Between the pandemic, the protests, the elections and everything else that 2020 kept hitting us with, Love was still the highest trending word on instagram.

While Instagram and TikTok seemed to be platforms people used to escape the troubles of the world around them, YouTube and Twitter seemed to be the places that people used to talk about it all.

The year started off with a shock as we all mourned the tragic passing of one of the NBA’s all-time greats, Kobe Bryant, as well has his daughter Gianna. The second most liked tweet of the year came from the account of Barrack Obama as he expressed his heartfelt condolences towards the Bryant family shortly after the announcement of their helicopter crash in the mountains of Calabasas, CA.

The most retweeted of the year and most liked of all time goes to a tweet which was posted on August 28th, from the account of Chadwick Boseman. The 43 year old actor seemed to just be entering the high point of his acting career multiple starring roles in the last few years, not the least of which was his incredible performance as The MCU’s Black Panther. One of the aspects that made this celebrity death so challenging to process was the fact that Boseman kept his diagnosis and treatment relatively quiet with many of his co-stars and colleagues being unaware of the battle he was fighting. Also, portraying the heroic character, The Black Panther, at a time when our nation was facing racial tensions and unrest that haven’t been seen at these levels in decades, he became an inspiring image of courage, power, character and integrity to not only the black community, but people of all nationalities around the world which was evidenced by the outpouring of loving tributes that followed his passing.

Finally, turning to YouTube, the top trending videos of 2020 were a mixed bag of social commentary, politics, a squirrel obstacle course and a new type of newscast from a familiar face among others.

The number one most watched video was one that subverted a lot of peoples expectations. From the channel, Netflix is a joke, “8:46” was a video of stand-up comedy legend, Dave Chappelle, striking an uncharacteristically somber note as he shared his thoughts on the death of George Floyd. Giving a sobering voice to the fears and frustrations that many in the black community have shared this past year, Chappelle’s video was a biting critique given from a perspective that, while controversial, was received for the most part with respect if not complete agreement from many people on both sides of the social divide.

We’ll close out our 2020 media retrospective with Some Good News, and that’s not a general transition line, that’s the actual name of the YouTube channel started by The Office alumni, John Krasinski, which is dedicated to collecting and sharing just good news and uplifting stories from people all around the world. His very first episode actually ended up capping off YouTubes top list in the number 10 spot and the views of that first video were definitely boosted by a special appearance from his former tv boss, actor Steve Carell. Released at the start of the pandemic lockdowns, Krasinski’s Some Good News seemed to be just the type of uplifting content that helped put a smile on people’s faces and brought people together when we were all staying apart.

Speaking of the office, we will be talking about that show, which was also the number two most streamed show on Netflix last year, with a couple of Office Experts on our first ever LIVE podcast this Thursday (1/28) night at 6pm central time!

Not only will be covering the office, but we’ll be talking about a few of the standouts from all of media last year and taking an in depth look at what they had to say about relationships. We’ll also be having some fun with an Office related challenge game with our guests and our live viewers, with prizes, too.

We are already taking questions that we will be answering live, so be sure to send all of your relationship questions to us in the comments below or at any of our social media pages.

Keep sending your questions into us and we will see you back here with a brand new February series next week. We’ll see you then!