Gay Byrne and Brexit: What Ireland talked about most on Facebook

Conor McGregor and Maura Higgins the most popular Instagram accounts

Gay Byrne on stage for his last Late Late Show after 37 years. Photograph: David Sleator/The Irish Times.
Gay Byrne on stage for his last Late Late Show after 37 years. Photograph: David Sleator/The Irish Times.

From the predictable - Brexit and the Game of Thrones finale - to the less predictable - Fortnite World Cup and Lady Gaga at the Oscars - Facebook has just released its most talked about topics of 2019.

It is the time of year for round-ups and look-backs and the social media giant wastes no time examining its own platforms to capture the 2019 zeitgeist.

It does so, it says, in an anonymised and aggregated way to identify topics and moments that were unique to the year passed.

The 'Year in Review' breaks down the most talked about Facebook topics by month, and the most followed accounts and hashtags on Instagram. They were:

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Facebook

January: Munster rugby

February: Lady Gaga performance at the Oscars

March: Christchurch mosque attack

April: Notre Dame Paris fire

May: Game of Thrones finale

June: US President Donald Trump's visit to Ireland

July: Fortnite Battle Royale at the Fortnite World Cup 2019

August: Amazon forest fires

September: Electric Picnic

October: Brexit

November: Gay Byrne

Instagram

Hashtags

Irish interiors

Mrs Hinch

Wild Atlantic Way

Love

Love Island

Accounts

Conor McGregor

Seán McLoughlin

Maura Higgins

Rory McIlroy

Dee Devlin