Each week Olytico tracks the trending Twitter topics in Ireland. We specialise in social media listening and analysis, helping our clients make well-informed, performance-driven decisions based on Olytico insights.
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The Top 10 Twitter Trends in Ireland from last week (15th – 21st August 2016) are summarised below.
The 2016 Rio Olympics came to a close on Sunday night but it wasn’t without its dramas. Amidst rumours of fixing in the boxing, Irish Olympic administration upheaval, grave disappointment and glorious exultation there was plenty to talk about in the last week.
1. Olympic Highs: #AnnaliseMurphy, Thomas Barr, Natayla Coyle, Oliver Dingley
On the bright-side of the Rio Olympics there were plenty of fantastic performances by Irish Olympians last week and even a medal as Annalise Murphy won silver in the Laser Radial Sailing after a grueling 10 days of racing.
Good girl yourself!
They'll all be looking for boats for Christmas now. #annalisemurphy #RioOlympics2016— Irish Mammies (@irishmammies) August 16, 2016
Other top performances that trended on Twitter included: the 7th placing of Natayla Coyle in the modern pentathlon; the outstanding 4th placing of Thomas Barr in the 400m hurdles; and Ireland’s first ever diving top 10 placing with Oliver Dingley’s 8th in the 3m springboard.
7th for Natalya Coyle in the Modern Pentathlon. What a performance. #Royal #Lordy
— John Duggan (@JohnDugganSport) August 19, 2016
Smidge of an unexpected man-crush on @TomBarr247 these past 2 days… https://t.co/Agbtr4UEU1
— ☃️🦃Paul Anthony Ward 🎄 (@PaulAnthonyWard) August 18, 2016
Brilliant. Encore anyone? pic.twitter.com/nD82ASONSP
— Yvonne Judge (@yvonnejudge) August 15, 2016
2. Olympic Lows: #MichaelConlon, #ConlonRobbed, Katie Taylor, Heavy Weight Boxing
The disappointment in the boxing was a hot topic last week with the defeat of London Olympic gold medalist Katie Taylor to Finnish veteran Mira Potkonen by countback in the lightweight quarter-finals.
Corrupt #RioOlympics2016
I've had enough of your so-called #Rio2016#Boxing #Ireland #katietaylor #MichaelConlon
Daylight Robbery#AIBA 😡— Tom Baldwin (@LegalEagleStar) August 16, 2016
The disappointment continued later in the week when Michael Conlon lost the bantamweight quarter final to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin. The hashtag #conlonrobbed indicates the sentiment of Irish Twitter users on the issue.
Stats favoured @mickconlan11; landed 89 of 365 punches thrown to Nikitin's 75 of 257. Robbed. #Boxing #MichaelConlon pic.twitter.com/0dI0BdKvrq
— Daniel Collins (@DanielCollins85) August 16, 2016
There was an overall scepticism on Twitter about boxing decisions in the Olympics this year as the heavyweight boxing final also trended last week. Russian Evgeny Tishchenko won the heavyweight gold medal at the expense of Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit. The crowd reacted to announcement with loud boos after the judge gave Tishchenko the win on an unanimous points decision when most believed Levit had taken the fight.
The only thing more suspicious that the Russian winning the heavyweight final was his reaction afterwards. #Rio2016
— Nathan Murphy (@nathanmurf) August 15, 2016
3. #PatHickey
Off the track, former president of the Olympic Council of Ireland Pat Hickey caused a media frenzy in Rio when he was arrested by Brazilian police. According to reports, he faces charges of supplying tickets for the purpose of ticket touting, diverting tickets from legitimate use, and false marketing.
#PatHickey trended on Twitter throughout the week, and his name featured in over 10,000 articles across the globe.
Remember the good old days when all we were worried about was mosquitoes? #PatHickey
— Philip Nolan (@philipnolan1) August 17, 2016
They way things are shaping up, 2016 may need a 2 part episode of Reeling In The Years. Unheard of. #PatHickey #Rio2016 #michaelconlan
— Cormac Moore (@CormacComedy) August 17, 2016
4. Two Women Travel
The Two Women Travel Twitter account was set up last week to document the experience of an Irish woman and her friend as they were forced to travel to the UK to have an abortion. They documented their entire journey as they left Dublin airport on Saturday morning until the pair returned home on Sunday evening tweeting Taoiseach Enda Kenny as they went.
The account used the tagline “Two Women, one procedure, 48 hours away from home.”
Still thinking about @TwoWomenTravel series of tweets and the reality it represents for Irish women #twowomentravel https://t.co/4dK4BHtO4t
— Sinéad Gleeson (is offline) (@sineadgleeson) August 22, 2016
Two Women Travel picked up a lot of media coverage internationally as well as in Ireland and received attention from some high profile supporters.
Today, @TwoWomenTravel but you're not on your own in this. So many people are with you. X
— James Corden (@JKCorden) August 20, 2016
5. #Missingtype
Irish Blood Transfusion Service joined blood banks from around the world to launch the #MissingType campaign to encourage more people to donate blood. Iconic brands, companies and locations around the world have dropped the letters of the main blood groups A, B and O from their names in support of the campaign. The campaign is seeking to highlight an almost 30% drop in people becoming blood donors compared to a decade ago.
Show your support & help keep A, B and O in circulation. Register to donate at https://t.co/VnhNUyPdp3 #MissingType pic.twitter.com/4d26FWA8Pu
— Iarnród Éireann #StaySafe (@IrishRail) August 18, 2016
6. #MayovTipp, #TippvMayo
Tipperary took on Mayo in their first semi-final appearance in 81 years on Sunday but unfortunately the Premier county did not live up to its name and failed to keep up with the more experienced Mayo team who landed two goals to win the match Mayo 2- 13, Tipperary 0-14.
Mayo will now face either Dublin or Kerry in the All Ireland final.
Black card ultimately the major turning point #putitinthebin #mayovtipp 🗑🗑🗑
— Noel Connors (@NoelieConnors) August 21, 2016
Semi finals are for winning Simple as that. Not a great performance but Through to final. Work to do so in a great position 👍👍👍#mayovtipp
— Conor.mortimer (😷)⚽️ (@Conmort) August 21, 2016
7.#McGregor, #TheNotorious, #TheKingIsBack
Conor McGregor took a majority decision over Nate Diaz in the highly-anticipated UFC 202 mixed martial arts event, which saw Conor McGregor even the score with welterweight nemesis Nate Diaz. The result evened their head-to-head record at 1-1, and teed up a potentially lucrative third fight.
#McGregor 'the King is back!' #UFC202 pic.twitter.com/EzoJxcSbjQ
— Cathal OB (@OriginalCathal) August 21, 2016
8. #LeavingCert, #LeavingCertResults
On Wednesday August 17th 2016 Leaving Certificate results were delivered to over 700 schools and over 47,000 Irish students saw the fruits of their labour. Tweets of support, congratulations and advice were doled out on Twitter for the occasion.
So who has that "pal" who said they failed every exam straight after it, but gets 500 points today. #LeavingCertResults
— Maïa Dunphy (@MaiaDunphy) August 17, 2016
I totally messed up my #LeavingCertResults & had to make some hard decisions. Went the scenic route & ended up getting more opportunities
— Laurie – Light Maven (@choiceIrregular) August 17, 2016
9. #Fleadh2016, Fleadh TV
Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, the most important event in the Irish traditional music calendar returned to Ennis for the first time since 1977. The Irish traditional music festival officially kicked off on Sunday the 14th of August but last weekend the craic really started as thousands descended on Ennis, Co. Clare despite the rain. 6,000 musicians, singers and dancers of all ages competed across 180 competitions for the honour of becoming an All-Ireland Champion.
'Sunshine only brings happiness to those who have never danced in the rain' Beautiful quote from @FleadhTV at #fleadh2016 @TG4TV
— donal scannell (@donalscannell) August 21, 2016
When the rain comes in Ennis we have plenty of archways :) @fleadhcheoil #fleadh2016 @theclareherald pic.twitter.com/yNzxhLyCiK
— Gary Collins Photogr (@GaryPhotogr) August 17, 2016
10. #DublinFashion
The launch of the Dublin Fashion Festival in association with Galaxy took place in Dublin City Hall on Wednesday 17th August. The event gave a sneak peek of the fashion that will be showcased at the festival itself which will take place from September 5th – 11th. Fashionista’s, models, stylists and brands were actively tweeting during and after the event.
Feeling autumnal in this @riverisland #AW16 dress 👗 #DublinFashion pic.twitter.com/ZxkLMkhi6c
— Stephanie O'Quigley (@StephanieOQ) August 17, 2016
If you want to find out more about what trended in Ireland over the last seven days or have any other social media listening requirements, drop Olytico a request at info@olytico.com or click here.