#MarchMadness

#MarchMadness Podcast

#HappyBirthdayJustinBieber

On March 1st, Justin Beiber (@justinbieber) turned 18. If you're on Twitter, you know that can only mean one thing. He's "Beliebers" would be sure to make his birthday a trending topic. Needless to say that his 18+ million followers, in addition to all the people who don't like him, who tweeted about everyone else tweeting about him, made this a reality.

Fans were tweeting all day wish Justin a happy birthday. He replied to a few and retweeted a bunch, including fellow celebrities:
@Timbaland said: @justinbieber remember that 2day many #beliebers are glad you were born. #happybdayjustinbieber

@Ludacris said: Happy 18th bday to my Lil homie @justinbieber today

@UsherRaymondIV said: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JB!!! Enjoy your day @justinbieber and drive slow homie!! URIV

Justin retweeted a number of fans as well.

He tweeted to thank his fans but also to inspire change. He said : please for my birthday help me get people in need clean drinking water.thanks #makeachange - http://www.charitywater.org/justinbieber/

Now, we all knwo that Bieber has fans from all around the world. His birthday tweets not only made him a trending topic the United States but it was also trending around the world! With the difference in time zones, he was trending for longer that his usually 24 hour celebration of a "normal" birthday.

#THON12

THON, Penn State’s IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world and was the talk of campus from February 17-19. Not only was this the topic on conversation here in Happy Valley, but, with the help of Twitter, it was talked about around the world.

During this year’s dance marathon, tweets related to the event were hashtaged with #THON12.

Khloe Kardashian (@KhloeKardashian) tweeted about the event, encouraging her followers of over 6 million to donate to the cause.

Other celebrities to tweet #THON12 were Gulianna Rancic (@GuliannaRancic), Jim Gardner (@Jim_Gardner), and Wiz Khalifa (@RealWizKhalifa).

Other local “celebrities” were tweeting as well like Jay Paterno (@JayPaterno), who spoke and his brother Scott (@ScottPaterno). Jay Paterno said: Family Hour @THON is moving, powerful & inspirational. Thanks to the families for sharing their stories. #THON12 #FTK

Of course the THON twitter (@THON) was tweeting and retweeting all weekend long. There were keeping all their followers up to date on all the performances and happening they were missing at the Bryce Jordan Center. They would tweet at the performers, like Go Go Gadget (@GoGoGadgetBand) and YouTube Sensation Kait Weston (@KaitWeston) so followers can be linked to their twitter accounts if they liked what thye heard. When the total was revealed, @THON tweeted it immediately for the ones following from their phones or computers so they could know what a success this year has been for all the students involved and also the amount of impact this cause can bring in. That tweet was retweeted and favorite over 50 times!

#THON12 brought so much attention to such an amazing cause. It may not have been trending around the world, but here in State College, Pa. it was lighting up Twitter timelines everywhere.

#SuperBowl

One day of the year, football fanatics sit alongside unbiased fans for one very important game, the Super Bowl. Some do it for the love of the game, to support their favorite team, to catch all the new commercials, or just to enjoy the food.

For those unbiased fans like me, I spent most of the game on Twitter. I didn’t want to know what all my friends and followers were up to, I wanted to see what started to trend before kickoff, after the halftime show, or once the winning team was declared.

Before the game, the highest trending topic around the world was of course #SuperBowl. There was a promoted tweet by @Chevrolet at the top tweet trying to get fans to make them a popular topic during the game.

If you follow up on the link, it goes to Chevy’s Facebook page.

Celebrities also tweet how they are getting ready for the big game. Katy Perry (@katyperry) uploaded a twitpic of this model of a football arena made of food.

During Madonna’s halftime performance, many different things were trending worldwide, such as: love m, #vogue, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, #madonna, Like a prayer, Cee-lo Green, and Nicki and MIA. The conversation was growing at the performance developed. People were talking about Super Bowl performances in the past and the one right before their eyes.

After the Giants won, the conversation skyrocketed. Everyone was praising the Giants or mourning the loss of the Patriots.

Fans from around the world can bond together all because of the hashtag for the Super Bowl. It was the top trending tweet for over 24 hours.

#flyhighgaby

Hashtags link tweeps from one to the other. They help carry and group connected information. When big news breaks, an awards show is on, or if Justin Bieber's beliebers want to just show their support, the whole world can tune into the conversation with just one click. The simplisity of the pound sign, can sometimes impact the world more than expected.

When a Penn State freshman passed away in a car accident, an effortless hashtag brought students together to make a fellow student’s dream come true. Gabriella Sicard (Gaby) was killed Wednesday, December 28, 2011 from injuries in a crash on Interstate-80 the preceding afternoon. http://www.centredaily.com/2011/12/29/3034453/penn-state-student-dies-from-injuries.html

According to friends of Gaby, one of her dreams was to trend on Twitter. When the news broke of the loss of the undergrad, her peers took to the web. They used #flyhighgaby as their hashtag and tweeted their way to a trending topic Thursday night. http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/12/fly_high_gaby_penn_state_stude.html

It started with Tweets like this one from @KFural:

"Forever young, I may have never met you. Though I hope you'll be able to see your wish come true trending on twitter. #flyhighgaby"

Then it reached Penn State Athletes and gained national attention from Derek Moye, Rob Bolden, Russel Simmons, Snooki, Kourtney Kardasian, and USA Today College. http://storify.com/annaorso/flyhighgaby

 #flyhighgaby was trending around the world.

Wegotsaproblem posted this map of the trending topics to her Tumblr. #flyhighgaby is everywhere in the United States.

Now, students are coming together, and continuing to use the  hashtag to relay information and cope with the death of Joe Paterno. @SummerAustin01 tweeted:

"I miss you gab. Hope you're having fun with joepa right now! #flyhighgaby"


Shirts like the one that @emily5smith tweeted are being sold and information about them is being updated with the hashtag.

A community of friends, family, classmates, and even strangers were brought together and were able to mourn with each other all because of a simple hashtag. Twitter can reach so many people who have nothing in common, except a hashtag. In this case, it was used to impact the world and the legacy of one girl.