Tragedy and politics top Facebook topics

Global tragedies and domestic politics dominated Facebook's most talked about topics of the year.

Tragedy and politics dominated Australians' online conversations in 2014, with Robin Williams, Tony Abbott and Malaysia Airlines taking out the top three spots in Facebook's most talked about topics of the year.

Williams, who took his own life in August, led the list followed by Mr Abbott, who had a busy year with the G20 meeting in Brisbane and the federal budget, while the dual tragedies of MH17 and MH370 took out third place.

The topics are culled from conversations and posts from the more than 12 million Australians who used Facebook between the start of January and start of December 2014.

"We look at it in an anonymous, aggregate way," said Facebook's head of policy in Australia, Mia Garlick.

"Increasingly people are talking about current events, current affairs and news stories from around the world. You can see the Israel/Gaza Conflict is featured in here, the Ebola crisis, the World Cup."

Sport continues to be a favourite topic in Australia with the South Sydney Rabbitohs making the list following its NRL premiership win this year as well as the Melbourne Cup.

Schapelle Corby just missed the list, coming in at No.11, after she became the talk of the country following her release from Bali in February.

Another omission was cricketer Phillip Hughes, who died at the end of November.

The place with the most check-ins was Darling Harbour in Sydney, followed by the Opera House.

The previous year's most checked-in venue, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, was knocked down to third place, followed by Sydney Harbour.

Queensland theme parks also appear as a favourite place to check-in this year, with Warner Bros, Sea World, Southbank, Dreamworld and Surfers Paradise also making the top 10 list.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.


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