Facebook Canada Shares Year in Review Highlights for 2020

Facebook Canada has just shared its Year in Review highlights for 2020, highlighting the shared experiences that connected us during the year, and the ways we saw people learn, grow and stay connected in an extraordinary year.

This year, Facebook has sorted the top moments into several categories to offer context into the ways people shared and experienced them:

COVID-19:

• Throughout March, more than 1.5 million Spaniards posted to express their gratitude for medical staff using #aplausosanitario.
• Instagram and Facebook Live views doubled in Italy when lockdowns hit, as residents sang on balconies and broadcasted under quarantine.

Icons:

• Kobe Bryant’s passing was this year’s most discussed moment on Facebook, with the US, Mexico and Philippines sharing the most posts and photos celebrating his life.
• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was commemorated in more than 6 million posts in one day across Facebook and Instagram, with many using the hashtag #restinpower.

Social Awakening:

• In the three weeks following George Floyd’s death, conversations around Black Lives Matter tripled, with an average of 7.5 million mentions on Facebook every day.
• With 1.8 million members, The Blackout Coalition — a FB group supporting Black businesses, is the No. 1 largest group among US users.

Global Politics:

• Kamala Harris’ Vice Presidential selection announcement was the most mentioned moment in August, drawing more than 10 million posts in one day.
• Nearly all adults on Facebook and Instagram in the US saw access to our Voting Information Center, which offered authoritative information on how to register to vote, and well as key facts about voting deadlines.

Spotlight on Canada: How Canadians came together during COVID-19

• A uniquely Canadian trend, thousands of “caremongering” Facebook groups had been set up in the days following lockdown in March to serve communities in places including Ottawa, Halifax and Annapolis County in Nova Scotia, with hundreds of thousands of members between them.
• Toronto’s “Caremongering TO: TO Community Response to COVID-19” quickly became one of the largest caremongering groups. The group currently has over 25,000 members. The group remains active to continue supporting vulnerable populations in the local Toronto community.

The top moments of this year’s Year in Review were determined by capturing the top single-day moments throughout the year, and finding the top ways people used Facebook’s apps to come together around these moments.