Best of 2014: 10 Things That Broke The Internet

#1. Kim Kardashian’s Butt

Many people become viral sensations by mistake. Internet fame kind of just falls into their lap — and sometimes they truly never wanted it to begin with. But other people — like, say, Kim Kardashian — specifically set out to achieve the kind of buzz that “breaks” the Internet. Kardashian posed on the cover of Paper magazine in November baring her very naked, very shiny butt, and the headline actually read, “Break the Internet: Kim Kardashian.” On Nov. 12, one day after publishing the story, Paper’s website saw 6.6. million page views. The next day, the site generated nearly 15.9 million page views and reached over 11 million unique visitors. 

#2 The “Sexy Felon”

Oh, Jeremy Meeks. When the mugshot of this undeniably good-looking convicted felon, first posted by the police department of Stockton, Calif., began circulating in June, the Internet took a collective double-take before devolving into a mess of giddy, swooning schoolgirls. Overlooking the fact that police called him “one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area,” citizens of the Internet were determined to make Meeks a star, with some rallying to get him a modeling contract.

 

#3 The iPhone 6 Release

People always go nuts whenever there’s a new iProduct, but people went especially nuts about the iPhone 6, which made its official debut on Sept. 19. But along with the rabid excitement about the device — which led many people to wait in obscenely long lines for obscene amounts of time — came a slew of bizarre complaints. Most notably: several users claimed the 6.2-inch-tall phone was bending in their pockets. Soon enough, a #Bendgate hashtag was born, putting all the complaints — many with photographic evidence — in one place. (The online outrage grew enough to prompt a response from Apple.) In just three days, Apple sold more than 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices.

 

#4. Taylor Swift’s New Album

In its first week alone, Taylor Swift’s fifth album, 1989, sold 1.287 million copies. That’s quite a few, of course, but not super surprising — because there was a huge amount of online promotion leading up to the Oct. 27 release, generated by both Swift herself and by her hordes of diehard fans. And then, of course, there were the two music videos she released: “Shake It Off,” which has already racked up hundreds of millions of views, and “Blank Space,” which earned 24 million views in just three days.

 

#5 Maheeda

Maheeda’s nude pictures on social media, getting banned – her instagram account deleted and moving on to Twitter, just after she slipped from ‘salvation.’ She managed a music and notoriety career from Netherland where her daughter is schooling to Nigeria where she brought some of her headline-grabbing antic into a music video! and there was Afrocandy who was chasing up to her notoriety!

 

#6 #BringBackOurGirls

In response to a mass kidnapping in Nigeria, millions of Tweets were sent mentioning #BringBackOurGirls. This map visualizes the hashtag’s global spread over a two-week period. 4.5 million Tweets mentioned the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag according to Twitter. READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/341644-top-6-trends-on-twitter-in-2014.html

 

#7 The Ice Bucket Challenge

Even people who spend a reasonable, limited amount of time on the Internet couldn’t escape the Ice Bucket Challenge, the phenomenon that dominated social media for weeks and weeks this summer. Participants — including a huge number of celebrities — shared videos of themselves dumping ice water over their heads, all part of an effort to raise money and awareness for ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.) The videos spread far and wide, with Bill Gates’ version racking up 20 million views and Charlie Sheen’s getting nearly as many. Eventually, the craze died down — and the ALS Association ended up raising $115 million to fight the disease.

 

#8 Solange and Jay Z’s Elevator Fight

Back in May, video of Beyoncé’s sister Solange punching and kicking her brother-in-law Jay Z in a hotel elevator leaked online thanks to TMZ. The incident, which happened at New York’s Standard Hotel after the Met Gala, immediately sparked a thousand reactions and questions and theories and jokes and guesses about #WhatJayZSaidToSolange. It was all such a mystery, and we were all totally captivated. A few days after the footage surfaced, the family released a statement, assuring everyone that “our family has worked through it.” But we’ll always remember that video.

 

#9 and then there was The Celebrity Nude Photo Leak

In late August and early September, hacked photos belonging to female celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst leaked online and spread across sites like 4chan, Imgur and Reddit. Naturally, extreme online chaos ensued. People scrambling to view the photos, other scrambling to get them taken down. People imploring their fellow citizens of the Internet not to view the images, others panicking about the security of their own photos stored in Apple’s iCloud. Though the initial shock and chaos has quieted down, the hack continues to prompt discussions about privacy, security and violation.

 

#10 #Ebola

It was one of the most talked about disease this year, since it broke out and spread like wildefire in the West of Africa. From Sierra Leone to Nigeria – that successfully contained the virus. The disease which has no cure has killed over 6000 persons and a cause of worldwide concern. With comment from Richard Branson to Whoopi Golderg, Obama and across top figures in West Africa.
Did we miss any item, event or person that broke the internet in 2014? Air off below with the comment box!

These are the things that broke the internet in the year 2014