What follows is the unabridged version of my current post on Mashable, “Twitter’s Most Influential Topics of 2009.”

As we ring in the New Year and usher in twenty ten, let’s take a moment to reflect on the topics that defined the real-time stream in Twitter.

Twitter recently published a Top 2009 Trends list which essentially symbolized a digital microcosm of culture and conversations throughout the year. In many cases, Twitter served as the “wire,” connecting us to stories and events as they broke before mainstream media was able to respond and report. As such, Twitter emerged as a real-time news network, reporting breaking stories, albeit without a staff of fact checkers, where unverified updates quickly aligned with fact and truth as information traversed from the epicenter to the outer rings of humanity.

What’s important is that Twitter captivated attention and syndicated information that may or may not have received mainstream airtime to people online, across multiple social networks, eventually permeating the real world.

In 2009, influence emerged as a source of filtering and focus. We were not only introduced to new applications to help us measure and prioritize authorities by subject, we were also introduced to the notion of “lists” by Twitter to empower us to organize and follow custom streams by topic, personality, and themes.

Klout was one such service to debut in 2009. Klout analyzes content from millions of people to identify the top influencers on every topic. As they say, with Klout comes influence, especially in Social Media.

In celebration of the New Year, Klout released its Top 2009 list of what topics captured the attention of influential voices and their communities on Twitter.

Per Klout’s announcement:

In 2009 we saw an explosion of users and content on Twitter. The “real-time stream” fed us information before the mainstream media could even react, user communities flexed their collective muscle and demonstrated the power of “word of mouth,” leaving companies to either ride the social wave or be subject to the wrath of millions of voices. There’s no denying it: in 2009, social media continued to profoundly change the way we communicate, the way we find and share information, and the relationship between brands and consumers.

Not only did the company assemble a list of common themes, it aggregated a list of authorities on every subject (make sure to visit Klout and click through each topic) as well as a detailed analysis of each category.

Topics:
Social Media
Iran
Healthcare Reform
Television
Republican Party
Wine
Photography
Dogs
Movies
Technology

Tags
#followfriday
#tcot
#HHRS
#quote
#p2
#FAIL
#GNO
#sgp
#tlot
#teaparty

Tech Companies
Twitter
Google
Facebook
YouTube
Apple
Amazon
Microsoft
Flickr
Wordpress
Digg

Movies
Twilight: New Moon
Harry Potter
Star Trek
Paranormal Activity
Star Wars
G.I. Joe
Inglorious Basterds
Hangover
District 9
Transformers

TV Shows
True Blood
Glee
Mad Men
Lost
Saturday Night Live
Heroes
Dollhouse
Big Brother
Project Runway
So You Think You Can Dance

Music
Lady GaGa
The Beatles
Rihanna
Jay-Z
Miley Cyrus
Chris Brown
Beyonce
Madonna
Taylor Swift
U2

People
Barack Obama
Sarah Palin
Michael Jackson
George W. Bush
Glenn Beck
Kanye West
Oprah
Lady GaGa
Britney Spears
Tiger Woods

Politicians
Barack Obama
Sarah Palin
George W. Bush
John McCain
Nancy Pelosi
Ted Kennedy
Bill Clinton
Michelle Obama
Al Gore
Dick Cheney

Sports Stars
Tiger Woods
Michael Vick
Brett Favre
Lebron James
Kobe Brant
Alex Rodriguez
Tom Brady
Derek Jeter
Cristiano Ronaldo
Manny Pacquiaz

Companies
Starbucks
AT&T
New York Times
Verizon Wireless
Ford Kanzler
Walmart
General Motors
Nike
Disney
McDonalds

Products
iPhone
Android
Blackberry
iPod
Windows 7
TweetDeck
Snow Leopard
Amazon Kindle
Xbox 360
MacBook

Sports Teams
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs
Philadelphia Phillies
New York Mets
Pittsburgh Steelers
Green Bay Packers
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots

Countries
United States
Iran
United Kingdom
Canada
China
Sweden
India
France
Australia
Japan

Cities
New York City
Chicago
London
Los Angeles
San Francisco Dao
Las Vegas
Boston
Seattle
Washington DC
Paris

Connect with Brian Solis: Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, or Facebook

—

Get the new iPhone app!
—
Click the image below to buy the book/poster:

—
Image: Sevilla, Spain