SINGAPORE - Singapore's golden boy Joseph Schooling may have won gold at Rio, but in the Twittersphere, he had to concede the Golden Tweet to an adorable kitty.
Said kitty was awarded the Golden Tweet as the most retweeted tweet from Singapore this year after a short video of the kitty being stroked went viral with 106,000 retweets.
Schooling, however, did earn the Golden Moment honour as the country erupted into 380,000 tweets in three hours after he scored a stunning victory with Singapore's first Olympic gold medal at the Rio 2016 games,
#SchoolingWinsGold went viral after the 21-year-old beat his childhood idol, decorated United States swimmer Michael Phelps, in the 100m butterfly.
Twitter Singapore, which compiled its #YOT2016, also released data on the top hashtags in Singapore this year. Not surprisingly, the augmented reality game PokemonGO which swept the world this year topped Singapore's list.
Here are the top 10 hashtag trends in more detail.
1. #PokemonGO
Monsters invaded Singapore shores in late July and Singaporeans went wild. Players of Nintendo's augmented-reality game Pokemon Go swarmed the streets and exchanged tips and tricks on Twitter with the hashtag.
As in other parts of the world where Pokemon Go fever had struck, the Singapore Police Force had to post an advisory, urging the public to take care of their personal safety and the National Parks requested the removal of Pokestops from nature reserves to minimise damage to sensitive areas.
2. #Rio2016
The Rio Olympics made waves, not just for Schooling's gold, but also for Paralympians Yip Pin Xiu (@yippinxiu), who won two gold medals for the women's 50m and 100m backstroke, and Theresa Goh, who bagged bronze in the women's 100m breaststroke.
Yip also received a Twitter shout-out from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who said she "made us all proud".
3. #ElectionNight
The 2016 US elections took on a life of its own on social media with plenty of memes and jokes. But things got personal when President-Elect Donald Trump (@realdonaldtrump) singled out Singaporeans for stealing jobs from Americans. That earned the ire and ridicule of Singaporeans who took to Twitter to express their disbelief.
4. #MUFC
Many Singaporeans are devoted Red Devils, apparently, as Manchester United (@manutd) fans followed the beleaguered team this year. The coach saga gripped fans as famously hot-tempered Jose Mourinho replaced Louis van Gaal as team manager. Fans here were also excited by a new football-themed cafe to be set up in Singapore by former Manchester United stars, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.
5. #DescendantsOfTheSun
The latest hot K-drama to sweep Singaporeans off their feet was the epic Korean television series Descendants Of The Sun. The love story between special forces captain Yoo Shi Jin (Song Joong Ki) and doctor Kang Mo Yeon (Song Hye Kyo) will now be remembered as "DOTS" and for inspiring viral copycat wedding photo shoots which mimicked scenes from the show.
6. #Euro2016
Singaporeans really love the beautiful game, which makes its second entry to the list for the 2016 UEFA European Championship . Underdogs Iceland made it all the way to the quarter-finals of the 15th edition of this tournament, with a stunning upset over England along the way, while Portugal took home the Championship title.
7. #BTS
Seven-member boy band BTS (@bts_twt) , also known as Bangtan Boys, marks the second Hallyu wave entry on this list. Singapore fans have been begging this Big Hit Entertainment band, the first K-pop band to have its own Twitter emoji, to come here with their The Wings Tour.
8. #RIPChristina
The shocking murder of YouTube singer Christina Grimmie (@therealgrimmie) in June shook her fan demographic on Twitter. She was shot dead by a stranger while signing autographs after a concert in Orlando, Florida. The US star had held a concert in Singapore in 2015, and many fans here mourned her passing, tweeting tributes to her and her music.
9. #PrayforMadinah
Singaporeans took to Twitter to express their outrage at a deadly suicide bombing at Islam's second-holiest site in the Saudi city of Medina in July. They stood in solidarity with Twitter users around the world using the #PrayForMadinah hashtag, after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad, killing himself and four security staff members.
10. #MannequinChallenge
In October, it became cool to stand still. The #MannequinChallenge, believed to have been started by students in Florida on Oct 12, has spread worldwide and to Singapore. It features people remaining frozen like mannequins while a video is recorded. Even Singapore's national carrier, Singapore Airlines (@singaporeair), jumped on the bandwagon with a #MannequinChallenge entry.
