This year was a rollercoaster socially, politically — and on social media.
With news moving at a rapid clip, people turned to platforms like Twitter to keep up with current events, share funny stories and memes and take part in important conversations. Twitter, it turned out, was also an important gathering ground for messages of hope and service. Here are the ten tweets that garnered the most retweets over the course of the year, including three poignant messages from Barack Obama, one man’s ultimate quest for unlimited chicken nuggets, calls to assist in hurricane recovery relief, and a suicide hotline PSA. None of Trump’s tweets made the cut, but a Trump clapback from basketball star LeBron James did, and powerful responses from artists Ariana Grande and Linkin Park after experiencing tragedies.
Together, the tweets tell the story of a global online audience willing to rally together in the face of difficulties — and willing to support a stranger in search of sustenance, topping off with 3.6 million retweets.
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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com