#BellLetsTalk was Canada鈥檚 most used hashtag of 2016 according to new data released by Twitter.
While Canadians tweeted about major world events like #Rio2016 and #ElectionNight, mental health was the most popular topic of discussion on Twitter for Canadians this year. Bell Media鈥檚 mental health initiative, Let鈥檚 Talk, and #Mental Health were both among the top 10 most hashtagged conversations on Twitter.
鈥淚t鈥檚 part of a trend to normalize mental health. Participation has been growing every year,鈥� chair of the Bell Let鈥檚 Talk mental health initiative Mary Deacon told CTVNews.ca, suggesting that reduced stigmatization and stronger political interest are contributing factors to the growing conversation online.
鈥淭he mental health issue鈥檚 time has come. There鈥檚 no going back,鈥� she said.
As for the 鈥淏ell Let鈥檚 Talk鈥� initiative being the most used hashtag, Deacon thinks the charitable programme resonated strongly with Canadians this year because it plays a unique role in the growing conversation.
鈥淚t gives a voice to the people of the community who are already talking about it,鈥� she said, adding that Bell鈥檚 brand recognition and wide reach also probably helped.
Bell also donated five cents for every tweet and Facebook post that used the hashtag, resulting in nearly $6.3 million being raised for mental health initiatives.
But mental health wasn鈥檛 the only thing Canadians were interested in this year, here鈥檚 the full list of what Canadians were tweeting about in 2016, according to the data released by Twitter on Tuesday:
Canada鈥檚 Most Used Hashtags of 2016
1. #BellLetsTalk
2. #Toronto
3. #Canada
4. #tbt
5. #Rio2016
6. #PokemonGO
7. #MentalHealth
8. #ElectionNight
9. #WeTheNorth
10. #OurMoment
Other honourable mentions from Twitter鈥檚 2016 data included Justin Bieber becoming the second person to reach 90,000,000 followers (Katy Perry was first) and Drake becoming the second Canadian musician with 30,000,000 followers (Bieber was first).
User had the most retweeted tweet of 2016 with a post showing Google鈥檚 answer to the question who is U.S. president (answer: Barack Obama) and a call for Twitter users to retweet it 鈥渨hile you still can.鈥�
Rt while you still can
鈥� Amal // 72 (@lovelyytylerr)
Drake had the second most retweeted tweet with a post of his track list for his album Views, which was released April 29, 2016.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the most mentioned political figure in Canada and he was also the first Canadian politician to reach 2,000,000 followers.
The Toronto Blue Jays were the most talked about sports team, while Ryan Reynolds was the most talked about actor.
CTV News is a division of Bell Media.
