As 2016 mercifully comes to an end, Twitter has launched a new hashtag #ThisHappened and an accompanying video to highlight the trending news of the year.

2016.#ThisHappened pic.twitter.com/dyBWDvQjtj

— Twitter (@Twitter) December 6, 2016

From the Twitter blog page:

2016. What a year! From news and entertainment to sports and politics, around the world or around the block; it all happened on Twitter. Tweets brought people together in laughter, shock, celebration, fear, mourning, and jubilation. Today, we’re reflecting back on the moments and memories that defined 2016.

We’ve launched #ThisHappened so people can share the biggest moments and memories of 2016.

There is no denying that Twitter took a leap forward this year in breaking news and capturing the mood of the country. From the first hours of 2016 to the last month of President-elect Trump’s infamous twitter rants, the social media site has become the hotbed of trending topics.

When anything happens in the world, I go to Twitter, not for the biting commentary but for the accounts of live events, happening in real time. There is no other service like it. While Facebook has the bulk of the country sharing pictures of their kids and false memes, Twitter is where people go to be themselves. To share on what I call the world’s biggest chatboard.

As users continue to grow, Twitter has become the source for breaking news. Not just the reporting of it, but the actual news itself. Twitter has spawned other websites like Twitchy that are dedicated to curating news only found on Twitter. That’s a pretty incredible feat for any website, let alone a social media platform.

I’m a long suffering Twitter addict as the flow of information feeds my inner “news junkie”. If you don’t have a Twitter account yet, 2017 might be the year to sign up. If you do, you can find me nearly anytime at @Biasedgirl, as I always need to know what’s going on.