Most Popular Facebook Status Updates? HMU, World Cup, Bieber

How many people have you asked to "HMU" this year? Chances are, there are a few of you. The term, which means "hit me up," was one of the fastest-growing status updates on Facebook this year, a list that also included the iPad, Justin Bieber, the World Cup, and the Chilean miners.
For its second annual "memology," Facebook looked at the terms that grew in popularity as compared to 2009.
"Natural disasters and human triumphs made their mark in our 2010 list of top trends in status updates, but more than anything else people wanted to spend time with their friends and family," Facebook wrote in a blog post. "The fastest growing trend was the use of a new digital shorthand for people to ask their friends to hang out."
The "HMU" acronym barely registered last year, averaging about 20 posts per day in May 2009. By year's end, however, that rose to 1,600 posts per day, and throughout 2010, the phrase increased by about 75 percent each month, reaching about 80,000 mentions per day by the end of August. It dropped off slightly in September, picking up on the weekends.
"The reason? Before September the demographic most likely to ask their friends to 'HMU' was on summer break and looking to hang out most nights," Facebook said. "Then many of these folks headed back to school, and HMU became a weekend-oriented request."
The World Cup, meanwhile, averaged about 1.5 million and 1.3 million posts during the start and end of the games. At key moments, about 50 percent of Facebook status updates were related to the tournament.
Movies were also a hot topic, with "Toy Story 3" generating the most buzz. Also among the most-talked about were "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," "Inception," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Iron Man 2."
The iPad and iPhone 4 have topped many year-end lists in 2010, and Facebook is no exception. Mentions of the popular Apple devices reached 25 million on the social-networking site, with "bragging, lusting or the occasional condemning posts during the year," Facebook said.
World events also made their way into peoples' status updates, with the devastating Haiti earthquake and the more uplifting story of the Chilean miners landing at number five and eight, respectively. Facebook said that reports about the January 12 Haiti earthquake started rolling in one minute after the quake, with many coming from people who felt it in the nearby Dominican Republic. Firsthand reports started about four minutes after the quake, and one day later, people were talking about it at a rate of 1,800 posts per minute.
The Chilean miners also logged millions of posts. Facebook noticed "33 unique spikes in activity—one for each of the rescued miners."
On a more frivolous note, teen pop star Justin Bieber was also the subject of millions of status updates. He also saw his share of mentions in 2009, but his status continued to grow this year. Bieber-related mentions started with the January release of his song, "Baby," while his September 12 debut on the MTV Video Music Awards attracted the most mentions of his name, Facebook said.
Another popular musical act to make Facebook's list was B.o.B.; mentions of the band's song "Airplanes" grew in popularity, with most people quoting lines from the song.
The term "barn raising" also made the top 10 list; for those scratching their heads, the phrase relates to a barn-raising feature added to FarmVille in January.
Finally, Facebook users are apparently a forward-looking bunch. Mentions of "2011" rounded out the top 10. "As the date approaches, mentions have steadily increased, as people make more and more plans for the coming year," Facebook said.