Facebook, One Direction and the Mayan apocalypse-that-wasn't were among the most visited English-language Wikipedia pages in 2012, according to a list complied by Swedish software engineer Johan Gunnarsson.
The Avengers, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games also made the list:
Wiki
Deaths in 2012
One Direction
The Avengers
Fifty Shades of Grey
2012 phenomenon
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hunger Games
Facebook tops the list for other languages, too -- perhaps, as some have argued, the result of confused Internet searchers who want Facebook itself but find themselves on Wikipedia as a result of web search gone wrong.
A look at the top ten lists for non-English Wikipedia pages shows at least one other global trend: One Direction also made the top ten list for Spanish, French, Portugese, Italian, Swedish and Danish-language Wikipedia articles.
Comparing the top-10-by-language lists reveals other regional trends: an article about the Iranian capital of Tehran topped the Persian-language list. Facebook was the most viewed Indonesian-language article, which makes sense -- Indonesia is one of the most Facebook-happy countries on the planet. Egypt, which is undergoing a volatile, post-revolution political period, was on top of the Arabic language list.
Check out the top ten lists for yourself right here. What interesting trends do you notice? Share in the comments.