Whichever way you look at it, 2011 was a very big year for news and social media carried a lot of weight.

From the death of Osama Bin Laden, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and the London riots, through to the Royal Wedding, Occupy Wall Street and the return of Charlie Sheen, this year had a lot to talk about and social media carried a lot of “talking” weight.

It was a big 12 months for technology, too, and social media flexed it’s ever-growing muscles to get the word out.

LinkedIn, Groupon and Pandora went public, Google+ launched, Twitter reached 100 million active users and an $8 billion valuation, and there was a big Timeline redesign on Facebook. And social media flexed it’s ever-growing muscles to get the word out on the tech sector.

Not to mention some new entries to social media’s growing collection of faux pas from celebrities, politicians and big business.

This infographic takes a look at what mattered in 2011 for social media.

Source: Flowtown

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