Equality, the election and Mike Hosking: What Kiwis talked about most in 2017

Sports, celebs, politics, and Mike Hosking are the things Kiwis spouted off about most on Facebook this year.

Data compiled by the social media giant measuring the number of times a keyword was mentioned in a single day by users in New Zealand found we chatted most about bringing home the America's Cup for the first time in 14 years in June.

New Zealand Herald front page from June 28, showing celebrations of our first America's Cup win in 14 years. Photo / File

The data has been compiled into a top 10 in 2017 list by Facebook.

Facebook did not provide raw numbers about the number of times keywords were mentioned and the company declined to give the exact day each top 10 topic was discussed.

Next for New Zealand was Australia's marriage equality plebiscite, which received a majority "yes" vote result on November 15.

Interestingly, Kiwis talking about what was going on across the Tasman outranked the Aussies themselves - the plebiscite ranked third single most talked about topic overall in Australia.

The 'yes' vote for marriage equality across the ditch was the second most talked about event in New Zealand - and third most in Australia. Photo / AAP Danny Casey

The deaths of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Tom Petty were ranked fourth, seventh and ninth respectively.

Petty's death from a heart attack was officially announced shortly after a muddle up caused news outlets around the world to prematurely say the Free Falling singer had died.

Singer Chris Cornell's death was one of three celebrity deaths to make New Zealand's top ten most talked about events. Photo / File

Our general election on September 23 was a hot topic of debate, ranking eighth - but it was not talked about as frequently as Waitangi Day, which ranked third, despite happening less frequently.

International Women's Day in March was another political event that drew plenty of interest for Facebook users, ranked fifth in New Zealand and first globally.

Hashtags associated with the day featured heavily, including #ADayWithoutWomen, #Love and #BeBoldForChange.

Two months earlier in January, the Women's March on DC brought 500,000 people together to march for equality - the largest Facebook event for a single cause in 2017.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather went head to head with Connor McGregor in August, winning the WBC "money belt" title - a fight drawing enough interest here in New Zealand it ranked sixth in our top ten most talked about.

Mike Hosking squeaked onto the list as the tenth most mentioned person or event on Kiwi's Facebook feeds in a single day. Photo / Michael Craig

Rounding out the list was Newstalk ZB morning host Mike Hosking.

Love him or loathe him, Hosking's many opinions are always a talker and his daily columns frequently rank among the Herald's best-read stories, so perhaps it's no surprise he made the cut.

Globally, Facebook users talked most about International Women's Day, followed by the 51st Superbowl held in Houston, Texas, in February.

When a gunman opened fire at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in October, killing 50 people, it sent shockwaves around the world.

The horror of the act motivated more than 3300 people to offer help to their community through Facebook's Crisis Response tools and it was the third most talked about event globally.