Pope Francis most popular name online, survey says

Last updated on: November 13, 2013 at 6:42 pm by CNA Daily News

Pope Francis most popular name online, survey says 2013-11-13T18:42:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Rome, Italy, Nov 13, 2013 / 11:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new global survey has revealed that Pope Francis has topped the list of names most mentioned on the internet so far this year, with his twitter account also receiving a high ranking on a list of most mentioned words.

“It’s official: Pope Francis is the most talked about person on the planet,” CNN’s “Belief Blog” co-editor Daniel Burke wrote in a Nov. 12 post.

“More folks have been chatting about the popular new pontiff online this year than Edward Snowden, Kate Middleton or even Miley Cyrus.”

The statistics, noted by Burke in his post, come from the 14th annual survey of the Global Language Monitor, which is a company based in Texas that tracks “top talkers” on the worldwide web.

According to Burke, the Monitor divides its research into the categories of “top words, top phrases and top names,” and base their research on the analysis of “English-language blogs, social media and 275,000 electronic and online news media.”

In this year’s survey, the Monitor found that Pope Francis came out as number one on the list of the most talked about names, followed by Obamacare, The National Security Agency, Edward Snowden, and Kate Middleton.

On the list of the most popular words mentioned online, the Monitor found that the Pope’s twitter handle, @Pontifex, came in fourth, stating that it was beat out by the words “404” – the code for a broken webpage – along with “fail” and “hashtag,” which is used to denote different topics on twitter.

President of the Global Language Monitor Paul Payack revealed that the words “’404’ and ‘fail’ got a big boost from the problematic launch of the Obama administration's website for purchasing health care under the Affordable Care Act,” Burke wrote.

In separate post written on the “Belief Blog” earlier this month, Burke spoke of the fact that the new pontiff seems to be gaining popularity even amongst atheists.

In light of the Pope’s “spontaneous acts of compassion,” Burke noted that Pope Francis has not only “earned high praise from fellow Catholics,” but that “even atheists love him.”

During a Nov. 7 video interview posted on the blog, Burke expressed his opinion that the pontiff’s popularity is growing because “we see a lot of religious leaders who talk about reaching out to the poor and the marginalized…but we finally see a religious figure who actually putting his hands on it, who's actually embracing these people physically.”

Burke then quoted several twitter posts from atheists written on the same day as the interview, including one by a woman who states that “I may be an atheist, but there's something about Pope Francis that makes me want to be Catholic. He's so inspiring.”

Europe

Previous Post

November 13, 2013

Baptism is a 'bath of regeneration,' says Pope

Next Post

November 13, 2013 Pope thanks boy for entrusting him to guardian angel

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE