As we reflect on what happened in the past year in our lives and in the world, it’s hard to remember each moment and what happened when.

Just this past year, Will and Kate had their magnificent wedding, Steve Jobs and Elizabeth Taylor passed away, Japan was ravaged by a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami, and the list goes on and on.

In my year, I spent time in Northern California, Vancouver, Minneapolis, and Montreal. I went snowboarding and wine tasting, I learned how to make cheese, I attended the Clinton Foundation Concert and saw Bono, Lady Gaga and Usher perform live, and I found out I will become an aunt.

I’ve been thinking about the past year a lot since one of my biggest recent projects has been creating a social extension for Yahoo!’s popular Year In Review program. Year In Review brings together data and insights gleaned from search and news trends and packages it up into top 10 lists, blog posts and videos. Looking at it from a social perspective, we knew we could make the year’s stories even more personal.

We had a lot of ideas, and ultimately created My Year In Review, a Facebook app that brings together the top headlines and images of the year with a user’s own activities in a timeline set to music. The experience is dynamic, beautiful, and emotional, bringing together moments you may have not thought of for month.

Depending on how heavy a Facebook user you are, the more times you play the experience, the more different versions you’ll see, with new pictures, news events, and new timeline images to share.

Don’t let us just tell you about it, though – see your 2011 My Year In Review.

A look back at the year in social at Yahoo!

It has been a big year for social at Yahoo! and I love how the company has embraced social as a medium not just for sharing out content, but for connecting with fans. We celebrated Yahoo! birthdays and milestones, launched new programs, and broke news – and the responses we got were tremendous. It has been encouraging to hear about how long people have used Yahoo!, the events they are most passionate about, and what we mean to them.

With our new focus on social, we also grew our fan base. The Yahoo! Facebook footprint now has more than 23 million fans, the Twitter footprint more than 1.6 million. 2011 was a year for experimenting, learning and encouraging change. We launched Google+ pages, worked with inspiring social influencers, and created a number of impactful social programs, including sweepstakes, games, the Summer Movies Popcorn Giveaway, and programs that supported exclusive live events, like the Twilight premiere and the Clinton Foundation Concert.

The year has been a lot of work, but also very rewarding. Yahoo! has been smart about using social media as a key part of the strategy to extend and enhance its properties and programs, and I’m proud to be a part of the team that created social experiences that touched millions of people.

Thank you and happy New Year!  I can’t wait for what’s in store in 2012.

Francine Kizner
Social Marketing Program Manager @KizzieFK

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series entitled, “In My Own Words,” that gives employees the opportunity to share their own stories about Yahoo!. Feel like yodeling your own? Post your Yahoo! story on your social networks using the hashtag #myYahoostory.

Year in Review 2011 is here! This year’s edition marks the 10th anniversary of Yahoo!’s highly-anticipated annual look-back that identifies the top stories and trends of the year based on nearly 700 million monthly unique visitors’ activity on the network and billions of consumer searches.

The top search term of 2011 didn’t go to a person or a news event, but to a technological marvel. The iPhone led the 2011 search queries, bypassing a reality TV star’s marriage and pending divorce, a notorious criminal defendant, and America’s most wanted terrorist.

Fueled by news that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had stepped down as CEO in August, and then that he had passed away in October, searches for Steve Jobs skyrocketed on Yahoo!. By their nature, breaking news stories don’t always crack the Top 10 list. People don’t have to search for details they get in the news, and it’s rare that a news story ends up on the overall list. Yet this year, Casey Anthony, Osama bin Laden, and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami all figured into the top ranking.”

Top Searches on Yahoo! in 2011

1. iPhone
2. Casey Anthony
3. Kim Kardashian
4. Katy Perry
5. Jennifer Lopez
6. Lindsay Lohan
7. American Idol
8. Jennifer Aniston
9. Japan earthquake
10. Osama bin Laden

For more on the 2011 Year in Review, including the year’s top news, finance, pop culture and sports searches and many more, visit the Year in Review homepage.

The Yahoo! Year in Review returns, with a look at our collective cultural consciousness, as gleaned through a year’s worth of searches. In 2001, we started publishing lists of lists looking who topped the Search charts across various beats like news, sports, games, and overall. (Check out this flashback moment from a 2001 press release.)

But a Top 10 just isn’t enough to see what the world was looking for. In the past few years, we’ve pumped up our analyses to ferret out underlying trends. Plus this year, the Year in Review has expanded to 16 countries.

Enough with the preamble — what riveted us in 2010?

The Transocean oil rig explosion and the resulting spill dominated online activity, making the BP Oil Spill this year’s top search. Many of us were transfixed by that underwater spillcam that showed the best — and not so best — efforts to cap the gushing crude.

The FIFA World Cup ground productivity to a slow crawl, as people went online to cram in not only the rules of the game, but also controversies (that bouncy jabulani ball), and South African traditions (the ever-buzzing vuvuzela).

Pop culture’s leading ladies (including the hyper-theatrical Lady Gaga, new to the list), a gadget that begin with a small “i,” and Web-spun music artist Justin Bieber (also a Top 10 freshman) also made the top slots. And Britney Spears, who has dominated the list in the past decade, held on at No. 10.

Top Searches on Yahoo! in 2010

1. BP oil spill
2. World Cup
3. Miley Cyrus
4. Kim Kardashian
5. Lady Gaga
6. iPhone
7. Megan Fox
8. Justin Bieber
9. American Idol

10.  Britney Spears

The year 2010 was definitely one of extremes: Record heat and floods around the world caused natural disasters, economic turnarounds spurred financial uprisings, and some high-profile firings stirred up ruckus at a time when people are looking for or holding on to jobs.

Another new list this year: 10 Obsessions of 2010 — what couldn’t we get enough of this year? For this list, we looked at both total search volume and the percentage change compared to 2009, and came up with some doozies. Among them: Apple proved its worth as a most valuable company by generating excitement for its iPhone 4 (plus that accidental sneak peek) and that “magical and revolutionary” iPad. Other compulsions that were gnawing at us: Would Lindsay ever have that comeback? How many Silly Bandz can I possibly wear (and make the owner an a millionaire several times over)? And are those bedbugs I see?

Top Searched Obsessions on Yahoo! in 2010

1. iPhone 4
2. Lindsay Lohan
3. iPad
4. Glee
5. Jersey Shore
6. Facebook
7. Bedbugs
8. Tea Party
9. Silly Bandz

10.  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (series)
For years, people have sought out the answers to life’s questions on Yahoo!. Every Friday and Saturday night, for instance, teens primping for dates try to figure out “how to tie a tie.” Some questions are more plaintive — like the search for love. In 2010, we finally reveal these burning queries, and we give the answers too. Yes, about love.

Top Searched Questions on Yahoo! in 2010

1. How to tie a tie
2. How to lose weight
3. How to kiss
4. How to write a resume
5. What’s the world’s only immortal animal
6. Which city has the best tap water
7. Which natural disaster shortened earth’s days
8. What is love
9. What causes lightning
10. How to boil an egg

If you’re curious to see what others around the globe were pondering, check out a few Year In Review sites:

UK: http://uk.yearinreview.yahoo.com/

Brazil: http://br.retrospectiva.yahoo.com/

Taiwan: http://tw.yearinreview.yahoo.com/

Germany: http://de.jahresrueckblick.yahoo.com/

As for the uber Yahoo! Year in Review, many great engineers, wise analysts, and fine writers took aim at summing up 2010, and seeing what’s up for 2011. Settle down for some good reads.

We’re not done yet either — there will be even more look-backs throughout the month of December as our writers figure out mid-term political moodiness, revisit strange creatures we have loved (we’ll miss you, Paul the octopus), and much much more. Visit often, and get in on the conversation at our Facebook and Twitter pages.

-Vera Chan, senior editor and Web trend analyst for Yahoo!

Economic traumas. Military entanglements. Crazy weather. And yet, even as we tried to find ways to survive day to day, we were also acutely aware that we were living through momentous times.

The Yahoo! Year in Review returns. Since 2001, we’ve been crunching lists based on search data. Naturally, we’ve expanded quite a bit since those early Internet days, and because a list of 10 is barely a drop in the sea of billions of searches, we’ve expanded beyond that to walk through the moments and events behind the trends.

This year, we have eight primary themes, and not surprisingly, two are finance-focused. “Financial Hangovers” and “Market Darlings” reflect the yin-yang of a rough year. Many of you hunkered down, staycationed, built up credit—and in more heart-wrenching scenarios reflected in searches, checked in with state unemployment sites, foreclosure details, and student loan alternatives. Not all businesses were bailing (or bailed out): Market Darlings touches on the big leap in fiscal viability of social networking sites (or rather, tiny little leaps in 140 characters or less) and e-readers. Whoever said people don’t read anymore needs to get thee to a wireless device.

You didn’t give up the political diet that you were on for the past two years. Aside from a few puzzling gubernatorial detours here and there, many of you focused on a political agenda that ranged from stimulus plans to wayward governors. The one big political category is “Obama in the House.” Barack Obama was the first politician to crack the Yahoo! Top 10 by taking the No. 3 spot in 2008, but he slipped off this year when he became the 44th President. Then again, people knew exactly where he was: on Pennsylvania Avenue, churning out executive orders and setting priorities. No matter if you voted for or protested against, the commander-in-chief commanded the headlines and searches.

We also covered overnight sensations (Susan Boyle) and infamous breakouts (Nadya “Octomom” Suleman) in “Sudden Fame,” newly coined terms in health (H1N1) and science (conficker worm) in “Mad Science,” shocking passings and sad good-byes in “Farewells,” and of course the Top 10 Searches.

Several notable shifts happened in the Top 10. The breaking news that Michael Jackson died became the top search of the year. As many of you know, the Web traffic on June 25, the day the news emerged of his demise, was massive, surpassing even Inauguration Day just months earlier. Online investigations into his death also turned into tributes to the King of Pop’s legacy, as people sought his music, videos, and even costumes to honor him on Halloween night.

While some are familiar faces (WWE, Britney Spears, NASCAR, Runescape), some terms are new: Vampire hysteria vaulted “The Twilight Saga” to the No. 2 slot, savvy rising star Megan Fox got herself in the top 5, and Kim Kardashian isn’t just the new Paris Hilton, but a symbol of reality TV prowess. As for Britney Spears, the princess of pop was hard at work this year on her “Circus” tour, and cut back on the antics that had commanded searches for the last four years of her No. 1 reign.

This year on the Year In Review site,  we also created a “Rewind” video. Check it out here:

YOUR YEAR IN REVIEW:

And as part of the 2009 Year in Review, Yahoo!s have an opportunity to tweet their own top moments of 2009. Tweet your top moments of 2009 here:

http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2009/moments

By the way, some consider 2009 more than a historical turning point, but also the marker for the decade’s end. This year was more than a handful, but you can take a look at our past top searches by checking these links:

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Vera Chan, Senior Buzz Editor for Yahoo!

Last year, I introduced our annual review of search trends and touched on the subject on how a billion (or so) searches can sketch a portrait of a culture in motion. The motion this year was volatile, to say the least, what with the American presidential elections, the Beijing Olympics, and a doggedly stubborn global economic morass.

This time, the Yahoo! Year in Review is even bigger and more ambitious, the better to reflect the potent issues that rumbled in news and searches. Editors and producers from throughout Yahoo!–news, sports, Buzz Log, Buzz, and much more–investigated the themes that emerged for you this year, including economy, politicians, Olympians, and influential women.

While 2007 was a time of environmental activism and a tech evolution, this year showed your growing sophistication and reliance on the Web in the political process. From the primaries to Election Day, you went online in droves to register to vote, donate campaign funds, check out primary results, figure out what a delegate was, scrutinize the Electoral College, and vet the candidates, their associates, and even their family members. Likely (factcheck.org) and unlikely (snopes) sources became your stop to check rumors.

And lest you think I’m avoiding the subject–yes, Britney Spears has once again emerged as the top search in 2008. Even the music artist’s story this time around symbolized the year’s sober mood…and she has some fascinating company in the Top 10.

Visit our site to check out other trends in search and news. To compare what intrigued you in 2007 versus 2008, take a gander at the Flashback overview, which also links to previous years’ lists. Finally, a late-breaking blog will introduce more top 10 lists of 2008 throughout December.

Vera H-C Chan
Senior Editor, Buzz Log