Following a two-year pause on pretty much all forms of social life thanks to COVID, 2022 gave us a lot of… everything. Digital innovations, scientific breakthroughs, geopolitical conflicts, and economic turbulence around the world. But what are some of the most notable events that will make us remember this year? It’s time for us in the Inoreader team to share our thoughts.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine

Sadly, there is no way to begin this list without mentioning one of the most tragic events in Europe’s recent history. The war in Ukraine prompted many to seek out alternative sources of information, largely relying on social media for uncensored news. While mainstream media could easily restrict information from making its way to the citizens of Russia and Ukraine, platforms like Telegram still allow for the free distribution of content. It doesn’t necessarily mean propaganda hasn’t found its way online, but despite this, services like Telegram have generally been acknowledged as an alternative for media outlets that have been restricted by local authorities.

In light of this, one of Inoreader’s first updates in 2022 was adding the option to follow public Telegram channels (more on that here). We are still providing our full set of Pro features to the people of Ukraine for free in hopes of helping them find quality information in these dark days.

NASA’s first images from the James Webb Space Telescope

Even those not particularly interested in space exploration know that the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on Christmas Day 2021 was a pretty big deal. Being one of NASA’s Great Observatories (succeeding the Hubble Space Telescope), the 10 billion dollar investment’s purpose is to study the history of our universe beginning with the Big Bang, going through the formation of solar systems, and ending with the evolution of our own solar system. Built with the ability to look at a 13.6 billion light years distance in time (the farthest humans have ever seen into space), the James Webb telescope is also the first-ever NASA-led mission attempting to unfold a complex observatory in space. Pretty impressive, right?

We’re sure you’ve seen the pictures, but here’s a tip – use Dark mode and Card view in Inoreader for the most immersive experience while viewing the magical shots.

Everyone trying to understand what the Metaverse is

Aside from all jokes concerning Mark Zuckerberg’s legs (or lack thereof) in Facebook’s Metaverse, the truth is defining this phenomenon turns out to be nearly impossible. Is the Metaverse a shared virtual reality, an immersive multiplayer video game, or a space to hold weird company meetings and buy expensive 3D clothes? It’s been more than a year since Meta and fellow tech giants have expressed interest in building this new digital world, but the exact direction they’re going in is still not clear to the public. A work in progress, this developing vision of our collective future on the internet could either be one of the most exciting things to happen to humanity during our lifetime, or a big flop, costing Meta, Microsoft, and other corporate dreamers billions of dollars. No matter the results, one thing is for sure – it will be exciting to watch!

Stay on top of all Metaverse news with Inoreader. Set up Google News alerts and monitoring feeds to get the latest information the minute it appears online.

The global stock market decline

Inflation, interest rates, geopolitical events, supply chain disruptions, and cryptocurrency crashes (more on that later) can all contribute to a falling market and leave investors worried about their financial assets. This is exactly what happened during the first six months of 2022 (the worst the stock market’s had in more than 40 years), resulting from a global economic recession following the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine leading to energy disruptions worldwide. It is still unclear when the current market downturn will pass, which means sticking to a smart strategy and getting the right market intel will keep getting increasingly important to investors in 2023.

Learn how to use our Web feeds feature to help you make better investments and trading decisions here.

Wordle

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve probably spent a considerable amount of your time in the last year trying to solve The New York Times’ daily Wordle. And if, for some reason, you truly don’t know what we’re talking about, here’s the deal (and also the most Googled term in 2022): Wordle is a web-based word game where you try guessing a five-letter word in six turns, getting immediate feedback after each attempt. What’s cool about it is that it has a single daily solution, meaning you can compete with your friends by guessing the same word and sharing your results. Following the initial popularity of the game at the beginning of the year, a number of adaptations and clones appeared online, but so far none of them has managed to replace the OG game in our hearts.

If you’re still a Wordle fanatic, you can follow Mashable on Inoreader to check the daily results and hints posted there.

Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter

The meme lord himself has given us a lot to discuss online with his recent acquisition of Twitter. Following a couple of attempts to cancel the deal, Musk finally stepped in as (self-proclaimed) ‘Chief Twit’ in late October and quickly proceeded to oust former CEO Jack Dorsey along with the company’s previous CFO and top lawyer in his first days there. Then came the layoffs. Almost 50% of Twitter’s workforce was cut off by either getting fired or leaving as a sign of protest. Formerly banned profiles of controversial celebrities and public figures like Donald Trump were reinstated to the platform (while some, like Kanye West, have already been blocked again) and the social media’s content policies were radically changed. Some were quick to leave Twitter and predict the platform’s demise, while others rejoiced at the perspective of newly found freedom of speech and loose moderation.

Read our guide on how to fill in the void after leaving the platform here. If you’ve migrated to Mastodon or follow people who’ve done it, you can also follow them and read more about it here.

The crypto crash

Already mentioned in some of our previous points, global inflation, rising interest rates, and overall economic instability have not only affected the stock market but also created uncertainty in the crypto ecosystem. Just to illustrate how bad it is, Bitcoin (BTC) has recently dropped to a two-year low after hitting a record high at the end of 2021. The collapse of FTX, a crypto exchange famous for its lavish spending on ad campaigns and celebrity endorsements, generated strong pressure in the market to sell with many people fearing that FTX’s bankruptcy would be followed by the downfall of other crypto firms, which has already begun happening. Overall, the 2022 meltdown has been a wild ride for crypto enthusiasts around the globe, most probably reshaping the industry for years to come.

Explore our Investing collections for the latest news from the world of crypto.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

After rumors of bribery in the bidding process, public backlash for the country’s record of human rights violations, concerns about its climate, limited football history and high organizational costs, Qatar turned out to be one of the most controversial countries ever to host the FIFA World Cup. Some have even described the event as a clash of civilizations, opposing the lifestyles of Western liberal democracies and Eastern Islamic states. But despite all the debates, football fans around the globe have once again tuned in to watch the grand sporting event of 2022, proving that football can make us forget about our differences and come together in the spirit of competition.

Not sure you will be free to watch the game? Set up push notifications with Rules and get the live results directly on your phone!

Notable pop culture mentions

What made 2022 remarkable for memers around the globe? Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, the Depp v. Heard trials, the whole mess that Don’t Worry Darling was (RIP Holivia), and, of course, our drink of choice – a negroni sbagliato with prosecco in it. 2022 was also the year everyone dated Pete Davidson, Kanye had a year-long meltdown, the ‘jiggle jiggle’ song went viral on TikTok and Julia Fox said “Uncut Gems and things like that”. We also got Kendall Jenner cutting a cucumber, the horror of Heidi Klum’s Halloween worm costume, and new seasons of Euphoria and Stranger Things. Overall, it was a good year for memes, and if you missed some (or all) of it, don’t worry, you can do better next year!

Follow our Lifestyle collections to stay on top of pop culture in 2023.

And there it is – our year in review. Let’s hope 2023 will be more peaceful and bring more good news and fun things to see on the internet. Make sure you don’t miss out on anything important with a yearly Inoreader Pro plan!