Sandy is year's No.2 topic on Facebook

Even as Hurricane Sandy knocked out power from millions of American homes, social media enthusiasts kept at it to make the ‘Frankenstorm’ the year’s second most-talked-about topic on Facebook.

Using laptops, tablets and smartphones and juicing up their battery powered devices wherever they could, people are turning to Facebook to let their family and friends know that they survived the storm.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, the most-shared term by US users was “We are OK”. Other top shared words and phrases included references to electrical power, damage and trees, and terms such as “made it”, “safe” and “thankful”. At its peak Monday, Sandy scored an 8.34 on Facebook’s “Talk Meter”, which measures chatter about a news event on a scale of 1 to 10 when compared with a baseline, CNN reported citing data provided by the social network.

Sandy among the most discussed topics on Facebook

So far in 2012, Sandy trails only the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, which earned an 8.62 in February. The year’s other buzzed-about events on Facebook were: First presidential debate 8.18, vice-presidential debate 6.79, Academy Awards 6.74, San Francisco Giants winning the World Series 6.71 and Hurricane Isaac 5.24. Facebook’s data show that men and women are talking about the storm in equal numbers and that older users – those over 55 – are chatting more about Sandy than younger ones.

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Although Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, that state did not have the highest rate of chatter about the storm. That honour went to Connecticut, with New Jersey a close second.