(Image via SBS)
Everyone in Brisbane will know that this weekend is a big one for us – it’s G20 time. The G20, or Group of 20, is made up of 19 countries ranging from Australia to Mexico to Turkey to Japan, as well as the European Union. Every year, G20 leaders meet up to discuss pressing issues and this time around the main themes are said to be “strengthening the private sector to promote growth, making the world economy more resilient to future shocks, and shoring up global institutions.” But what has everyone else been talking about? Here’s a run down of what the Internet has been saying about G20, where it’s Brisbane’s turn to play host.
Trends – did the G20 make Brisbane more popular around the world?
We know we said everyone in Brisbane will know about our hosting of the G20, but does anyone else? We expected search results around the world for “Brisbane” to soar, but they really didn’t.
There was a slight incline over the past few days, but overall there wasn’t a huge increase in searches.
It makes us wonder if all the G20 hype is local to us. We had a look at Twitter trends in Brisbane and sure enough, most of them are related to G20, but worldwide trends didn’t feature it at all! Seems Kim K did indeed #breaktheinternet.
Social Media and #G20
Social media has of course been blowing up with #G20 tweets, Facebook posts, and even YouTube videos. Here are some of our favourites so far.
And last but definitely not least, this gem:
A soon to be viral video has also been released. Brisbane based YouTube comics Collective Noun made this hilarious but very true “G20 Introduction to Brisbane” parody video.
Memes – shirt fronting, Putin and boat stopping
And of course it wouldn’t be a global event without memes. Again, here are some of our favourites.
(Via G20 Memes)
News about G20
News Australia-wide has been heavily G20 focused this past week. A couple of noteworthy headlines are police removing suspicious devices from the CBD, homeless people in the city “making way” for leaders, banned political billboards, and of course the Russian warships heading to our shores.
(Via News.com.au)
But it’s not all serious business, the weird and wonderful have come out too. Phil Hogan, owner of Jade Buddha declined an invitation to meet Obama himself this weekend because his wife wasn’t invited and he wanted to spend time with her instead. As a result, Brisbane has banded together to trend #BeerWithObama in the hopes Obama will visit the club for a drink.
Meanwhile, gourmet burger chain Burger Urge have just released a new burger called the “Big Bad Vlad” – featuring “two presidential chicken breasts” and “shirt fronting sweet chili mayo.” But be quick, they’re only selling it from the 14th to the 16th this week! And finally, in an interesting move, the US Secret Service tried to remove an entire roundabout outside UQ so the President’s car wouldn’t have to slow down to pass it.
Abbott – left in the dark
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been making headlines but, as usual, not in the good way. His refusal to discuss climate change has put him and Australia under a lot of pressure. (Note: “3,527 more articles”)
America and China just signed a “gamechanging” deal on climate change with both of them giving statistics and dates for their end goals, making for even more ammo against Abbott. He’s really not so popular on Twitter or in the media right now. Read a couple of Junkee’s articles and you’ll see sarcasm and satire galore.
(Via Junkee)
Putin and his warships
Ever since Abbott’s “shirtfronting” comments towards Putin, the pair have been all over media and social media alike. Searches for the “Russian warships” I’m sure you’ve all seen on your Facebook newsfeeds, as well as “Russia,” “Putin,” and “shirtfront” have all had a huge increase this week on various news sites.
So far, though, all that’s happened is a confrontation at the Beijing leader’s summit and Abbott and Putin becoming the butt of many a joke online.
Obama
The President of the United States has surprisingly been less hyped up than Abbott and Putin, but there are still some noteworthy goings-on to mention. Obama is set to give a speech at UQ on Saturday, and as we mentioned his security team tried to have a roundabout removed from the road. The University has been labelled a “special security zone” and so has his hotel room. The US military is involved too and you may have seen their choppers flying overhead this week. Despite the intense security measures, we all like him anyway and gave him a burger (we’ve sensed a common theme throughout all of this, it seems we’re showering the G20 leaders with true Aussie hospitality – burgers and a #BeerWithObama all ’round).
While the leaders meet up over the weekend, the rest of us can enjoy some of the G20 Cultural Celebrations, ranging from live music to picnics to art installations. And in the meantime, put your G20 skills to the test: try out ABC’s “World’s Hardest G20 Quiz” and see how you fare. We got about 37/110… Oops?
What are your G20 thoughts? Do you think the world leaders will have a great time in Brisbane? Let us know in the comments and have a spectacular G20 long weekend!
