It’s been a rough 12 months.

But new social data has revealed that the milestone moments we’ve all witnessed during the pandemic have had a direct impact on how Ireland has exercised kindness online.

KIND Snacks identified a collection of phrases that repeatedly came up in tweets where people had spread kindness, or positively commented on another individual’s act of kindness.

Using these terms, the company tracked how they had been used throughout the year, noting significant peaks and troughs against ongoing conversation for key calendar events or cultural moments.

An incredible 3,750,000 kind tweets were posted in 2020, an average of 10,200 a day, with the peak of kindness revealed to be at the start of the first lockdown on March 17th, 2020.

The Late Late Toy Show charity appeal, which raised a surprise €6.2m for Irish charities, helped push kindness out online on November 28th.

Other notable kindness highs included Joe Biden announced as the next US President and Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan stepping back to care for his wife as people rallied to support and acknowledge his efforts.

Here are the top 8 moments that sparked kindness in 2020
1. Government coronavirus plans call for extraordinary measures (22,484)
2. Clap for Carers launches (17,164)
3. Global Covid Cases pass 1 million (15,952)
4. GAA’s community focus announced (15,508)
5. Matt Damon locks down in Dalkey (13,240)
6. Leo Varadkar quotes Mean Girls during COVID-19 briefing (13,096)
7. Joe Biden announced as the next US President (12,891)
8. Tony Holohan steps back to care for his wife (12,850)