Whichever way you look at it, 2011 was a very big year for news.

From the death of Osama Bin Laden, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and the London riots, through to the Royal Wedding, Occupy Wall Street and the return of Charlie Sheen, this year had a lot to talk about.

It was a big 12 months for technology, too, with LinkedIn, Groupon and Pandora going public, the launch of Google+, Twitter reaching 100 million active users and an $8 billion valuation and a big Timeline redesign on Facebook.

Not to mention some new entries to social media’s growing collection of faux pas from celebrities, politicians and big business.

This infographic from Flowtown takes a look at what mattered in 2011 for social media.

(Source: Flowtown. Top image credit: mostafa fawzy via Shutterstock.)