'Frankenstorm' Sandy year's 2nd most-talked-about topic on Facebook

WASHINGTON: Megastorm Sandy has been the year's second most-talked-about topic on social networking website Facebook, after the Super Bowl game, a survey has found.

According to data gathered by Facebook, as of 10 am (local time) on Tuesday, the most-shared term by US users on the social networking website was "We are OK".

Sandy scored an 8.34, at its peak on Monday, on Facebook's "Talk Meter," which measures chatter about a news event on a scale of 1 to 10 when compared with a baseline.

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, a report said.

The year's other buzzed-about events on Facebook included the first presidential debate which scored 8.18, Vice-presidential debate (6.79), Academy Awards (6.74), San Francisco Giants winning the World Series (6.71), Hurricane Isaac (5.24) and Announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's vice-presidential candidate (5.21)

Facebook's data shows 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.

People also are using Facebook to let their family and friends know that they survived the storm, the report said.

Other top shared words and phrases included references to electrical power, damage and trees, and terms such as "made it," "safe" and "thankful."

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League ( NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States.