Headlines can tell you a lot about what happened over the year. Below I’ve assembled some of the most telling headlines from TechCrunch posts in 2007, divided by month. The big story of the year was the battle between Facebook and Google with their competing platforms for social networking applications (and ads). But there were other interesting subplots as well, such as media companies trying to assert themselves in the digital domain with Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube, NBC and Fox launching Hulu, and NBC tangling with iTunes, not to mention the whole DRM-free drama in music. In the wireless world, we saw Google launch its Android mobile operating system and make a bid for wireless spectrum. The iPhone was another big story, as was Apple’s efforts to control how consumers were able to use (or not use) the device.

A lot of startups gained some major traction during the year, including Digg, Joost, Ning, and Slide. The notion of paying consumers who help to build popular sites also gained traction, with Revver doling out more than $1 million to its top contributors, and YouTube following suit by opening up its own partner program. In Web apps, online spreadsheets, word processors, and presentation suites came together and both Zoho and Google made strides towards taking those apps offline, representing an important shift in consumer software.

Below is a set of the most topical posts from TechCrunch in 2007 that I hope gives you a flavor of the year that’s passed. See also our Year in Deals, Year in DeadPool, and Most Popular Posts.

December

20: Google-DoubleClick Deal Passes FTC Hurdle. Now Comes the Hard Part: Europe

20: Fair Use Vs. Free Speech in the Internet Age: The Lane Hartwell Problem

12: Bebo Embraces Facebook Apps With Its “Open Applications Platform”

3: More Facebook Advertisers Bail From Beacon. Plus, New Concerns.

November

29: Google To Announce Wireless Spectrum Bid Friday

18: Amazon Kindle To Debut On Monday – Ugly But Impressive

6: Liveblogging Facebook Advertising Announcement (Social Ads + Beacon + Insights)

5: Breaking: Google Announces Android and Open Handset Alliance

October

30: Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Launch Thursday

28: Hulu Launches Private Beta, Makes Very Good First Impressions

4: The Inevitable March of Recorded Music Towards Free

1: Skype: CEO Zennstrom Steps Down; Only 1/3 of Earnout Paid

September

28: Note to Apple: Stop Thinking Like a Phone Company

27: AOL Is Gussying Itself Up for an Advertising IPO

23: Ning Milestone: 100k Social Networks

21: Google To “Out Open” Facebook On November 5

12: Revver: $1 Million In User Payouts In First 12 Months

August

30: NBC Bails on iTunes

28: Slide Users Adding One Million New Widgets Daily: That’s a Lot Of Widgets

21: Zoho Goes Offline (in a good way)

July

25: Joost Says They Have 1 million Beta Users; Launch By Year End

25: Microsoft Now Selling Digg’s Ads, July 25

25: The FCC Needs To Listen To Google, July 22

15: Ron Paul: A Distributed Web 2.0 Campaign

June

27: MySpace Videos To Become MySpace TV, YouTube Competitor

2: Amp’d Mobile Implodes: Burns $360 million, Declares Bankruptcy

May

30: Google Gears Lets Developers Take Apps Offline

24: Facebook Launches Facebook Platform; They are the Anti-MySpace

22: Silicon Valley Could Use A Downturn Right About Now

3: Breaking: Yahoo To Shut Down Yahoo Photos In Favor Of Flickr

April

30: Silverlight: The Web Just Got Richer

17: Google’s Office Suite Complete: Google “PowerPoint” Confirmed

10: PhotoBucket Videos Blocked on MySpace

4: Forget YouTube: Go To These Sites If You Want Hard Core Copyright Infringing Content

March

23: Dear Clown Co.: Name This Thing Fast Before It’s Too Late

13: Viacom Drops a $1 Billion Nuke on Google.

7: Digg Hits 1 Million Registered Users.

February

PowerHype At Powerset, February 12

Apple Openly Supports Death of DRM. February 6

January

It’s Official – eBay is Buying StubHub For $310 million. January 10

Bubble, Bubble, Bubble, January 7, 2007