Month: October 2016

What better way to defeat a political opponent than by attacking their race, gender, or religion, amiright?

Fox News Anchor Lou Dobbs is being heavily mocked on social media for his Tweet accusing Evan McMullin (a conservative third-party contender for the presidential race) of being part of the “Mormon Mafia,” whatever that is:

Look Deeper, He's nothing but a Globalist, Romney and Mormon Mafia Tool #MAGA #AmericaFirst #TrumpPence16 #TrumpTrain #Dobbs https://t.co/WfjYzck2jt

— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 23, 2016

McMullin (like former presidential candidate Mitt Romney), is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka Latter-Day Saint or the more popular “Mormon” for short.

Dobbs, it seems, says Donald Trump is a “very, very smart man,” and is “waking up America.”

So, I guess it’s not surprising that he would defensively lash out at McMullin as a threat to Trump’s campaign.

As you can see, there was a huge spike in activity Wednesday night when the Tweet went viral and folks started giving their own input:

Business Insider reported McMullin’s response, as did CNN, but what is more interesting is the way Twitter took the hashtag and ran with it.

A large percentage were filled with “Mormon jokes” — slightly sarcastic cultural references that you will probably laugh harder at if you’re actually Mormon. Here are some honorable mentions:

They don't call them funeral potatoes for nothing… #MormonMafia pic.twitter.com/0VQuPICGLz

— Rachel Reviews Movies and Theatre (@rachel_reviews) October 27, 2016

https://twitter.com/Philip_R_Moon/status/791498530804293633

If you're not careful Mormon Mafia will break into your house —- fold the laundry and do the dishes

— Jen Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 27, 2016

Revenge? Nah. Green jello is a dish best served cold.#MormonMafia @LouDobbs

— Adam (@adamswhitaker) October 28, 2016

https://twitter.com/AllknowingSuit/status/791627102642515969

Best #MormonMafia tweet? Honorable mention: I'm not sayin' I brought your trash cans up from the curb, but I’m not saying I didn’t either.

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) October 28, 2016

"And slightly less well known, don't go against a Mormon when the presidency is on the line!"
*evil laughter* #mormonmafia #princessbride

— Kevin (@kevinelarson) October 28, 2016

https://twitter.com/danieltobin/status/791484069485932544

"Gosh darn it, you messed with the wrong fellows this time, you nincompoop!" #MormonMafia

— Sunny (@sunnyright) October 27, 2016

Some, though, were actually rallying cries for McMullin’s campaign. There even seems to be some talk of “Mormon Mafia” becoming the collective term for McMullin supporters (similar to Trumpkins or a fandom name for a celebrity). This seems loose at this stage, but Twitter expressed lots of inclusivity as to who can be a McMullin supporter:

To assume a vote for @Evan_McMullin takes a vote from Repubs or Dems is to assume it was theirs to begin with. It wasn't. #MormonMafia

— Mister H (@ATHudd) October 28, 2016

https://twitter.com/DavidCline/status/792032233712455680

.@LouDobbs proves the fact @GOP has problems w/whole groups of Americans. #mormonmafia #vote .@Evan_McMullin https://t.co/MsKN98FxWQ

— ~•just simply me•~ (@1sweetlyfierce1) October 28, 2016

Sentiment surrouding #MormonMafia was mostly positive, the negative 25% filled with a healthy smattering of sarcasm. Sure, there were plenty of Twitter users who used the hashtag to express displeasure at McMullin’s campaign, arguing that it will dilute the votes or that some Mormons will vote for McMullin purely on religion alone.

Mostly, however, Dobbs’ post sparked a flurry of witticisms and banter. Just another example of why you should be careful what you Tweet– you might end up the butt of your own joke.

Just up the road in Asheville, North Carolina bakers are campaigning to #MakeAmericaCakeAgain. Election day was once treated as a celebratory holiday to eat cake, drink, and play games. These sweet bakers are encouraging other bakers across the country to revive traditions and bake cakes on Election Day in hopes of making this November a more enjoyable voting season.

Susannah Gebhart of the OWL Bakery in Asheville, NC and her business partner Maia Surdam are inspiring bakers that are seeking to sweeten up election season with a historical twist.

According to the feature story by Bon Appetit, post-revolutionary women brought hoards of cake to polling places to “muster” up the votes. The term ‘muster’ was used to reference the many men who were gathered for military training while the women baked away in celebration of a new election.

At this time, women did not have the right to vote. Gebhart told NPR, “The cake offered an opportunity for women who didn’t have access to formal political channels to nevertheless participate in a civic culture surrounding voting.” She goes on to say that this election cake symbolizes the struggle that women have overcome. “Women can vote in America today… the election cake symbolizes that and the struggle,” she said.

On social media, we are able to see the frequently used words that are associated with the hashtag online as well as the spike in conversation around these patriotic pastries. Below, you can see that on October 17, little attention was given to the article on its release date. On October 23, NPR released a radio interview with the bakers at OWL Bakery from Asheville. NPR gave a major social boost for the article and the conversation around the lost Election Day tradition.

Within this peak, the conversation cloud brought up keywords like encouraging, history, bakers, election, and women. All of these words are used by social posters or are seen within the coverage by Bon Appetit or NPR.

Many hopeful voters suggest that bringing back this new tradition could encourage voter turn out. If you’re interested in being patriotic this November, the recipe can be found at Bon Appetit.

*Note: Aspiring bakers may consider adding more wine and brandy to ease election induced stress.

You didn’t hear it from me…

https://twitter.com/InnAtCrossroads/status/788727317594009600

In this election season, all hashtags are political hashtags.

As an interesting example, here’s a hashtag started by an organization:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
We can't afford food
Ramen will do

Write poems about being broke & poor with #Pooretry

On @HashtagRoundup pic.twitter.com/B0vxHDFMhY

— The Goodtime Club (@TheGoodtimeClub) October 22, 2016

The Goodtime Club’s website is under construction, but their Facebook page says they’re about “daily humor, art, and inspirational wisdom to make sure life is a good time. Host of a hashtag game on Twitter Saturdays at 5:30PM EST.”

It seems, then, that #pooretry was their hashtag game for Saturday the 22nd. You can see the spike in social media at that time.

This hashtag is interesting for its nature as a Twitter game invented just for the fun of Tweeting, but also because it is not really designed around a particular social movement, product, or attitude. It’s merely as a game.

Here are some examples — see for yourself!

Roses r red
Violets r blue
I've eaten eggs for 26 days straight
4 the love of God please like my music so I can buy real food#Pooretry

— Crow Mixel (@CrowMixel) October 23, 2016

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
I'm broke.
#Pooretry

— Laurie Crosswell (@lauriecrosswell) October 22, 2016

Do not go gentle into that pay day loan
Rage, rage against the punitive interest rates#Pooretry

— I, Robert (@papermonkeynz) October 22, 2016

https://twitter.com/DavidHoustonVox/status/789954010530783232

I'll have a glass of water, the unlimited breadsticks, and the never-ending salad. Also, some lemon wedges and sugar packets. #Pooretry

— Melody Valdez (@MelodiaValdez) October 23, 2016

I'm down on my luck
Too poor to afford the last
Syllable here#Pooretry #Haiku

— The Jay Agenda || 00:00:00:00 (@OatToaster) October 22, 2016

As you can see, you don’t have to be Lord Byron to participate. Some users just used it as an excuse to write dozens of short poems on their Twitter, with varying levels of actual poetry involved.

As you can see from the examples above, some where very thoughtful, others sarcastic, some just funny. There was some confusion as to the actual purpose of #pooretry, even though it was clearly defined by the original post. As one user put it:

Clearly, an innocuous pastime.

But is it only useful as a game?

Typical of this election, some of these Tweets have a distinctly political cast:

#Pooretry

If I only had money I'd make it rain
I might even go crazy
Buy the Orange man a Brain

— nnnnn123 (@totljlt123) October 23, 2016

https://twitter.com/AnonymousJobsUS/status/789983812184842241

https://twitter.com/SpottlessMarxx/status/789981645382164480

https://twitter.com/kissmiss1111/status/789993909187379200

https://twitter.com/uncle_gong/status/789998492018171904

Whether you use it to critique Election 2016 or just to write bad poetry, #pooretry is interesting in that it’s neither created by a “normal person” on Twitter or a celebrity or business…it was made by some sort of middle-group type of organization with an under-construction website and apparently the only goal of spreading positive vibes online.

Let’s see if it’s enough to combat the depressive powers of Presidential Election Season 2016.

The final debate of this presidential election cycle did not disappoint. Both major party candidates performed as expected: Sec. Clinton was composed and coherent while Mr. Trump was “entertaining,” to say the least. Known for his one-liners, the Donald added to his already extensive repertoire of quotable quips.

Immigration is one of the hottest button issues in this election. Donald Trump has famously proposed a wall and mass deportation and in Wednesday’s debate, that vigor has been reinforced.

During his speech on immigration, he stated the wall at the Mexican border will be built, drug lords will be removed, and free neckties for all land owning white males. The last goal is a joke with probably more likelihood of happening than the actual points made during the debate. However, Mr. Trump’s attempt at Spanish was laughable at best. “Bad hombres” spread like wildfire.

Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and mainstream news lit up with posts; 215,810 to be exact. Reactions to the moment ranged from confused to amused and everything in between. Even Weird Al Yankovik, iconic parody songwriter,  got in on the bad hombre madness.

The joke didn’t stop there. Users began to compare the gaff in pronunciation to the color effect and dying (pun unintended) hair trend, ombre.

The overwhelming majority of the sentiment around this topic is negative. A whopping 97% of posts about the matter are negative. Even the nearly 3% coded as positive are merely an example of misunderstood sarcasm.

Despite the inherently funny nature of the issue and nearly irresistible humor opportunities, some users took “Bad Hombres” and Nasty Women as a chance to encourage one another and get out the vote. I guess not all the hombres out there aren’t so bad after all.

Nasty Women were also a hot button take away from Wednesday’s debate. Read more about it here.

#RepealThe19th : The Latest Groan-Inducing Development of Election 2016

In case you don’t know, its an election year. The nation is coming together behind the candidate they feel is best fit for the commander-in-chief position. Overall it seems like a pretty good system: you register to vote, you support a candidate, you vote, someone wins. What happens when the only thing between your candidate and the Oval Office is something pesky like women’s suffrage?

The past few weeks have been wrought with conjecture and polls about who is well on their way in the race for 270. One in particular stood out from the rest. FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s political opinion and polls blog, posted an article about how the vote would be very different if only women voted and if only men voted in November’s presidential election. It is an interesting concept that went very wrong.

These two maps tweeted by Silver show Hillary Clinton winning in a monumental landslide if only women voted and Donald Trump overcoming the current odds against him if only men voted.

Enterprising and devoted Trump supporters came up with the perfect solution: #RepealThe19th. “The 19th” refers to the 19th amendment of the United States Constitution granting suffrage to white women. It was ratified in August 1920 but its run its course, according to a small segment of the internet. Bustle, NY Daily News, Buzzfeed, MSNBC, Chicago Tribune, and many others had a field day analyzing if this was only a joke or something more serious. They decided its a little bit of both.

Over 167,000 posts were shared on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and mainstream news outlets about #RepealThe19th. Seventy-one percent of the sentiment around this troll-like hashtag is negative. Users cite the incident as the most recent display of societal misogyny.

The 28% of postings coded as positive around this hashtag are wrought with sarcasm.

#RepealThe19th is the latest gender-related scandal facing Mr. Trump in the past week. The Trump Tapes were released with damning recording of the presidential candidate speaking about women in very crass and shockingly inappropriate terms. Shortly after women competing in Trump-sponsored pageants have also come forward about his brutish behavior. Will he ever catch a break? Maybe once women’s voting rights are cast over that wall along with immigrants and hot mics.

Shamed if we do, shamed if we don’t.

“Why didn’t you report your assault?”

*Reports assault*

“Liar.”

Reporting sexual assault is not easy and most assaults go unreported. Often times women are asked, What were you wearing? Were you flirting with him? Were you drinking? Why didn’t you report it sooner?

If you have ever asked yourself the last question, this and over 68, 000 people will tell you why.

Jessica Leeds, is a woman who recently shared her experience of sexual assault by none other than the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump.

Remember at the second presidential debate when Anderson Cooper asked Trump if he ever “did those things” he said on the Trump Tapes? Well… he did.

However, instead of listening to her story and doing something about it, victim blaming was in full effect on the Twitter stage yesterday.

Lou Dobbs is a Fox Business Network anchor who made a BIG mistake on Twitter. Dobbs tweeted out the personal information of one of Trump’s accusers of sexual assault, Jessica Leeds. Within the tweet, contained her address and phone number. Dobbs’s tweet originated from another Twitter user who posted the information. Dobbs is a devout Trump supporter and shared Leeds’s personal information with all 795,000 of his followers.

Dobbs later apologized on Twitter, considering that sharing other’s personal information is against the terms and conditions of Twitter to share personal information across the site. The tweet was available yesterday but has since been removed.

This is the treatment that a victim gets for bravely reporting her story? Doxxing and backlash reverberated across the Twitter-sphere?

https://twitter.com/LouDobbs/status/786646963051638784

However, the controversy doesn’t end there. Over 68,000 people contributed to a larger conversation about #WhyWomenDontReport. This hashtag gained instant attention by women in a similar way that the #NotOk did after the release of the Trump Tapes where Trump was caught discussing sexually assaulting women. #WhyWomenDontReport was created in response to Dobbs’s breach of confidentiality for a victim’s personal information in which he released across cyberspace to a grand audience.

This hashtag created a virtual space for women to share their narratives and frustrations about how society has a major victim blaming problem. Many of these stories contain narratives of personal experiences, accounts of rape culture, and victim blaming.

The most infuriating thing on this feed is that many conservative organizations and major conversation leaders used this as a soapbox to bash Bill Clinton in order to detract from the main message. While neither is acceptable, this is not about politics. This is a larger social issue in which society places the blame on a brave victim of assault for speaking out. These trends are often times used as a place for pointing fingers rather than allow the crowd to let their voices be heard.

The chart below shows the trend huge spike in use at around 8 p.m. According to Politico, Lou’s apology tweet hit twitter at around 3:25 p.m. where he shared the article written about his indiscretion and said, “My retweet, my mistake.” After that, you see a major spike in the conversation when people begin using the hashtag #WhyWomenDontReport.

Below is a conversation cloud that includes keywords that were used in association with the hashtag. Staggering statistics were posted by a user who shared this tweet:

https://twitter.com/SareanaKimia/status/786721974781353984

This post shows keywords in the conversation clouds because her post was retweeted over 7,000 times and favorited by over 6,000 users. 

These staggering statistics and chilling words reveal only minor details about the intensity of this trending  Twitter conversation. While we gear up for election day, women voters will not forget the lewd and horrific things Donald Trump has said and done to women. Victims of sexual assault are being retraumatized daily by the uncovering of Trump’s disturbing past and the virality of these conversations.

Shamed if we do, shamed if we don’t. Victim blaming needs to come to an end and the ability to share narratives, take a stand, and say it is wrong, will hopefully empower more women to fight back against the shaming.

So the latest internet trend decided to grace us with its presence this week. It’s called “Trumpkin.”

Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

Trump + pumpkin = Trumpkin.

As in, jack-o-lantern with the face of one Donald Trump.

And, just in time for Halloween.

So if you were thinking “Trumpkin” was a character from “The Chronicles of Narnia”…you would be right. Hang with me, though, because it’s not just a trendy new home decor.  There’s more to it than meets the eye.

So today in a pumpkin contest I painted a "trumpkin". It's in the trash now pic.twitter.com/Cjyt3SJwL6

— Kay (@Katiekat_2016) October 13, 2016

Some of them are actually quite impressive.

Here is my Halloween Trumpkin- it's Amazing , classy and YUGE only @realDonaldTrump can make America great again ! pic.twitter.com/Rw9REiTgzg

— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) October 26, 2015

https://twitter.com/shelliwright/status/780442019042852864

As fun as they are to look at, some users of Twitter are less-than-impressed about their existence.

In fact, half of the social media sphere approved Trumpkin, half did not, according to the data from Radian6 social media analytics:

Still, it was a little more negative than positive. Some people were just not impressed.

https://twitter.com/Quackarazzi/status/786323507063820288

https://twitter.com/SliceofLifeVivs/status/786387680896483329

The other half, though, are firmly in support!

https://twitter.com/EricMBacon/status/786387873255698432

Some brilliant artist made this and I'm going to rip off their idea. Whoever you are, thank you. #pumpkincarving #PumpkinHeads #Trumpkin pic.twitter.com/Aj1t98NbWt

— Colin (@lowericon) October 13, 2016

https://twitter.com/PIZZAPHANTOM/status/786393054903087104

The interesting thing, though, is that “Trumpkin” as Trump + pumpkin is not the only way the term was used. Over this summer, people were already using the hashtag, and according to this article, Trumpkins were already a thing last fall, when Trump was running for the Republican nomination.

If such is the case, it’s become more than just that over the past year. These Tweets seem to be using the term “Trumpkin” as a person who supports Donald Trump in his political campaign for the White House:

https://twitter.com/CartoonCommune/status/760299052093218817

https://twitter.com/yitzyy/status/760336753559470080

Another Trumpkin upset because he thought Twitter was a Safe Space https://t.co/QCoBSSRhWT

— Third Superpower (@thirdsuperpower) August 2, 2016

I'm worried Jon.. You're tweeting like a trumpkin..

🙂 https://t.co/13fCRyWDaF

— brittany… (@InezBrittany) August 2, 2016

At any rate, there was a huge spike this week as the trend of creating Trump pumpkins and posting them online exploded in popularity.

Perhaps this is just another way that social media both facilitates and accelerates societal movements. Now that Trumpkin is more than just a gruff, bearded dwarf in a popular children’s series, the name may go down in history as both Trump supporters and a way to make a front porch statement this Halloween.

The history of the jack o’ lantern might be interesting here. Jack o’ lanterns came over with Irish settlers who carved gourds to scare off evil spirits instead of pumpkins. Pumpkins come from America, like potatoes and tomatoes. As this election has gone so far, is “Trumpkin” really surprising at this point?

Thank goodness we have pumpkins, or we might have been stuck with a “Trourd” instead…and that is scary.

After the release of the Trump Tapes where Donald Trump was caught having a lewd conversation with Billy Bush of Access Hollywood about sexually assaulting women, a wave of outrage hit social media.

On Twitter, women took to social media to share their first experiences with sexual assault. Kelly Oxford, a New York Times best-selling author of Everything is Perfect When You’re a Liar, put out a tweet calling upon women to share their first experience with sexual abuse on Twitter by sharing her first assault. Oxford told Twitter about the man who groped her on a city bus at age 12. In response to her vulnerability, she received a flood of stories from women, detailing their disturbing and heartbreaking experiences with sexual assault.

This post sparked over 9,000 retweets and developing the hashtag #NotOk shedding light on the sexual assault and abuse that women have faced throughout their lives. The responders supported each other by standing firmly behind the fact that sexual assault is not ok.

Over 9.7 million people responded to her tweet in less than 24 hours as the image she posted shows the spiked an interaction on her page. Oxford urged people to look at these stories and to not ignore the unfortunate evidence detailing the prevalence of sexual assault the that lies in front of them.

Unfortunately, Trump supporters and crude men tweeted at her calling her names and dismissing the severity and inappropriateness of Trump and Bush’s statements from the tape. Oxford proceeds by responding to the tweets by taking her stand against their arguments and blocking them.

The conversation clouds below show a trend of key words that were used in relation to this topic. The cloud with the hashtag #TrumpTapes shows to have a common theme of including the word ‘Hillary’ in which many Twitter users used the #TrumpTapes as a platform to attack the Clinton Campaign, Bill Clinton’s infidelity, and to make a case in support of Trump and oppose Hillary.

In the use of the trending hashtag #NotOK, the key words include words like harrowing, straight, hours, and tweeted which are all words included in Oxford’s tweet that urges followers to not ignore the situation and to be aware of the women who are bravely sharing their stories on Twitter and to join the greater conversation. These words are probably appearing as frequently used words because 5.7 thousand people retweeted her initial tweet depicted below.

Other words in the cloud include rape, sexual assault, sharing, survivors, and shame. This feed involves highly sensitive information where stories were shared with a greater audience to bring light to the negative, sexual, and objectifying way that men causally speak, harass, and sexually assault women. This is an effort to create social change by presenting evidence of thousands of disturbing assaults in which women became victims of crimes that were dismissed or never admitted. The feed also gave way for women to share while feeling encircled within a safety net of thousands of women to turn to for support and back-up when a negative comment arose.

The trend line shows that there was a major spike of the hashtag #NotOk at around 1 a.m. and then another at around 2 p.m. One possibility for explaining this would be that the veil of the evening allowed users to feel more vulnerable and willing to share sensitive information online during a time when less users would be looking at Twitter.

A series of unfortunate events began to unfold for Trump when key republican figures began withdrawing their support. John McCain and other important republican figures have pulled support from Trump and put out statements on social media condemning such behavior. McCain put out a statement on Facebook urging republican voters to stand against both Trump and Hillary and write in a suitable republican candidate.

Trump also put out a video apology in which he attempted to reconcile his vitriol. The question is, has this changed the minds of undecided voters?

On Sunday at the second presidential debates, moderator, Anderson Cooper asked Trump directly about the tapes. Trump responded with, “No, I didn’t say that at all.” His exact words were heard across digital lines in which he depicted his desires to sexually assault a woman. After beating around the bush and distracting viewers from the question, he claimed that no one is more respectful of women than he is. Has he lost the women’s vote? Is this the end of Donald Trump as a probable presidential nominee?

You’re probably aware that Governor Haley issued an evacuation for the lower parts of the state of South Carolina in the face of the oncoming Hurricane Matthew.

What you may not be aware of is how people are reacting to the evacuation on social media.

Most people are posting the “expected” reactions to the oncoming storm — “stay safe,” “prayers needed,” “everyone be careful out there,” and other “normal” reactions to a category 4 natural disaster.

Two, however, may come to you as a surprise.

First: annoyance at having to evacuate.

These posts seemed to either take umbrage at Hurricane Matthew for daring to disrupt their daily life or express contempt at the need for evacuation. These folks seem to be feeling bullet proof (although rainproof might come in more handy).

I’ll edit some of these responses for the more sensitive types…these posters tended to use colorful language. Here are a few of the more family-friendly ones:

https://twitter.com/katmthompson/status/783723916032372736

https://twitter.com/Bougie_Bre/status/783777637340631040

https://twitter.com/MilaTheKilla/status/783740091827126272

One asked (with four-letter emphasis) why everyone was “freaking out.”

Ok, so I didn’t censor them ALL:

https://twitter.com/teresaIisbon/status/783715759075815424

Dammit man. I'm in an 'evacuation zone' for this damn hurricane

— Late Stage Capitalism Barbie (@zuri_too) October 5, 2016

These you needed to see as-is, especially for the quotation marks around “evacuation zone.”

Second thing you may not have heard of before: “hurricane parties.”

According to Wikipedia, a “hurricane party” is a gathering, common in the southeast, where folks hunker down together, often for days at a time.

The Urban Dictionary, however, had a different definition (something to do with alcohol, it seems).

These particular Tweets seem to support the traditional “turn-up” sort of idea about hurricane parties (as opposed to the backyard grill version Wikipedia seems to favor).

https://twitter.com/BTW_LOL/status/783769991778824193

https://twitter.com/Its_LilLiz/status/783780513773391873

As the definition varies, so do peoples’ opinions of it on Twitter.

In the words of Twitter user @HoldemanCody, “Hurricane party…[F***] the evacuation” (Tweet from October 5, 4:05 pm, edited).

https://twitter.com/ShannonPaige19/status/783778052761391104

https://twitter.com/abby_cook4/status/783763699056214016

https://twitter.com/ravenmarieo/status/783706464363905024

Not excited about this new updated storm tracker projection. Definitely enjoyed Hurricane parties at Blondies in my 20s. Now, not so much.

— Tony Mejia (@MejiaDinero) October 5, 2016

To the idiots that keep saying they're having a "hurricane party" is it that hard 2 comprehend that this storm is producing 140 mph winds.

— Laura Williams (@lawilliams0822) October 5, 2016

florida is getting a category 4 hurricane and residents are only worried about who's having the hurricane party

— Nicole Marconi (@nmarconii) October 5, 2016

As far as I can tell, hurricane parties are a fairly recent phenomenon, but don’t quote me on that one.

If you haven’t seen this sort of reaction to a hurricane before, now you have. As social media tends to be filled with millennials (ah, the joys of youth) it might be safe to suggest that these un-conventional views on what to do during a weather emergency are limited to a certain age bracket. Now that we have social media, everyone has a platform to let their opinions be known, especially in the face of an impending disaster. As the storm moves in, it will be interesting to see if and how these same posters continue to post.

The Clinton Debate: Some Issues

On September 29th, roughly 80 million people “watched” the first presidential debate. By “watched,” we mean they tweeted, blogged, posted, and all other forms of technology-mediated communication (probably no telegraphs or actual phone calls though) about the first debate.

We here at the News in New Media center have been closely following this election. We have conducted research on select issue areas for each candidate. An analysis of conversation about Donald Trump’s Monday night performance can be found here.

Nearly 380,000 posts were made last week about Secretary Hillary Clinton. We identified five of the foremost public discourse topics surrounding this year’s election. Defense, economy, immigration, social issues, and health care are among both what voters care about and the most pressing issues America is facing.

The data show defense was the number one concern area for the viewing and soon-to-be voting public. Issue topics such as military spending, Syria, and ISIS are included in this category. Over 160,000 of Sec. Clinton’s media hits are from this one subject area.

Let’s take a look at a deep dive analysis of the sentiment of the 8,235 posts in the defense discussion.

The light green area shows that most of the conversation was overwhelmingly negative; over 75% negative compared to the 20% of positive sentiment. Social media users expressed deep concern and outrage about the U.S. lifting U.N. sanctions against Iranian Banks.

Other negative posts cite what they deem to be other general misconduct and corruption during Sec. Clinton’s career. Many posts also express disdain for the handling of Syria issues.

There are clearly some very strong opinions about Sec. Clinton in the area of defense. Even posts coded positively are examples of sarcasm.

Economy, the topic area with the highest hits for Donald Trump, is a close second to defense in Hillary Clinton’s analysis. Similarly to defense, a vast majority of the media hits are negative; they account for 77% of the 7,570 posts over the past week.

The posts range in subject matter from Hillary Clinton wanting to export jobs to Asia, proposals to raise taxes, and to suspicions of controversy around the Clinton Foundation.

Though most of the social media chatter about this election is negative, it shows that there is at least a rich dialogue about the political climate of this country. America may be hate-watching and only one short month from hate-voting, but they are loving their right to exercise their constitutional freedom of speech.