Source: The Verge and Vanity Fair

Battle of the Babies

By: Nate Unger and Kinley DuRant

What to Know:

Since November 12, 2019, Baby Yoda has taken the internet by storm with memes, comments and posts. As of February 2^, 2020, a competitor has emerged against this internet sensation. Baby nut, the little version of the iconic Mr. Peanut of the Planters Peanut company, was born.

Here is some of the info:

• Number of Baby Yoda tweets in the week following its release (1/12/2019-11/19/2019) soared to 227.1K
  • Peak of 64.8K on November 16^th.
• Number of Baby Nut tweets in the week following its release (2/2/2020-Present) was 80.9k
  • Peak of 38.2k on February 3^rd.
• Total Number of Baby Yoda tweets since mainstream release (11/12/2019-Present) – 5.5 million, with peaks on Sunday, December 1^st, 2019
  • Several of the big spikes include:
    • 2k tweets, Monday, December 30^th, 2019
    • 9k tweets, due to release of Rise of Skywalker
    • 3k tweets, due to release of “competitor” Baby Nut, on Monday, February 3^rd, 2020
  • Total Number of Baby Nut tweets since mainstream release (2/2/2020-Present) is around 209.8K

This trend lasted for a few short weeks and the meme account for Baby Nut was shut down. Twitter recently removed 3 accounts created by Planters in an effort to spread memes, a violation of Twitter’s rules and conduct.According to Insider, the Mr. Peanut Twitter account was attempting to build clout by replicating real accounts.  They stated that “coordinated activity, that attempts to artificially influence conversations through the use of multiple accounts, fake accounts, automation and/or scripting,” and “operating multiple accounts with overlapping use cases, such as identical or similar personas or substantially similar content.” (Insider)

Based on this information, it is noticeable that Baby Yoda is a much hotter commodity than his counterpart, Baby Nut. Along with the release of the ninth installment in the Star Wars saga, Yoda got much more attention and is more culturally accepted than Baby Nut. People swooned over Baby Yoda, making him into memes to represent relatable experiences in addition to making fan accounts to post updates as new episodes of his show, The Mandalorian.

Baby Yoda trend:

Baby Nut came out a few months later to a bit of a mixed reception. On one end, people love the cute factor that came with its arrival, similar to that of Baby Yoda. However, people are turning down the notion of Baby Nut in favor of his counterpart, Baby Yoda.

Baby Nut trend:

Source:NHPR

New Hampshire Primaries: Who’s on Top?

By: Sarah Wilson and Kinley DuRant

What to know:

The New Hampshire primaries, some of the first pieces of the American presidential election process, took place on Tuesday, February 11^th. Within these state-wide elections, the people vote for their desired candidate to represent their respective political party in the National Conventions, set to take place in July (Democratic) and August (Republican) of this year. These primaries hold much significance to the future of the election as a whole, as it provides the first insight into which candidates are truly in the running for the nomination.

Here are some things to know:

• One of the very first primaries to be held in the process of choosing each party’s presidential nominee (2^nd to only Iowa’s caucuses)
•  New Hampshire elections are considered by many to be a major test for presidential candidates
  • they set the tone for future primary elections. Within this highly anticipated day
  • unsuccessful candidates commonly drop out, while previously overlooked candidates can become serious contenders with the increased media attention.
• A win in New Hampshire increases a candidate’s final primary count in all states by 27% – a number with the power to make, break, or revive a campaign.

On Tuesday, all eyes fell to New Hampshire’s Democratic primary in particular, anxiously waiting to see what candidates have the potential to stand in the fight against President Trump, who – to no one’s surprise – won New Hampshire’s Republican primary by a landslide. According to social media, the names to watch were Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Andrew Yang. However, the social media conversation leading up to the primary consisted of many interesting surprises, solid predictions, and false assumptions.

According to data pulled from January 13- Feb 2 (the 2 weeks leading up to the Iowa caucus), the most popular candidates online were Sanders (11 million total posts), Biden (9.9 million total posts), and Warren (5.3 million total posts). Of the three candidates, Warren held the best online reputation with 55.3% of the conversation being recorded as positive. Although a close measure, her majority positive sentiment was notable compared to both Sanders’s and Biden’s majority negative score. However, the candidate with the most impressive online attitude was Yang, with an overwhelming 72.9% positive sentiment. While only bringing in 836 thousand tweets in the 3 week span, Yang’s strong approval percentage put him as a potential front-runner in the New Hampshire primary. Buttigieg, coming in with 871 thousand posts, and Klobuchar, recording 746 thousand, were not to be counted out, but also not top candidates.

When the results on the New Hampshire primary were announced on Feb 11^th, it wasn’t unexpected that Bernie Sanders came in first, having won 9 pledged delegates and 25.7% of total votes. With the largest amount of online conversation (a lead of over 1 million), it was a reasonable prediction that Sanders would rack in the most counts on election day. However, the surprise was that neither Biden or Warren came in second place. Despite having 10 times (Biden) and 5 times (Warren) as many total posts as Buttigieg leading up to the primary, Biden finished fifth and Warren fourth, while Buttigieg stole second.

In third was Klobuchar, which also came out of left field, if one were to base their predictions on social media traffic alone. Klobuchar and Warren shared a nearly identical percentage of positive conversation. (around 55% positive). However, Warren held 7 times the post volume. From these numbers, one would assume Warren would have the lead over her component but, despite the odds, Klobuchar finished with 30,000 more votes and 6 more pledged delegates.

The arguably most surprising turn of events was the defeat of Andrew Yang. With a competitive post volume and a 17% gap between his leading sentiment score and his fellow components’, many were shocked to learn he finished in eighth place, with a mere 2.8% of votes and 0 pledged delegates. Yang dropped out of the race shortly following the closing of the polls in New Hampshire on Feb 11^th.

As the Democratic National Convention quickly approaches, the race for the presidency will only become increasingly more ruthless. While social media analytics can be extremely telling of a candidate’s potential success, the truth lies in the election results. During this election season, it’s important to remember that using social media to exercise your First Amendment right to political activism is great. Getting involved in politics online can spread awareness about important issues and encourage others to join in on the conversation. However, remember that as loud as your political voice may be in a tweet, there’s no better way to be heard than in the voting booth.

Source: American Majority

Money, Money Everywhere: Democratic Primary Spending

By: Sarah Wilson, Kyle Goodier, Lottie Smith, and Kinley DuRant

What to know:

This data was pulled on February 12th and will change as the campaigning progresses in the coming months. Campaigning for the primary elections is no cheap task. The primaries refer to the process of each state voting on the candidate that they want to represent them in the general election. The Democratic Primaries are underway and as they progress so does the price tag.  Last year, Trump and the top four Democrats spent more on digital advertising than on television advertising. Based on data gathered from the Social Media Listening Center, we are able to see just how much goes into this election process this year, already.

Here are some of the basics:

• A total of $29,995,000 in Facebook spending for the Early nominating States
  • Iowa, New Hampshire,  Nevada and South Carolina
• The top Candidates:
  • Pete Buttigieg is in the lead and has spent $62.3 million on campaign
    • Committee Name: Pete For America Exploratory Committee, Inc.
    • His total amount fundraised was $61 Million and he has gone through $52 Million of it, putting the rate at which he has burned at 85%
    • Over 1,200 people gave Buttigieg’s campaign at least $2,800 in the quarter, the maximum amount a candidate can receive in the primary. Some donors contributed more than that, which Buttigieg will not be able to spend unless he reaches the general election. Big donors include Arne Sorenson, the CEO of Marriott, and former Palm Springs, Calif., Mayor Robert Moon.
  • Bernie Sanders is in second and has spent $90.7 Million
    • Committee Name: Bernie 2020
    • His total amount fundraised was $109 Million and he has gone through $90.7 Million of it, putting the rate at which he has burned his fund raised money at 83%
    • Sanders paid over $8.5 million in salary in the last three months of the year to over 900 staffers, accounting for about 17 percent of his total spending
  • Elizabeth Warren has spent $68.3 Million
    • Committee Name: Warren For President, Inc.
    • Her total amount fundraised was $82 Million and she has gone through $68.3 Million of it, putting the rate at which she has burned her fund raised money at 83%, also.
    • Getting on the ballot in states across the country isn’t cheap. Warren’s campaign spent over $64,000 to get on ballot-access expenses in 23 different states or territories. South Carolina, the fourth state on the calendar, was easily the most expensive at $20,000.
  • Amy Klobuchar has invested $24.0 Million
    • Committee Name: Amy for America
    • Her total amount fundraised was $29 Million and she has gone through $24 Million of it, putting the rate at which she has burned her fund raised money at 83%
    • The Minnesota senator had about 180 staffers on her payroll at the end of the year, which makes her campaign significantly smaller than the poll-leading campaigns she hopes to compete against in Iowa
  • Joe Biden at $52.1 Million
    • Committee Name: Biden for President
  • • His total amount fundraised was $61 Million and he has gone through $52 Million of it, putting the rate at which he has burned his fund raised money at 85%
    • One of Biden’s biggest expenses, outside of paying his staff, is digital advertising. His campaign spent about $2.4 million on digital advertising to vendors including Facebook, Infogroup and Hulu.
  • Michael Bloomberg with $188Million
    • Committee Name: Mike Bloomberg 2020, INC.
    • His total amount fundraised was $200 Million and he has gone through $188 Million of it, putting the rate at which he has burned his fund raised money at 94%
    • Bloomberg is paying his top staffers big bucks. Annualized salaries for his campaign chair and manager could reach as high as $375,000.
  •  Tom Steyer with $201Million
    • Committee Name: Tom Steyer 2020
    • His total amount fundraised was $206 Million and he has gone through $201 Million of it, putting the rate at which he has burned his fund raised money at 97%
    • The billionaire spent over $101 million on ads, with most of that money going through Buying Time, a D.C.-based media buyer. Steyer also spent over $101,000 to advertise in five prominent black publications in South Carolina.
  •  Tulsi Gabbard with a total of $9.9 Million
    • Committee Name: Tulsi Now
    • Her total amount fundraised was $12.6 Million and she has gone through $9.9 Million of it, putting the rate at which she has burned her fund raised money at 78%
    • The Hawaii congresswoman had just 13 staffers on her payroll — which excludes people paid through firms or as a consultant. That’s likely the smallest level among the remaining candidates

In the graph below we are able to see the percent of this money that the candidates have spent on Facebook campaigning alone in their first four states: South Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Iowa. 

There are still another five months of campaigning that will be done before this election comes to a close.  The spending numbers are continuing to fluctuate.  At this rate the numbers could continue to soar far beyond where they are now.

Sources for Data:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/2020-presidential-candidates.html

Source: WLRN

SuperBowl Halftime LIV: A Performance to Remember

By: Kenedey Ward and Kinley DuRant

Over the past 54 year the SuperBowl has been noted for not only the football but for their extraordinary halftime shows.  SuperBowl LIV show did not fall short according to much of the conversation around the event. This year, the stage was claimed by both Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, both with their own flare. This iconic Latina performance was filed with various cultural aspects that left the audience with mixed reviews on social media.

Here is what we need to know:

• Overall the show was a success, with a sentiment recorded as 68.9% positive, per audience analysis.
• Online users applauded both Shakira and JLo for their voices, performance, and overall effort.
• There is somewhat controversial discussion around the artists’ costumes and choreography, full of hip shaking and body rolls.
• This discussion comprises the majority of chatter in regard to the halftime show.

While thousands of users praised the women for their incredible performance, some criticized the show, claiming it was over-sexualized. With the controversy concerning these women’s rights to respect while still dancing and dressing the way they please, many were left wondering if the show was a movement to support and celebrate women or just a perfect demonstration of how objectified women are in our culture. Despite the sexist critiques, majority of the conversation agrees that the performance was incredible, naming it one of the best halftimes shows to hit the Super Bowl stage in years.

Source: NYTimes

What to Know About the State of the Union Address

By: Elizabeth O’Donnell and Kinley DuRant

The Facts:

On February 4^th, President Donald Trump gave his last state of the union dress while in office.  Much of the conversation was negative but was then met by almost half of the positive responses as the conversation increased.  With a totally of 3.7 Million posts surrounding the event, it clearly was an event to talk about. There were several elements to the occasion that broke the traditional form of the address.

Here is what to know:

• A State of the Union Address is a statement that the president of the United States gives at the start of each year to Congress
• Trump made his case for reelection in the speech
  • However, no mention of the impeachment came out of the speech
  • Unemployment rate
    • Trump spoke heavily of unemployment

• Nancy Pelosi
  • She tore up the paper state of address
  • Trump did not shake her hand before his speech
  • She did not introduce him as Presidents have been historically
    • The words “it is my honor” and “highly esteemed” were not used

• White Blazers
  • Women honored the anniversary of the 19^th Amendment by wear white blazers to the SOTU address

• 54.2 % of the conversations surrounding the Address was negatively correlated
  • 45.8 % was positively associated with the event

Based on the surrounding conversation of the event, we can see the political climate is tense and divided. One thing to keep in mind is that this State of the Union Address happens to be occurring in the middle of Trumps impeachment trial that is said to come to a close this Wednesday. Trump is still hoping to get reelected for a second term in office in the coming election.

Source: Center for Disease Control

The Coronavirus: Where is it Now?

By: Sarah Wilson, Maddie Starks, and Kinley DuRant

What to Know:

The first case of Coronavirus, an extremely dangerous respiratory virus, was reported to the World Health Organization on December 31^st, 2019.  As of January 28^th, the death toll has risen to 132.  The number of confirmed cases in the world totals at around 6000.  The US has 5 confirmed cases of Coronavirus and has ramped up airport and border screenings in response to the sickness reaching home.  A vaccine is yet to be developed, making prevention one of our weakest defenses against this new, mysterious virus. As this disease is commonly lethal,  being informed with accurate information will allow one to avoid spreading the virus or contracting it. Across social media platforms, users are sharing their terror over the possibility of the disease spreading in their home countries.

Here are some things to know:

•  Over 11 million posts concerning the Coronavirus have been reported from January 14^th to January 29^th.
• Conversation surrounding the virus is mainly negative, with 73.6% of posts reflecting negative wording.
  • Negative sentiment spiked on January 28^th as the reported death toll began to rise.

•  Conversation is international, a reflection of how prominent the problem at hand is globally.
• U.S. is leading the conversation in terms of volume
• While the disease originated and has mainly affected those in China, only 1% of conversation is reported to be from China, which is understandable
  • Chinese government sanctions non-Chinese media and many social media outlets for its citizens.
• As of this Tuesday, about 10,000 Americans were still stuck in Wuhan waiting for permission to travel back to the states.

Economic analysts have claimed that it is too early to make any assumptions about the effect that the disease currently has on the global economy.  However, several businesses have already closed in China, such as McDonald’s and Starbucks.  Japan has evacuated some of its citizens from Wuhan, China, where the disease began and is most rampant.  U.S. officials and businesses have cautioned American citizens against visiting China and have become extremely strict on border control.   Overall, the conversation surrounding Coronavirus is a one of fear, comprised of a mixture of informative, humorous, and emotionally charged posts,  as users struggle with the possibility that could be affected personally by this uncontrolled and currently incurable disease.

source: @espnstatsinfo

Homerun and Strike for Derek Jeter:

By: Nate Unger, Abbie Goddard,  and Kinley DuRant

Here’s What to Know 

Every January, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) gets together and votes collectively on a pre-decided ballot of the best of the best Baseball players on whether they will be admitted into the prestigious Hall of Fame. Many of what are considered to embody this definition are considered shoo-ins.  But making it into the Hall of Fame isn’t enough.  It is now considered admirable if a player is voted in unanimously. It was assumed that Derek Jeter, a member of the New York, Yankee’s, would be the next player to achieve this in 2020.  However, the results of  voting came out on the night of Tuesday, January 21^st: he was unable to get the unanimity by a single vote. The results show an uproar in the world of social media.

This ESPN graphic from January 21^st shows where Jeter ranks among voting percentage for Hall entry.

source:@espnstatsinfo

Here are some of the facts:

• You need at least 75% of the almost 400 voters to vote ‘Yes’ in order to get into the Hall.
• Up until last year, nobody had ever achieved a unanimous vote
  • Mariano Rivera, also a Yankee was the first to get 100% of the votes in 2019
• Derek Jeter missed being unanimously inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame by one vote
  • Would have been the second in history
• 4 thousand tweets released
  • Primarily focused on the missing vote as opposed to Jeter being inducted to the Hall of Fame
• 55% of all tweets regarding the subject are of positive nature
• 45% negative
  • Mostly directed at the one person, whose name or identity still remains anonymous, that denied him his unanimous vote.

News outlets like CNN and ABC News have tweeted out the results of the voting, with all of them touching on the fact that Jeter was one vote away from being unanimous.

CNN tweeted “Jeter was one vote away from being the second player ever to get a unanimous vote” on the 21^st. Sports accounts like ESPN Stats and Info and Bleacher Report are tweeting out statistics to show how impactful of a player he was.

On the other side of the topic, Phil Hughes, retired pitcher and a longtime teammate of Jeter’s, tweeted out just half an hour after the votes were revealed, “On a day that should be about celebrating Jeter’s illustrious career, it’s instead focused on the one voter who didn’t deem him a worthy first ballot. Fix the system.”

However, in light of the event, Derek Jeter goes down in history as one of the best ballplayers to ever step onto a baseball diamond and his record will stand in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Photo: NFL

Katie Sowers: A Powerhouse in the NFL

By: Charlotte Smith, Sarah Wilson, and Kinley DuRant

What to Know:

The world of sports is off to an exciting start in 2020, making major strides towards equality within players and staff. After the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship on Sunday, media attention turned to one coach that will be taking the team to the Super Bowl, Katie Sowers. Sowers, the offensive assistant coach, will be making history as not only the first female to coach in famous championship, but also the first openly LGBTQ+.

Alongside professional football, the world of baseball is also breaking gender barriers. Earlier this week, the San Francisco Giants announced their hire of Alyssa Nakken, the first female coach in the MLB. With an overwhelming majority of it taking place on Twitter (98.2%), the conversation regarding these women spiked significantly upon the news. These female trailblazers gained almost 10,000 social media mainstream news mentions in 24 hours, and continued to rise over the following days.

The top trending words in the conversation were “Assistant,” most likely due to Sower’s assistant coaching position, “Barriers,” relating to the gender norms that are being broken, as well as “Big,” “NFL,” and “Niners.” Associated words were “Guys,” “LGBTQ,” “Journey,” “Organization,” and “Beer.” A few of these trending words as well as much of the reported negative sentiments, are from one commonly re-shared post by comedian, Dana Goldberg, criticizing the Katie Sowers haters.

The conversation mostly occurred in the US with some activity in Canada, the UK, and Mexico. The main participants in this conversation were general public accounts, commonly reposting or replying to official account reports. There were no major leading official accounts acting as influencers on the topic, although popular companies and brands have begun to capitalize on the women’s historic roles. For example, Microsoft recently featured Sowers in an omnipresent commercial on American network television, broadcasting her success to an even larger audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hU39FPGalQ

Sports fans are an extremely engaged online audience and social media can play a key role in establishing women as valuable playmakers within the industry. Listening to the social media landscape on females’ role in sports administrations is crucial for teams looking to engage and expand their fan base to young women.