Month: September 2020

Authors: Kendall Parrish, Raine Riley, and Will Henderson

Clemson football is back for the 2020 season and dominated in their first home game against The Citadel. Although the stadium may look very different this year because of the precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, nearly 19,000 Clemson Tiger fans and students were able to watch from the stands.

The media trend slowly increased as the game got closer with 16,700 tweets about the topic. Fans shared their excitement for the Clemson Tigers while some had strong opinions about the difficulty in the schedule. Many influential accounts including @Newsweek, @TSN_Sports, @USATODAY, and @ClayTravis who were reporting on the game live.

Clemson University has made its mark in college football, dominating in recent years. Since Coach Dabo Swinney took the interim head coach position back in 2008, the entire program has been reimagined and become a legacy. Clemson football has been national finalists in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, and are expected to play for the national title again this year.

The dedicated fans and students still went to Memorial Stadium this weekend to cheer on their team as well as many safely gathered in their homes to watch from the television. The student section was certainly much more quiet than usual, but that didn’t stop Clemson from absolutely dominating The

Citadel. During the first half, Clemson was up 49-0, further proving the skill-level throughout the program. True freshman DJ Uiagalelei (@shaboidj) scored his first touchdown in his college

football career, surely the first of many to come as Trevor Lawerence (@tlawrence16) plans to go to the NFL Draft next year. Coach Swinney put second- and third-string players in for the second half where no points were scored from either team.

YouTube has been relatively prominent in the conversation trends this week as many users have been discussing the Big Ten coming back and predictions for the season. We saw spikes in YouTube engagement the days leading to Clemson’s first home game of the season (over 1,800 engagements) as well as forum replies (over 500) this week, largely discussing the level of difficulty in Clemson’s football schedule. Many users argue the schedule lacks difficulty, which is the reason the players have such great statistics compared to teams in the SEC or Big Ten.

Overall, fans are always going to root for their team – either wearing masks in the stands or watching on television. While the topic is slowly quieting after Saturday, we should expect to see the conversations elevate as the season continues and the Clemson Tigers get closer to another shot at a national title. With talented players and a competitive spirit, dominant sports influencers in the United States will find it difficult to not consider ranking Clemson as number one in college football this year.

Full Analysis:

Purpose: To analyze the thoughts and sentiments surrounding Clemson University’s first home football game this season against The Citadel.

Analysis Time Frame: September 13th – September 20th, 2020

Overall Trends

• Increasing amount of conversations during the past week leading up to the game with the largest spike on Saturday, September 19th
• Majority of the conversations about Clemson vs. The Citadel were positive (64.1% Positive Sentiment)
• Users have been sharing the results of the game won by Clemson University
• Conversations have largely criticized the Clemson college football schedule
• Clemson football fans celebrated their anticipated win

Twitter

Throughout the week of September 13th, there have been 16,700 tweets (up 95%) containing the

following keywords:

• Keyword Group 1: Clemson AND home game, Clemson AND first game, Clemson AND football, Clemson AND game, Clemson AND Citadel, Clemson football AND first game, Clemson football AND win
• Keyword Group 2 : Clemson AND student section, Clemson AND football tickets, Clemson football AND covid, Clemson football AND coronavirus, Clemson football AND covid19, Clemson football AND student section, Clemson football AND covid-19, Clemson football AND tickets
• Keyword Group 3 : #clemsoncitadel, #clemsonfootball, #clemsonhomegame, #clemsonwin

Impact

• Group 1: 20,148 (98.2%)
• Group 2: 282 (1.4%)
• Group 3: 77 (0.4%)

Trends in Conversation

Twitter conversations related to Clemson playing against The Citadel football team this weekend:

• On September 16th, 2020 there were 4403 tweets mentioning Clemson football relating to Big Ten returning
• The Citadel and Clemson football game was on September 19th totaling 5523 tweets
• Conversations are mostly occurring in the U.S.

Top influencers:

• @Newsweek
• @TSN_Sports
• @USATODAY
• @ClayTravis

Top words used during the week:
Clemson, football, Citadel, game also college, home, Trevor, Lawrence, Texas

Looking at the word cloud we can see many users were posting about the first home game of the season for Clemson and reported the score of the game

YouTube

Conversations slowed over YouTube during the week and is now steady

• 1,800 engagements total
• Most engagements involve game predictions and player statistics

Forum Replies

• 514 posts surrounding college football and the predictions for the Clemson football season

Instagram

• Conversations include fans posting about their team, predictions of the season, and final statistics from the game
• Team accounts: @clemsonfb and @citadelfootball
• Top influencers: @espncfb and @cfbplayoffs
• Top hashtags include:
  • #clemsonfootball – 174K+ posts
  • #citadelfootball – 1K+ posts
  • #clemsonfb – 15.8K+ posts
  • #collegefb- 5K+ posts

An analysis of the initial reactions of people as the threat to the beloved app develops:

Authors: Emma Katherine Grech & Will Henderson

On the morning of September 18th, 2020 the news broke that President Trump and his administration were signing an executive order to ban the downloading of TikTok taking effect just two days later on September 20th. This announcement comes after month-long rumors that the Chinese app would be banned in the United States in order to protect National Security, according to Trump. There has been an explosion in posts after the news came out, over 1.4 million posts in less than two days, up 6% from normal. 

Most of the posts surrounding the topic came from Twitter, 85.9% to be exact, and there was also conversation on Forums and on YouTube concerning the topic. The conversation is happening all over the globe with 9.2% posts coming from Japan and many other countries such as Brazil and the United Kingdom. The conversation is also happening in many different languages with only 52% of the posts being in English showing that even though this mostly affects the U.S., it is a topic that is gone viral. The hashtag #tiktokban has been trending on Twitter all of the day on Friday. The sentiment was 61.7% negative and after analyzing the top posts it is clear that people are not happy about Trump’s decision to ban the app that is loved by so many. 

It will be interesting to see this story unfold and if U.S and China’s TikTok will be able to come to an agreement by November 12th to save the app from being gone completely. Although this is already being talked about I am sure it will continue as the ban takes affect and as we get closer to the complete ban of the app. 

Full Analysis: 

 Topic of The Week: 9/18/20 

Purpose: To analyze the thoughts surrounding the ban of downloading TikTok in the United States by an executive order from the Trump administration set to take effect by Sunday, September 20th. 

Analysis Time Frame: September 17th 2020-September 18th 2020 

Overall Trends 

Social Studio 

– Huge spike in the conversation started Friday morning around 10 a.m. September 18th after the news broke. 

– Most of the conversation is happening on Twitter, 85.9% of posts on this topic were on Twitter. 12.9% of posts were on YouTube and it is being talked about a little bit on other forms of internet communities. 

– Although it is getting banned in the United States, only 19.2% of the conversation is known to be coming from the US. 9.2% of the posts are coming from Japan. However, 53.5% of the posts were in English and around 9.3% of posts were in Japanese. 

– The sentiment following this morning’s announcement is very negative, people appear to be upset about the beloved app actually being banned. The overall sentiment was 56.3% negative. 

– There is a question on what the famous “TikTokers” will do if the app gets shut down after November 12th 

Keyword Group 

• Keyword Group 1: “tiktok”, “tictok”, “tik” AND “tok”, “#tiktokban”, “tiktok” AND “ban”. 
  • Impact: 1.1 Million total posts in two days

Popular Words
#tiktokban 

• This hashtag has been trending on Twitter and has become a source of many of the backlash surrounding the Trump Administrations decision to ban downloads of the app 
• There are many posts that are bashing Trump for the ban insisting that it is against our freedom or that he is doing it for his own good 

Pandemic 

• Many posts are those who are upset about the Tik Tok ban after it has helped so many people find happiness during 2020 and the pandemic 
• People are also concerned with the idea that Trump should be focusing his time and attention on the Pandemic instad of Tik Tok 

Facebook 

• Many posts are calling out Facebook and their previous privacy infringements to make the point that if TikTok is being banned than Facebook should be too. 
• Facebook was known for skewing data for the 2016 election with Cambridge Analytica and on social media, people have not forgotten that. 

Top Influencers 

• 47NEWS(@47news)—98/100 
• 9to5Mac.com(@9to5mac)–98/100 
• A N G E L (@AngeldebritoOK)—98/100 
• AajTak (@aajtak)—98/100 
• ABC News (@ABC)—98/100 
• ABP News (@ABPNews)—98/100 

What were the influencers saying?

• Most of the news sources were breaking the news which broke Friday morning September 18th, 2020 
• Many of the top influencers for this data were posts in a different language
• ABC News posted about an interview with a TikTok spokesperson who told them that they were going to continue to challenge Trump’s decision

Sentiment

• The sentiment from this topic was majority negative at 61.7%, therefore positive sentiment was 38.3%. 
• There was a huge spike in negative sentiment Friday morning, September 18th following the news. People immediately took to social media to post about their frustrations with the ban.
• It is clear with the negative spike that people are extremely unhappy with the executive order and are not concerned with the threat to national security that Trump claims it is.
• The posts that were claimed “positive” weren’t excited about the ban of TikTok is was more neutral posts.

by: Raine T Riley & Will Henderson

Dancing is Back, and I don’t know how to feel about it. 

In the Year of Corona, “new” and “live” feel like words from a by-gone era. Now, 190+ days into self-isolation, quarantine, and the “new normal,” miracle-esque gifts from above –live sports, new episodes of favorite shows, and new seasons of competition and reality tv – are coming more frequently and I, for one, cannot get enough. Though it all looks different, these little nuggets seem to be what is getting us (read: me) through. This past week was no different. Monday, September 14 marked the return of the long-standing dance competition reality show Dancing with the Stars on ABC. 

For those unfamiliar, Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) is a show in which 15 popular stars of television, music, movies, and sports are paired with professional dancers to try their ~foot~ at different styles of dance each week as they compete for the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy. The highly anticipated two-hour premiere kicked off the show’s 29th season and saw over 58k posts from 176 different countries. While the season has a lot going for it with the addition of Derek Hough as a judge and Tyra Banks as host, the most-talked-about aspect of this season is its cast. The pros are joined this season by the likes of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean, two-time U.S. Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, NBA legend Charles Oakley, the NFL’s Vernon Davis, all-around success Nelly, Disney Channel’s Skai Jackson (the youngest-ever star), and former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe. Nev Schulman of Catfish the Movie and Catfish the TV Show (my personal favorite) joined the cast this season along with Emmy Award-winning actress Anne Heche. Among the stars, however, one stands apart from the rest – Carole Baskin. 

Carole Baskin gained international attention from the Netflix docu-series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness that premiered earlier this year. The series shook the world with its stories and secrets about the bizarrely interconnected society of big cat conservationists and collectors in the US. DWTS announced that she would be part of this season’s cast on September 2, immediately causing a spike of nearly 30k posts in one day. Since then, conversations surrounding the return have mostly been centered on or at least tangent to Carole Baskin. 

Many of the top words associated with the DWTS return on Monday, September 14, were directly related to Carole Baskin. @ChicksintheOff tweeted a post about Carole’s *ahem* shocking appearance in her introduction: 

Another popular Tweet compared Carole’s appearance in the rafters to that of the infamous villain Kalabar from the Disney Channel Halloweentown franchise – a comparison, I have to admit, I can kind of see: 

Of course, the jokes about Carole’s alleged entanglement with her late/missing husband Don Lewis’s disappearance have not ceased, especially regarding what would happen to her dance partner or the judges if she were to get kicked off. 

Many highly influential people got in on the conversations about the show, specifically about Carole Baskin, including Perez Hilton, TMZ, Barstool Sports, and People who all brought up that Don Lewis’s family bought a commercial spot during the premier to “remind you exactly who you’re watching and why she’s famous” (@PerezHilton) and “demand justice” (@barstoolsports) for Don. Meghan McCain even got in on the conversation, anticipating Carole Baskin’s dance: 

Not all of the conversation about the new season was about Carole Baskin, though. People seemed very excited to see a lot of their favorite stars from all kinds of fame. AJ McLean got a lot of love with the hashtags #teamprettymessedup and #teamgetdown on Twitter and even responded to many of his fans following the show. Nev Schulman also got a lot of support, as did Nelly (@thecamfree)), Jeannie Mai, and Chrishell Strause. Overall, people seemed less enthusiastic about Tyra Banks joining the team as host, and many people voiced how much they miss Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews. 

Although it was only the first week, the talent of this new cast is apparent. Though they come from different backgrounds, it seems that the pros have a lot to work with, even if the judges were quick to point out what they have to work on. Skai Jackson seems like a top contender, along with Nelly, Johnny Weir (no surprise there), Nev Schulman, and Justina Machado. This week, Tuesday, September 22, will see our first elimination. With such a dynamic and interesting cast, it will be exciting to see what happens. This will be my first season watching the show – yes, Carole Baskin was a draw for me – and I cannot wait to see how it all turns out! I can’t say that I think our would-be villain is long for the show, but more surprising things have happened. 

What do you think? Who are you rooting for? 

Authors: Marika Thwin, Raven Furber, & Will Henderson

Overview:

The first week of the 2020 US Open ran from August 31 st – September 6th . It is the 140th edition of the US Open and 2 nd Grand Slam of the season. In the midst of a global pandemic and other situations going on, the tournament looked a little different this year. It took place without any spectators and the players had to follow a strict protocol, including wearing masks and random COVID-19 testing. Social media had its fair share of conversation relating to the exciting tournament due to some notable actions by top tennis players.

The conversation included over 100k posts across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit, with nearly 90% of the conversation held Twitter with (84.7l tweets). September 6th , 2020 held the peak of the posts, with nearly 23k on just Twitter alone. Most of the tweets were in regard to the top male player, Novak Djokovic, for being disqualified after accidentally hitting a lineswoman in the neck in a fit of anger. Some other hot topics include Naomi Osaka and other players wearing face masks with names of those in regard to Black Lives Matter and Serena Williams having more US Open singles wins than any other player since 1968. The majority of the sentiment was neutral with 91% of posts reporting on tournament events. There was a negative sentiment of 5%, mainly around Djokovic’s accidentally disqualification, and a positive sentiment of 4%, noting Osaka’s activism at a predominantly white event.

Full Analysis: 

Purpose: To analyze the thoughts and sentiments of US tennis fans around the trends during the first week of the US Open.

Analysis Time Frame: August 31st, 2020 – September 6, 2020

Keyword group:

● #usopen, #tennis, #usopen2020, US Open, US Open 2020

Trends in Conversation:

● There has been a lot of talk around the week, but with notable days being August 31 st and September 1st. The highest peak being September 6th.

August 31st

• Naomi Osaka walks out onto the stadium wearing a mask with “Breonna Taylor” written on it. It was a huge statement by a young tennis player.
• From WTA Insider, Osaka states “I have 7 (masks) and it’s sad that 7 masks aren’t enough. Hopefully I’ll make the finals and you’ll see all of them”.
• The majority of the sentiment around the mask was neutral, with most posts being journals and new channels reporting on it. There were more positive tweets than negative. It shows how politically divided tennis fans can be as most comments around it swing either right or left.
• This statement by Osaka is very important as it shows that the WTA, ATP, and US Open allow their players to openly express their thoughts on whatever movements or ideas they follow. Regardless of how fans react, no tennis associations have put a stop to it. Other players have also shown their support for the movement by doing the same. It also gives good media coverage to the whole BLM movement and wearing masks.

September 1st

• Serena Williams wins her 102 nd US Open match, making it the most matches won by a man or woman since 1968. Williams is regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time and has set another record.

September 6th

• Novak Djokovic is disqualified from the US Open after hitting a ball at a line judge in a fit of anger.
• Djokovic was angry after losing a serve to Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, he hit a tennis ball behind him, hitting a line judge in the throat.
• According to the Grand Slam rulebook, because he intentionally hit the ball behind him, he is disqualified for negligent disregard of consequences.
• Some of the words in reference to his disqualification:
  • Neck
  • Line Judge
  • Anger
  • Reckless Behavior
• While most of the sentiment was neutral, there was more negative than positive. Half of the tweets are saying it was unfair for Djokovic to be disqualified as it was an accident, the other half saying he and other tennis players need to watch their tempers.

• Djokovic did put out a statement after the event.
  

Other Notes:

• Williams’ baby made tennis fans everywhere hearts melt when she pointed out her mom during a match. It shows the lighthearted side of big tournaments.
• The @usopen Instagram page posted a video of Osaka’s comments on the masks, with the description “Naomi is playing for a bigger purpose” showing that the association is in support of her showing her views.
• Tennis fans are making fun of Djokovic for his accidental disqualification saying the only player who could beat him is him.
• Sumit Nagal becomes the first Indian man on Sept. 1 st to win a match in 7 years. This is huge for India as it takes them to the second round of Grand Slam singles.
• The top post on the r/tennis subreddit was a video of the lineswoman getting hit with Djokovic’s ball.

Authors: Toni Baraka, Sara Gates May, Noah Britt, Will Henderson 

Over Labor Day weekend, a gender reveal party using a smoke generation pyrotechnic device ignited a wildfire that went on to burn thousands of acres surrounding Los Angeles. Since then, more fires have broken out around California, Oregon, and Washington with arson and climate change as the culprits. As mass evacuations take place, homes are being destroyed and many casualties have occurred. Through it all, conversation on social media has increased to 838k posts in the last week.

The talk surrounding these fires has mostly been on Twitter (89.2%) but there have also been a lot of videos posted on Youtube (6.8%). These videos have been about the fires themselves and, on September 10^th, the orange sky that Californians woke up to. This oddity caused a major spike in social posts, with 168k on the tenth alone. Trending hashtags on Instagram include #californiafires, #californiawildfires, #wildfirescalifornia, and #wildfires. While the hashtags are focused directly on the fires, there has been another trending conversation as well: politics.

67.9% of the tweets had a negative sentiment. Many of these posts showed anger at the gender reveal party and the damage it has caused. The other 32.1% of tweets were marked as having a positive sentiment, but they were more on the neutral side because they were about politics. After analyzing these posts, it is clear that the fires are being used as a chess piece in a game to win the presidential election. While there are many Californians posting about the direct impacts of the fire, users from all over the country are posting about how President Trump and former Vice President Biden are handling the situation and how that may predict our future come November. This is even more evident when you see who the most mentioned users are on Twitter when it comes to this situation.

Most mentioned users: 

In the above chart, President Trump is the second most mentioned user in the Twitter conversations surrounding these wildfires. This further confirms that politics has reared its head during an environmental crisis, and will undoubtedly remain at the forefront of this issue.

Top influencers include ABC News, BBC News (UK), BBC News (World), and NBC Breaking News, all with high credibility scores of 98%. These outlets are posting updates surrounding the fires, and the political side of the conversation has mostly been on social.

Overall, spikes in conversation over the analysis time frame have been related to the wildfires that are ravaging the state. The majority of the conversation has been negative, and users online have directly shared their opinions on the cause of the fires and their predictions about how it will impact the presidential election. If users don’t start putting more focus on aid and relief instead of politics it seems likely that these fires will be overlooked, just like Hurricane Laura in Louisiana.

Full Analysis:

Purpose: To analyze the thoughts and sentiments of Californians surrounding the wildfires that are ravaging the state.

Analysis Time Frame: September 6, 2020 – September 13, 2020

Overall Trends

• The conversation is mostly surrounding the gender reveal party that many claim to be the cause of the fires.
• The sentiment is generally negative because new information about possible arson was just released and people are sharing it.
• Users online have turned the conversation into a political one and many posts involve President Trump and former Vice President Biden.

Overview

The following keywords were used to search and analyze online conversations surrounding the wildfires in California:

• Group 1: California AND wildfires, California AND fire, gender reveal AND fire, gender reveal AND wildfire
• Group 2: California AND burning, gender reveal AND burning, party AND wildfire, smoke AND California

Trends in Conversation

• The conversation significantly peaked on September 10th (168k posts) when Californians woke up to an eerie, orange sky,and many shared photos on Twitter.
• In the last seven days, there have been 838k tweets surrounding the keyword groups, and while many of the tweets are information about the wildfires, the conversation has also taken a political turn that has more people involved. Not only are Californians posting, but the rest of the country is also.
• 2% of the conversation is coming from Twitter, which is a smaller percentage than usual. This is because YouTube is contributing 6.8% with users posting videos of the fires.
• Trending words from this analysis included:
  • California
  • Wildfires
  • Fires
  • Oregon
  • Change
  • Trump
  • Washington
  • Climate
  • The trending word Oregon is included because the wildfires that originated in California have now spread to Oregon and Washington.

Influencers

• Top influencers include ABC News, BBC News (UK), BBC News (World), and NBC Breaking News, all with credibility scores of 98%.

Sentiment

• Sentiment is mostly negative with an overall rating of 67.9%. Many posts in this category are talking about how the gender reveal party defied COVID mandates and has burned millions of acres.
• When analyzed, most of the posts categorized as positive also had underlying negative sentiment but the conversation focused on politics and the election, making them seem a little more neutral.

An analysis of the social trends and conversations around reality television show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” ending.

Overall Trends

•  Large spike in conversations following the announcement and declining days after
• Majority of the conversations about “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” ending was negative (62.1% Negative Sentiment)
• Users have been sharing the news and posting their reactions to the announcement
• The Kardashian family and stars of the show have been receiving a large amount of attention across various social media platforms
• Much of the discussion includes fans remembering their favorite moments from the show

Read the full data analysis at the end of the article. 

This past week, the Kardashian-Jenner family announced the end of their reality television show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” The cancellation of the 14 years running show consisting of 20 seasons, caught a massive amount of attention over social media with 120,600 tweets between September 6th and September 13th.

The media trend spiked on September 8th when the family released their announcement with 54,066 tweets about the topic. Fans were quick to react to the statement and shared their favorite memories and scenes from the show. Many influential accounts, including news sources such as BBC News and The Washington Posts, all tweeted about the subject to inform their audience.

Pop culture stars the Kardashians, and Jenners became extremely influential due to their reality television series. Many fans trust the family when it comes to sponsoring brands and enjoying modern entertainment from the show. Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Rob, Kendall, Kylie, and Scott all posted on social media about the show ending saying:

“TO OUR AMAZING FANS

IT IS WITH HEAVY HEARTS THAT WE’VE MADE THE DIFFICULT DECISION AS A FAMILY TO SAY GOODBYE TO KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS.

AFTER WHAT WILL BE 14 YEARS, 20 SEASONS, HUNDREDS OF EPISODES AND NUMEROUS SPIN-OFF SHOWS, WE ARE BEYOND GRATEFUL TO ALL OF YOU WHO’VE WATCHED US FOR ALL OF THESE YEARS – THROUGH THE GOOD TIMES, THE BAD TIMES, THE HAPPINESS, THE TEARS, AND THE MANY RELATIONSHIPS AND CHILDREN. WE’LL FOREVER CHERISH THE WONDERFUL MEMORIES AND COUNTLESS PEOPLE WE’VE MET ALONG THE WAY.

THANK YOU TO THE THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESSES THAT HAVE BEEN A PART OF THIS EXPERIENCE AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO RYAN SEACREST FOR BELIEVING IN US, E! FOR BEING OUR PARTNER, AND OUR PRODUCTION TEAM AT BUNIM/MURRAY, WHO’VE SPENT COUNTLESS HOURS DOCUMENTING OUR LIVES.

OUR LAST SEASON WILL AIR EARLY NEXT YEAR IN 2021. WE LOVE YOU!”

The dedicated fans of the show expressed their feelings about the show ending, and many people discussed their opinions about the highly debated influence and money the Kardashians have over their audience and US pop culture. Haters will argue that the family has no talent or skills and are undeserving of all their success and fame. Top influencer @barstoolsports and partner @kfcbarstool defended the Kardashian-Jenner family on Instagram throughout this conversation featuring the “One Minute Man,” expressing that the stars deserve respect for bringing so much modern entertainment to America. There didn’t appear to be any top hashtags related to the topic other than general long time trending hashtags such as #kuwtk and #kuwtkclips.

Many users also questioned the announcement and looked for alternate reasons the Kardashian family was canceling the show. Still, it appears the family is just ready for it to come to an end. News sources also reported that Caitlyn Jenner, a star from the show, had no idea they were planning on ending the 20 season run. Caitlyn Jenner said that she found out about the show ending from social media, too, although the family kept the information from Caitlyn Jenner is still unknown. YouTube has been relatively prominent in the conversation trends as many users have been sharing the news and discussing the journey for the Kardashian-Jenner family throughout the years. We saw spikes in YouTube engagement the days after the cancellation announcement – the highest being 2,496 posts on Thursday, September 10th – and a spike in Aggregator with over 1,000 blog posts throughout the week.

Overall, the announcement of the cancellation of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” left the American audiences shocked based on the conversations and trends in social media. Most of the talk on the topic consisted of negative sentiment as many fans were upset to find out the news, and haters expressed their displeasure about the stars’ call to fame. While the topic is slowly quieting, there was a massive spike in engagement for the issue this past week. Nonetheless, the Kardashian-Jenner family continues to be a dominant influencer in the United States. They have won over many fans throughout their 14-year journey sharing their life on the reality television show.

Analysis Time Frame: September 6th – September 13th, 2020

Twitter

Throughout the week of September 6th, there have been 120,600 tweets (up 20,000%) containing the

following keywords:

• Keyword Group 1: #kuwk, #kuwkardashian, #kuwkardashians, #kuwtk, #kuwtkardashian, #kuwtkardashians, kardashian, kardashians, keeping up with kardashian, keeping up with kardashians, kuw kardashian, kuw kardashians, kuwt kardashian, kuwt kardashians, kuwkardashian, kuwkardashians, kuwtkardashian, kuwtkardashians, kuwtk
  • Includes Keywords: ending
  • Exclude Keywords: Prince William
• Keyword Group 2 : Caitlyn Jenner AND end, Caitlyn Jenner AND ending, Kanye West AND end, Kanye West AND ending, Kendall Jenner AND end, Kendall Jenner AND ending, Khloe Kardashian AND end, Khloe Kardashian AND ending, Kim Kardashian AND end, Kim Kardashian AND ending, Kourtney Kardashian AND end, Kourtney Kardashian AND ending, Kris Jenner AND end, Kris Jenner AND ending, Kylie Jenner AND end, Kylie Jenner AND ending, Rob Kardashian AND end, Rob Kardashian AND ending, Scott Disick AND end, Scott Disick AND ending
  • Exclude Keywords: Prince William
• Keyword Group 3 : #kuwk, #kuwkardashian, #kuwkardashians, #kuwtk, #kuwtkardashian, #kuwtkardashians, kardashian, kardashians, keeping up with kardashian, keeping up with kardashians, kuw kardashian, kuw kardashians, kuwt kardashian, kuwt kardashians, kuwkardashian, kuwkardashians, kuwtkardashian, kuwtkardashians, kuwtk
  • Includes Keywords: cancelled
  • Exclude Keywords: Prince William
• Keyword Group 4: #kuwk, #kuwkardashian, #kuwkardashians, #kuwtk, #kuwtkardashian, #kuwtkardashians, kardashian, kardashians, keeping up with kardashian, keeping up with kardashians, kuw kardashian, kuw kardashians, kuwt kardashian, kuwt kardashians, kuwkardashian, kuwkardashians, kuwtkardashian, kuwtkardashians, kuwtk
  • Includes Keywords: end
  • Exclude Keywords: Prince William

Impact

• Group 1: 67,621 (39.1%)
• Group 2: 43,231 (25%)
• Group 3: 12,033 (7%)
• Group 4: 49,922 (28.9%)

Trends in Conversation

On September 8th, there were 54,066 tweets about “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” ending:

• Tuesday morning family members Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Rob Kardashian, and Scott Disick all posted a statement announcing “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” would be ending
• The family members were the top influencers in the conversations as well as reporting sources including BBC News, The Washington Post, and Vogue Magazine
• Twitter users shared the news with their audience, posting their reactions and remembering their favorite scenes throughout the 20 seasons
• A few days later, family member and KUWTK star, Caitlyn Jenner had revealed she had no idea the family was planning on ending the 14-year-old show and she found out from social media
• Top words used during the week of the collaboration: Kardashians, Ending, Keeping also kuwtk, reason
• Looking at the word cloud we can see many users were searching for reasons KUWTK show was ending. As well as talk about most of the family and stars on the show.

YouTube

Conversations spiked over YouTube during the next few days following the announcement:

• 6,900 engagements total
• 2,496 engagements on Thursday, September 10th
  • Most engagements are users posting videos discussing the hot topic

Instagram

Each of the family members posted their announcement about the show ending

• Conversations include shocked fans and satisfied haters
• Top influencers Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) received over 6 million likes on her post
• Family took it upon themselves to add their thank yous and goodbyes
• @kfcbarstool and @barstoolsports reported it and featured the “One Minute Man” giving his thoughts saying the Kardashian family deserves respect for bringing modern entertainment
• Top hashtags include:
  • #kuwtk- 1.8M+ posts
  • #kuwtkclips – 15.9K+ posts
  • #kuwtkmemes – 1000+ posts
  • #kuwtkending- less than 100 posts
  • #kuwtkends – less than 100 posts

An Analysis of the Infamous Flavor that Signals the start of Fall
By: Hannah Chumley & Emma Grech

There has always been an ongoing debate on social media when the holiday season approaches: when it is too early to start decorating, burning holiday scents, or adding holiday flavors to everything? The dominant flavor for the autumn season is Pumpkin Spice, and every year it seems like the flavor makes an appearance earlier than it did the year before. This year marked the earliest the Pumpkin Spice latte powerhouse, Starbucks, brought back the beloved drink (Dunkin’ brought it back even earlier than that), and people on social media immediately began the yearly debate.

Between August 25th, the day Starbucks announced they were bringing back the beloved flavor the earliest yet, and September 2nd, the topic had over 130k posts on social. On August 25th alone, after Starbucks took to their social media accounts to make the announcement, ‘pumpkin’ had over 30k posts. The conversation continued, still receiving between 5-15K posts a day, most of which took place on Twitter (88.7% of posts), but there was also discussion on YouTube(8.9%) and even on Facebook(1.1%). Although most people enjoy this fall flavor in coffee, pastries, or pretty much anything, there are always the people who disagree with the most beloved pumpkin spice.

Many people took to social media to share their “unpopular opinion” of not liking pumpkin-flavored items. Still, it turns out they might not be a minority anymore, as the negative sentiment surrounding pumpkin spice was 41.6%. Maybe this negative sentiment stems from it being “too early” for fall celebration, but many of them admit to not liking the taste at all. Despite the negative sentiment, with how the year 2020 has been, it seemed like people were defending the especially early start of the pumpkin season by saying that it was something to be happy about.

The debate also extends beyond coffee. One of the most talked-about topics on social was about a Pumpkin Spice makeup collection by Too Faced cosmetics, and there were even tweets of Pumpkin Spice Clorox cleaner. Wherever you stand on the pumpkin spice debate, whether you are ‘basic’ and love a PSL, or whether you don’t like the flavor at all. You have probably contributed to this conversation on social media.

Full Analysis:

Purpose: The purpose of this Topic of The Week is to analyze the thoughts of the public on the infamous “Pumpkin Spice” as it approaches Fall, and many places are bringing back their drinks, snacks, candles, and all things pumpkin spice. There is always quite a debate on if it is too early or if pumpkin spice lives up to its grand image.

Analysis Time Frame: August 25th– September 2nd, 2020

Overall Trends

• A massive peak in conversation, approximately 13K posts on August 25th: The day that both Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts brought back Pumpkin Spice(Coffees and pastries). There was also more conversation on August 31st before the first day in September, which for many people is the first day of the fall season.
• 88.9% of the posts are from Twitter, but there was also conversation on YouTube(8.7%) and Facebook(1.1%).
• The overall sentiment was 58.4% positive, assuming that most people were excited about the pumpkin season starting but that there was approximately 41.6% negative sentiment.
• A total of 16K mentions, also showing a massive spike in activity on the August 25th and a smaller spike on September 1st
• An average of 2k mentions per day(up 190% from usual)
• The top key words seem more about the coffee-related regarding pumpkin spice(PSL, cream, cold brew, beverage, full recipe). One interesting keyword on meltwater was “earliest release,” so people definitely noticed that this was earlier than usual.
• The sentiment was mostly neutral but had a positive sentiment of 15% and a negative of 5%

Keyword Group
Keyword Group 1: “PSL,” “pumpkin” AND “spice,” “Starbucks” AND “pumpkin,” “Dunkin’’ AND “pumpkin,” “pumkin” AND “spice.”
Impact: 130k posts

Trends
Margaritas
– One tweet that got a lot of attention came from a Tex Mex chain of Texas, shutting down any ideas of a Pumpkin margarita, saying that people were taking the trend too far and to celebrate fall in other ways.

Fall
A lot of the excitement surrounding pumpkin spice is based on eagerness for the Fall season and all things holiday-related.

Starbucks, Dunkin’ and Krispy Kreme
These were the 3 most talked-about when it came to Pumpkin Spice items. People were excited about Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Dunkins’ fall-flavored drinks, and Krispy Kreme’s array of multiple fall-inspired donuts, including Pumpkin Spice.

Word Cloud

Review
This was one of the top words because it appears that a lot of Youtubers are creating a lot of content reviewing all things pumpkin spice, including Krispy Kremes pumpkin donuts, Keto pumpkin products, Dunkin’s new fall donuts, etc.

Palette
To take pumpkin spice a step further, Too Faced came out with a Pumpkin Spice makeup palette and lipstick shades, and there were a lot of posts on both YouTube and Twitter about the new launch.

Cold(And Brew)
The use of this word is mostly attributed to the buzz about the Pumpkin Cream Cold brew that has gained popularity, it is a newer drink that is giving people something new to try and review along with the classic Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Top Influencers

• ABC News(@ABC)-98/100
• CNN (@CNN) – 98/100 Influencer Score
• CNN International (@cnni) – 98/100 Influencer Score
• Business Insider(@businessinsider) – 96/100 Influencer Score
• Food and Wine (@foodandwine) – 96/100 Influencer Score
• Universal Orlando Resort(@UniversalORL)—95/100 Influencer

What were the influencers saying?

• Many of them were reporting that the infamous drink had returned and that it marks the earliest start to the pumpkin spice season.
• There was also discussion, specifically by Business Insider, that it was brought back early this year because of the desperate need for something positive to the year and the end of 2020

Sentiment

• The positive spike around August 25th is attributed to Starbucks bringing back pumpkin, and the second positive spike again around September 1st may be due to the switch to September, the month marking the transition from Summer to Fall(aka Pumpkin season).
• The negative spike on August 31st seems to be surrounding that it is too early to be celebrating Fall or that the flavor is taken too far.
• Although the majority positive, many users have negative things to say regarding all things pumpkin spice. Starbucks even got in on the conversation by tweeting that pumpkin spice “I am nice.”
• Even Al Roker, from the Today Show, got a lot of people agreeing with his “unpopular opinion” that he hates pumpkin spice. However, it seems like it is many more people that are in the “minority” of not liking pumpkin spice. Disliking pumpkin spice may not be as an unpopular opinion as thought.
• There were even many posts defending the pumpkin spice lovers against the haters after having such a challenging year in 2020

Authors: Raine T. Riley & Will Henderson

Overview:

Overall Trends

• Most of the conversation surrounding the Disney+ release of Disney’s live-action Mulan was negative, touching on issues from access to police brutality
• #boycottmulan and boycott(ed) were some of the top words
• Free, Chinese production alternatives for live-action Mulan adaptations were a hot topic
• There was some mention of the $30 cost of premier access, but the less than expected

General Statistics

• Over 534k posts across 13 platforms, including Twitter and YouTube. Nearly 94% of the conversation was happening on Twitter
• Friday, September 4 held the highest volume of posts, with nearly 200k on Twitter alone o Peaks of post volume hit at noon (11k Tweets) and 10:00 p.m. (12.5k Tweets)

• At least 14 of the top words from the weekend directly correspond to one Tweet with over 10k retweets recommending a Chinese-made live-action adaptation called “Matchless Mulan” in place of Disney’s live-action film

  

• Another Tweet circulated recommending a 2009 adaptation of the story, adding to the top words “Chinese” and“filmmakers”

  

• The words “brutality” and “police” showed up a lot in response to Liu Yifei’s, the main actress, support of the Hong Kong police despite their use of brute force in against protesters. This, along with some cultural frustrations by viewers and the lack of Chinese executives and crew during production, was a large part of the #boycottmulan movement.

Disney’s live-action adaptation of the legend of Mulan had an unorthodox release amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Mulan (2020) was released on Disney+, Disney’s relatively new streaming platform, on Friday, September 4 for a $30 “premier access” fee. It may seem that the unorthodox release along with the access fee people would have to pay on top of their monthly Disney+ subscription would have been enough to lead to some hot takes across the over 534k* posts on social media – not to mention the lack of singing, absence of General Li Shang, and devastating erasure of Mulan’s beloved dragon sidekick Mushu all present in Disney’s 1998 version. While the conversations about access were certainly present, larger and more heavy conversations surrounded the release of this live-action version of Mulan.

One of the most prominent parts of the conversation across social media was surrounding the call to boycott Mulan. The hashtag #boycottmulan was one of the top-used “words” across social media all weekend long, as people shared why they were boycotting Disney’s remake. The most prominent reason why people were boycotting the new adaptation was that Liu Yifei, the main actress who plays Mulan, came out and openly supported the Hong Kong police in 2019 amid overt police brutality against protesters. Another reason why people were boycotting the film is that very few people involved in the production of the film were Chinese.

In response to the lack of Chinese filmmakers, many people took to Twitter to share information about other live-action Mulan adaptations produced by Chinese filmmakers. One Tweet [https://bit.ly/324Evp7] was shared so many times (over 10k retweets) that the words within the tweet showed up as most of the top words surrounding Mulan over the weekend (other than the expected “Mulan” and “#mulan”). The Tweet brings attention to another adaptation of Mulan called “Matchless Mulan” that was released in August 2020 and completely made by Chinese filmmakers. The composer of the Tweet also draws attention to the fact that the film is free to watch on YouTube.

The overall conversation on social media around Disney’s live-action Mulan was unsupportive. People criticized the main actress, the production’s ignoring of “cultural genocide” in their filming location, and the lack of POC in the writing and production. Many of the posts that read positive were still lacking support, either sharing links to other adaptations or showing their support for the #boycottmulan movement. Not all was lost, however! Some people seemed genuinely excited to watch the movie, and others seemed to really enjoy the film. The cinematography and post-production effects were what people praised the most. As well, everyone got an exciting surprise Friday morning when liking Tweets related to Mulan with a special MULAN graphic, reminding us that we are never too far from Disney’s advertising reach.

Whether you watched the movie, intend to watch the movie, or swore it off completely, Disney had a stimulating weekend. It will be interesting see how the film does over the next couple of weeks, and if the reception will be similar on December 4, the day it will be released for free on Disney+.

Full Analysis: 

Purpose: To examine and analyze the social media response to Disney’s release of their live-action adaptation of Mulan
Analysis Time Frame: September 4 – 6, 2020
Keywords: disney, disney+, disney plus, disneyplus, #disney, mulan, #disneysmulan, #mulan

Sentiment

• Overall neutral sentiment (36%) o Most posts with neutral sentiments are Tweets of people stating that they are about to watch the film
  • Some Tweets discuss the strength of the animated Mulan’s soundtrack
  • Most posts are people sharing information surrounding Mulan (watching, about to watch, saw a review, etc.)
• Overall positive sentiment (35%) o Supporting #boycott Mulan
  • Sharing links to other Chines-produced adaptations of the story of Mulan
  • Some posts from people who were excited to watch the film
  • Some posts from people who saw and enjoyed the film, complementing the cinematography and post-production
• Overall negative sentiment (29%) o Criticizing the main actress’s support of Hong Kong police
  • Criticizing the production’s ignoring of “cultural genocide” in the filming location
  • Criticizing the lack of POC (people of color) in the writing and production

Other Posts of Note

•  A YouTube video [https://bit.ly/3bxrDec] posted and shared on Friday, Sept. 4 reviewed the film and reported that Disney flooded review sites with fake positive reviews
• Some posts pointed out the accuracies and inaccuracies related to the legend of Mulan, including that she was Mongolian (not Chinese)
• Although #boycottmulan received a lot of attention, some Twitter users were quick to point out that the same energy was not shown regarding Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress who has shown her support of the Israel Defense Forces
• Twitter saw some excitement Friday morning when they teamed up with Disney to create a special “like” button for Tweets about the release, using #Mulan. The “like” button transitioned through a beautifully designed MULAN image before turning the heart red

Miscellaneous:

• Excluded Keywords: black panther, #blackpanther, chadwick boseman, #chadwickboseman, star wars, #starwars, john boyega, kexilion
  • With the recent passing of Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), I had to exclude posts related to him and Black Panther as many people were talking about his legacy at Disney
  • A recent complaint by John Boyega (Finn of Star Wars) was a hot topic, many people saying that Disney was covering for a lot of bad publicity

The conversation was barely present on TikTok, with a total of 11 posts (all posted on Sept. 4)

• The most viewed posts were of clips from the film
• The post with the highest engagement was of a TikTok influencer (@xzit_thamer) putting together an outfit inspired by Mulan
• Two posts were the same video of a young man playing a song from the original Mulan soundtrack on guitar
• One post from @lovebrandimarie was of her at the Mulan premiere
• All other posts were paying tribute to the animated version of the film, specifically the character of Mulan’s dragon sidekick Mushu

Much of the Instagram conversation was highlighting fan art for both the original animated Disney version and the remake live-action version.

An analysis of the social trends focused on Greek life activities and the spread of COVID-19 among college students living on campus.
By: Kendall Parrish

Analysis Time Frame: August 14th – August 28th, 2020

Overall Trends: 

● Spikes in conversations about fraternity and sorority housing across campuses

● Majority of the conversations about Greek life and COVID-19 is negative (55.7% Negative Sentiment)

● Users have been reporting the rapid spread of the virus across members in the same Greek organizations

● Growing concern over students involved in Greek life not taking safety precautions to avoid the spread of COVID-19

As summer 2020 winds down and the fall semester begins, college campuses across America are preparing for their students to return to their on-campus housing arrangements and mask up for class. 

Students have been moving onto campuses across the country over the past few weeks and getting comfortable with no longer learning from home. Unfortunately, many universities are now requiring their students to pack up their belongings and go back home due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 among students. Naturally, the media looked to large groups of students to blame, throwing Greek life at the center of attention with 21,800 tweets in the past two weeks. 

The media trend was relatively low until August 15th when the conversation started to increase. The largest spike was on August 17th with 4,700 tweets centered around Greek life activities and their impact on students testing positive for COVID-19. The conversations from overall engagement held a negative sentiment. 

On August 17th, the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill sent all their students home and announced online learning for the rest of the semester only one week after they moved in. This was a major indicator for trends in the media as schools such as University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Oklahoma State, and many others began reporting the rising number of COVID-19 cases among their students. 

With the huge increases in COVID-19 cases, students pointed to their peers in Greek organizations for congregating in groups without wearing masks or properly social distancing. While the Greek activities varied across universities, most sororities and fraternities were participating in their annual recruitment events, or “rush,” the week of August 17th. Some colleges required strict safety regulations for rush including online-only events, while others left the decision up to individual organizations. The relaxed policies seemed to have driven students to forget about the dangers of the current pandemic and resume normal socialization and partying. Pressure has been building on fraternities and sororities as it is reported they are congregating and putting each other at risk of contracting COVID-19, especially during Bid Day activities which occur immediately after recruitment. 

Facebook has been steady in the conversations surrounding student organizations resuming their activities. There was a total of 163 posts throughout the two-week time frame of analysis. Most of the discussions involved sharing news articles about the lack of safety measures from Greek organizations influencing the spread of COVID-19, mostly with negative sentiment trends. 

YouTube has been relatively prominent in the conversation trends as many current students have been sharing their own experiences returning to campus including the Greek life policies introduced on their campus. 

Sororities in particular utilized Instagram as a way to promote their activities. As many affiliations have posted photos of their members wearing masks together, others have been sharing their obvious avoidance of safety precautions during recruitment week events. In some instances, organizations have had to change the privacy settings on their accounts after receiving overwhelming amounts of negative feedback on their posts. The popular hashtags #speakupforstudentsafety and #bidday2020 each generated over 1,000 posts on Instagram.

TikTok has been mostly generating opinions on Greek life activities based on videos from students at various universities all over the country. Many students are using the platform to “expose” their school’s Greek organizations who have blatantly ignored safety precautions after returning to campus, saying “Greek life is ruining it for the rest of us [students].” Others have been quick to call out students not involved in Greek life participating in similar activities, most notably gathering in large groups and partying. These conversations point out that there is an unfair focus on Greek life when the spread of COVID-19 is due to the entire student body not following proper safety guidelines.

Overall, with the return of college students on campus and student organizations’ activities, the media trends put a large amount of attention on Greek life to follow safety standards. The soaring cases of COVID-19 have stirred conversations suggesting that Greek organizations are solely responsible for the spread of the virus across universities, pressuring large sororities and fraternities to follow safety guidelines. While the topic is slowly quieting, we can expect to see more conversations surrounding the college student experience, including the contributions of Greek organizations, as the semester progresses and COVID-19 changes university plans and policies. 

Full analysis:

Since August 14th, there have been 21,800 tweets (up 317%) containing the following keywords:
● Keyword Group 1: Coronavirus AND Greek life, Covid AND Greek life, Covid19 AND Greek life, Covid-19 AND Greek life
● Keyword Group 2 : Coronavirus AND sorority, Coronavirus AND sororities, Covid AND sorority, Covid AND sororities, Covid19 AND sorority, Covid19 AND sororities, Covid-19 AND sorority, Covid-19 AND sororities
● Keyword Group 3 : Coronavirus AND fraternities, Coronavirus AND fraternity, Covid AND fraternity, Covid AND fraternities, Covid19 AND fraternity, Covid19 AND fraternities, Covid-19 AND fraternity, Covid-19 AND fraternities

Impact
● Group 1: 2,540 (9.2%)
● Group 2: 13,149 (48.1%)
● Group 3: 11,978 (42.7%)

Trends in Conversation

On August 17th, there were 4658 tweets about COVID-19 and Greek life activities:
● Many students had just begun moving back into their housing arrangements for the school year, fueling the spread of COVID-19 among groups living together and congregating – sorority and fraternity housing included
● Many Greek organizations were at the start of their recruitment activities (via in-person or online methods varying across schools)
● Reported that high number of members within the same Greek organizations were testing positive for COVID-19
● UNC – Chapel Hill announced over 130 COVID-19 cases the first week after move-in and required undergraduate students move-out, switching to a completely online platform

Instagram

Greek organizations promoting wearing masks and practicing social distancing through online recruitment
● #virtualrecruitment – 100+ posts
● #bidday2020 – 1000+ posts
● #onlinerush2020 – 100+ posts
● #speakupforstudentsafety – 1000+ posts
● #speakupforstudents – 1000+ posts