Month: January 2021

Authors: Amy Mackin & Janeth Sierra-Rivera

Among many other things, the year 2020 marked the first year without a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film in over a decade. So it came as no surprise that Marvel fans were excited for the new Disney+ (pronounced Disney Plus) mini-series, “WandaVision.” 

The series is based on well-known characters Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch, and Vision, an android in a synthetic body, who were first introduced to the MCU in “Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015). In the series, Wanda and Vision are seen living idealized suburban lives in the town of Westview, however, they quickly begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems. 

The first two episodes of the Marvel Studios original series were made available on Jan. 15, 2021 – with new episodes released every ensuing Friday. However, despite great anticipation, “WandaVision” has generated mixed reviews. 

The show has received generally positive criticism from critics, having earned a score of 7.5/10 on IMDb, a 94 % on Rotten Tomatoes, and is referred to as “a wonderfully weird and strikingly bold step into the small screen of the MCU (Marvel Cinema Universe).” (Source: Rotten Tomatoes). However, others quickly took to social media to share their own opinions:

In addition, analysis of popular video-sharing social networking service TikTok demonstrates that

#wandavision has 163.4M views, although most videos using this hashtag seem to explain the ending of episode three, theories,

and the overall premise of the show.

• Top TikTok posts during the Jan. 15 – 22 time frame:
  • The first top TikTok video is that of @mataya04petrea, with a total of 609.7K views, in which she says that she refuses to accept the fact that Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff) is related to the Olsen twins.
  • The second top TikTok video is that of @_aanasper, with a total of 431.3K views, in which she expresses her confusion and theory regarding certain color symbolism within the show.

Full Analysis:

Purpose:

To analyze the social media conversations about “WandaVision” and determine whether those conversations had changed between the two air dates.

Analysis Time Frame:

This social media analysis was conducted using a Jan. 15 – 22 time frame.

Overall Trends:

• Between the dates of Jan. 15 to Jan. 22, “WandaVision” generated approximately 184,000 social media posts, with the highest volume of posts (68,279) taking place on Jan. 15 and the second-highest (47,151) taking place on Jan. 22.

• On both of these days, some users shared their love for the show, the characters, and their excitement for what’s to come, other users shared their confusion over what happened in the released episodes.

Top Tweets Included:

Trending Hashtags:

The top trending hashtag was #wandavision with 121,840 total mentions on social media. Most posts associated with the hashtag were advertisements regarding the release of the show and viewers’ opinions of the show. The second most used hashtag was #disneyplus with a total of  8,871 mentions.

Top Words:

The words #wandavision, wandavision, and “wanda” and “episode” were among the most popular words used to generate conversation about the show. These conversations included Easter eggs (hidden messages, images, or features within visual media), spoilers, theories, and other information regarding the show itself.

Sentiment:

• “WandaVision” has generated a neutral sentiment of 40.4%, a positive sentiment of 37.8%, a negative sentiment of 21.7%.
  • Neutral sentiment revolves around people tweeting when the release of an episode occurs, people asking for the opinions of the show, and theories/spoiler discussion.
  • Positive sentiment is focused on the excitement surrounding the series, the enjoyment of the show (particularly that it is interesting), and a love for the characters.
  • Negative sentiment is based on the audience’s confusion of the series, and that people do not understand the show.
• All this data suggests that more users seem to generally be enjoying the series and are excited for what is to come, but that there are still many viewers who are disappointed in the show, outright confused or a combination of the two.

Follow-up Conversations: 

While some say that only true Marvel fans can understand the complexities of “WandaVision,” some say that going back and re-watching “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is necessary. What are your thoughts on this? And if you have watched “WandaVision”, what is your opinion on the mini-series itself?

Authors: Brennan Schmidt and Madison Wilson

JoJo Siwa, the 17-year-old performer and YouTube personality, is known for her tight ponytails, big bows, and glitter. On Thursday, January 22, she came out to her social media followers as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. The star posted a TikTok of her singing Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and later tweeted a picture of her in a shirt that says, “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” with the caption, “My cousin got me a new shirt.”

https://twitter.com/itsjojosiwa/status/1352719582977355777

Siwa, who started her career on the hit reality series Dance Moms and now has a contract with Nickelodeon, a solo music career, and a popular YouTube channel, has created a personal brand based in positivity, face paint, glitter, and lots of dancing. She uses her platform to speak out against bullying and promotes being yourself and not letting the haters get you down. This has made her a popular role model for kids, and Time Magazine included her in their 2020 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Siwa’s news broke the internet and received mixed responses. Analysis of the social media conversation around JoJo Siwa for January 21-23, 2021 shows 285k mentions of the keywords “JoJo” or “JoJo Siwa.” Peak conversation was between 5pm and 6pm on January 22. Her TikTok video went viral, with over 5.9M likes, 34.8M views, and 320.3k comments.

The overall conversation sentiment was 28% negative, 18% positive, and 53% neutral.

Conversation during this time circulated around the following:

• Discussion about her “label” as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Celebrities and social media influencers like Coleen Ballenger, Hyram, James Charles, Tana Moungeau, and Lil Was X expressing love and support for being so young and showing her true self.
• General users expressing confusion about what the TikTok meant. People thought she was just singing to a good song or showing her support for the LGBTQAI+ community.
• Parents expressing disapproval for the teen star as a role model.

The negativity didn’t seem to bother Siwa. On January 23, she hosted an Instagram Live to express her excitement for being out and gratitude for the support she received. She talked about how her sexuality and how she does not have a label for it. She also responded to comments on her Instagram post and replied, “Okay!” to a mother who commented that she would not let her daughter watch her anymore.

With that, Siwa is living up to her own words:

“Here’s the thing – if you have one person who says something mean to you, you can’t listen to them because there are 10 people who are saying something nice to you” (Source: Kidspot).

Full Analysis:

Purpose:

Analyze the social media conversation about JoJo Siwa’s coming out announcement on January 22, 2021.

Analysis Time Frame:

January 21-23, 2021

Announcement Posts:

TikTok Video: 34.8M views, 5.9M likes, and 320.3k comments

Tweet: 159.5k retweets, 1.2M likes, and 20.9k comments

Overall Trends:

Peak conversation occurred on Thursday, January 22, 2021 (the day she posted her TikTok and tweeted).

Initial responses expressed confusion with the meaning of the TikTok video, with users wondering if there was a deeper meaning beyond just singing to a good song or showing support for the LGBTQIA+ community. After Siwa’s follow-up tweet, responses shifted to more expressions of love and support.

Sentiment:

Negative: 28%

Positive: 18%

Neutral: 53%

Keyword Groups:

“JoJo” or “JoJo Siwa” (285k mentions)

Popular Words:

“Parents” was mentioned 77.1k times and with a 79% negative sentiment on Twitter. Discussion around this keyword generally had two themes:

1. Parents no longer supporting JoJo Siwa as a role model for their children because of her sexuality.
2. Others commenting on how parents who do not support the LGBTQIA+ community might react to Siwa’s announcement.

“Networks” was mentioned 60.9k times and with a 98% negative sentiment on Twitter. “Reason” was mentioned 62.8k times and with a 96% negative sentiment. These keywords were tied to a tweet from @bigfatmeg calling Siwa’s announcement brave because she mainly works in children’s entertainment and could upset the networks she works with.

“Queen” was mentioned 16k times with an 84% positive sentiment and 1% negative sentiment on Twitter. Most of these posts were in support of Siwa and called her a “queen” for coming out to a young audience at such a young age.

Follow-up Conversations:

Pink News and Daily Mail both shared special pages on their Snapchat stories about Siwa’s coming out. Pink News focused more on Siwa’s life and accomplishments as an advocate for anti-bullying, as well as her coming out. Daily Mail used quotes and video clips from Siwa’s Instagram Live and talked about how she did not have a label for her sexuality.

After her Instagram Live on January 23, Siwa was the victim of a criminal prank where someone called the police department, alleged that she was shooting people at her house, and a SWAT team arrived. “Swatting” has been known to be pulled on celebrities that are not liked. Social media responses to this incident were very angry, with people expressing their disappointment that a 17-year-old girl could not come out without being attacked.

A Twitter analysis of the attack on the U.S. Capitol

Authors: Noah Britt & Janeth Sierra-Rivera

The United States Capitol has become a recognizable symbol of democracy, both nationally and internationally, because the building itself represents liberty and the ideals of freedom as expressed in the United States Constitution. As a result, the building has been viewed with near-sacrality and remained free from any major attack for over 200 years – when parts of the Capitol were burned by British troops in 1814 during the War of 1812.

However, that all changed on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of U.S. President Donald J. Trump stormed the Capitol building as Congress met to certify the results of November’s presidential election which declared Joseph R. Biden the President-elect. Within minutes of the attack, images began to circulate across the web exhibiting the rioters as they stormed through the halls of the building, sat at the desks of Congress members, and yelled from the Senate chamber podium. 

The charts below demonstrate the volume at which tweets increased as protestors stormed the Capitol. 

More than 100,000 tweets took place between the hours of 4 -5 pm that day, however, they slowly declined throughout the evening.

President Donald Trump was at the center of the conversation, as a majority of the rioters set their sights on the Capitol after a rally held by President Trump earlier in the day.

The network graph below shows the widespread sentiment of the riots:

Chart Analysis:

• The color red represents an overall negative sentiment, while blue represents an overall positive sentiment, and gray represents an overall neutral sentiment. 
• The position of each bubble within the graph is based on how related the users or the hashtags were to one another.
• The size of each user and hashtag was determined by the overall tweet popularity.

The analysis shows that President Trump was largely blamed for this attack and his actions resulted in Twitter placing a temporary, now permanent, suspension on his @realDonaldTrump account. 

Although his name has been affiliated with the deadly insurrection, President Trump has remained insulated from most tweets regarding white privilege. This ultimately serves as an important observation because many of these conversations surrounding the topic of “white privilege” have drawn comparisons between the treatment of the Capitol Hill rioters and the Black Lives Matter activists during the racial justice protests that swept the nation over the last year.

According to Twitter, the riots seem to have actually had the opposite effect that its supporters desired.

As shown below, #stopthesteal tweets experienced a spike the day of the riot but overall tweet volume for the popular hashtag plummeted after the riot, indicating that many users were breaking with the movement that alleged fraud in the presidential election this past November. 

Nonetheless, the most common hashtag for Trump supporters, #MAGA, has remained at pre-riot levels, indicating that, though many Twitter users still support President Trump, they no longer support the movement to overturn the results of the election.

Full Analysis: 

Purpose: 

To analyze the thoughts and sentiments of the Twitter conversations surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Analysis Time Frame: 

January 6, 2021

Trends in Conversation:

• A majority of the hashtags examined in this analysis experienced a peak at approximately 4 pm.
• Various hashtags associated with President Trump are closely linked with the attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Trending Hashtags: 

The conversations surrounding this unprecedented event were most notable on Twitter, where solely on Jan. 6 there were more than 732,000 tweets containing any of the following keywords:

• #capitolhill 
•  #dcprotest(s) 
•  #insurrection
•  #maga
•  #riot(s) 
•  #stopthesteal
•  #stormthecapitol
•  #trump

Sentiment:

Overall, 78 % of tweets surrounding the incident were tagged for having a negative sentiment.