The News in New Media

Month: September 2022

“Don’t Worry Darling” Released in Theaters

September 30, 2022

Don’t Worry Darling was one of the most highly anticipated movie releases this year. The psychological thriller directed by Olivia Wilde, starring the likes of Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, and Gemma Chan, has been at the forefront of the popular press cycle prior to its debut in theaters. Most notably, the press the movie received after the Venice Film Festival ranged from amazement of Florence Pugh’s performance to whether Harry Styles actually spit on Chris Pine. However, regardless of the media presence the movie received, its critic rating pre-release was at 36%, causing viewers to wonder how this movie would perform among the public.

However, despite its negative reception by critics, the movie made its theatrical debut on September 21st, 2022, where it grossed over $19.2 million dollars in box office revenue and $30 million across the world.

Because of the buzz this movie received we decided to monitor conversations about the movie post release. The term “Don’t Worry Darling” has been mentioned over 380k times from September 18th to September 28th, reaching over 3.76 billion users. To avoid spoilers, we analyzed the general sentiments and demographics of the movie in that ten-day period.

While the movie received more negative press attention prior to its release, conversations surrounding the movie have been overwhelmingly positive, with over 73% of mentions using positive sentiments.

So, who was talking about Don’t Worry Darling? Many of the people sharing their thoughts on the movie were females in the United States. With large fan accounts, news publications, and even Harry Styles himself being among the top influencers of conversation. This movie has clearly been a hot topic of conversation on socials, even garnering the attention of other major celebrities such as Kim Kardashian – even making Kim herself a top theme of discussion within the Don’t Worry Darling keyword search.

Agreeing with Kim, conversations seemed to be dominated surrounding both Harry Styles and Florence Pugh’s performances. Below is a word cloud which shows the positive words associated with the term “Don’t Worry Darling”.

Florence Pugh seemingly won over viewers of the movie with a stellar performance as Alice Chambers. Tweets praised her acting skills and were unsurprised she delivered in another bone-chilling thriller.

While the movie was negatively received by critics, this search of social media conversations revealed audiences felt the opposite. The movie premiered with a 77% acceptance rate as compared to the lackluster 36% given by critics, fans of the movie expressed that they disagreed with this rating.

While the Social Media Listening Center won’t give our official review of the movie, we will certainly keep an eye on developing opinions.

Author: Michelle Brazeau

Hurricane Ian Poised To Make Landfall in Florida

September 28, 2022

This year’s violent hurricane season continues with Hurricane Ian beginning to make landfall in Florida today after plowing through Cuba. Ian is poised to be even stronger than Hurricane Fiona, which peaked at Category 4 and led to more than 16 deaths from the Caribbean up through the maritime provinces in Canada.

The Weather Channel’s coverage relates that possibly record-setting storm surges will hit across coastal regions, with the third-highest storm surge in Key West in the last 100 years and an “Extreme Wind Warning” issued to Sanibel Island and surrounding areas. Much of Fort Myers is already flooded and underwater, and high population meccas like Tampa prepare for the worst:

Meanwhile, waters are receding in parts of Florida before the storm surge hits. Local weather reporters and residents are providing an invaluable source of footage and on-the-ground context as Ian approaches.

https://twitter.com/mikebettes/status/1575180210219139080?s=20&t=kmMbPpffdvdfXdWbDRDcug

Just as the storm has grown over the last few days, so has the conversation around it. The hashtag #Ian has nearly 360.5K mentions over the last seven days, with a major spike beginning on Sept. 25 as people started to realize how severe this hurricane will truly be. More than 2.5 million people were placed under mandatory evacuation orders, although unfortunately as in any dire scenario, many are not able to take the steps toward evacuation – whether it’s because they are disabled or elderly, lack the necessary resources to pack up and leave, care for pets or dependents, are first responders, or a variety of other reasons. Manatee County, FL, is now on mandatory lockdown as authorities stated it was no longer safe to travel.

Though Twitter has the most dialogue surrounding Ian, the most valuable web domains with significant traffic are news or travel sites such as Google News, Yahoo, MSN, and even TripAdvisor. Southern residents, both those who have evacuated and those who are sheltering in place, are seeking news about the danger level and destruction that has already occurred.

However, Florida is not Ian’s only target – it already decimated Cuba on Tuesday and knocked the entire country’s power grid offline. Winds up to 125 mph were reported in the island nation, as well as two deaths so far, and much of the online dialogue around Ian and Cuba focuses on preparations and alerts as Cubans struggle through the aftermath.

Hurricane Ian has wreaked havoc in Cuba
This photo from AP shows some of the destruction Hurricane Ian wreaked in Cuba

Even over the course of writing this article, Ian’s eyewall has since made landfall in Florida. The storm and its damage will continue to develop and grow, as many news sources are providing live updates on the catastrophe. Keep an eye on posts that circulate over the next few days sharing organizations and resources that help those displaced or injured, such as chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen:

Hopefully, the residents of Florida and Cuba will face a return to normalcy soon with a reprieve from such storms and their repercussions.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson 

Rihanna to Host Super Bowl Halftime Show

September 27, 2022

Rihanna is back, in a way! The popular singer took over social media within the last 24 hours after posting a photo of her holding a football on Twitter.

With over 24.7K comments, 377.3K retweets, and 1.6M likes, it is no surprise that this was the trending topic on Sunday, September 25, 2022. These numbers are more than likely to continue increasing. Rihanna is rarely not trending within the paparazzi community and news posts, but as the author of the tweet, she had full control over the messages she curated.

She has not performed in a live concert since 2018; this will be her return debut in the music industry after leaving to focus on her Fenty beauty line products.

Sprinklr recorded between the 24-hour period of September 25th to September 26th exponential growth in numbers regarding Rihanna. The reach of this topic was 6.52B, and there were over one million mentions of her name, specifically on Twitter. Over 60% of these mentions were analyzed as positive. Furthermore, Sprinklr analyzed the type of content posted on social media platforms.

Content Types

The videos and photos posted overtook the type of content curated. This topic will continue to trend forward and will significantly bounce back in the future closer to the Super Bowl date in February of 2023.

Author: Louisa Glazunova

Russian Army Mobilizations Mark Latest Phase in Ukrainian Conflict

September 23, 2022

This week, Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin announced the latest development of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine: a “partial mobilization” of Russians drafted into the conflict. While Russia’s defense minister stated that 300,000 citizens, all with previous military experience, would be mobilized, reports and on-the-ground footage suggest that not only is the number much greater but also that average civilians with no prior military experience are being drafted into service.

This mobilization marks the latest development in the ongoing conflict, which has significantly impacted the global theatre since Putin invaded Ukraine in February of this year, escalating the Russo-Ukrainian War (ongoing since 2014) yet again. Global leaders and civilians alike have decried Russian aggression and outspokenly supported Ukraine, with President Biden describing Russia on Wednesday as “shamelessly violat[ing] the core tenets of the United Nations charter.”

Much like the war itself, this draft has met with mixed reactions across Russia. NPR reports that for some, the call-up is a cause for celebration, while others are leaving the country en masse, backing up border crossings and airports that have routes to nearly all adjacent, visa-free countries. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that many draftees are already looking for exemptions or, in worst-case scenarios, drastic ways to avoid being sent to the front.

Naturally, though, misinformation – both intentional and otherwise – is being propagated across social media worldwide. These border crossings are one major source of such misinformation, with old videos of border backups reaching high levels of traffic on Twitter. Authorities, like the Finnish border patrol itself, are working to share accurate information instead:

Still, both propaganda and valid discussions are rampant within the more than 3.22 million mentions of Russia alone since midnight on September 20, the day before Putin made his mobilization announcement. One Twitter user observes that the brunt of the draftees are from ethnic minorities and rural exclaves, such as towns across Siberia and the southern borders.

Additionally, news reports are coming from Ukraine stating that there are now ongoing staged referendums, in which armed Russian soldiers are forcing Ukrainian citizens to “vote” on becoming part of Russia. Obviously, there is no freedom of choice in such a vote, and many locations that are initially being targeted by these referendums have seen large volumes of refugees fleeing, primarily along the Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia.

The global sentiment of news and social media toward Russia is overwhelmingly negative, with more than 85.7% of the more than 3.2 million mentions being negatively coded. Even within Russia, nearly just as much of the content is negative, with 84.2% of 16.57K mentions returning negative sentiment.

As the situation continues to develop, dialogue around the invasion in traditional and digital news media will also continue to grow, as other countries determine what to do in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Hurricane Fiona Strengthens to Category 4

September 21, 2022

Hurricane season is upon us and Hurricane Fiona is the first major hurricane to hit in the Atlantic so far in the 2022 season. The storm was first reported as tropical depression that had the potential to turn into a hurricane. Shortly after she gained immense strength and was coined Hurricane Fiona. The storm made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 1 storm. This storm hit almost exactly on the five year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, the third costliest hurricane in history, which hit nearly the exact same areas Fiona has impacted.  After landfall in Puerto Rico, Fiona then hit the Dominican Republic while strengthening to a Category 2, making her the first hurricane to directly hit the Dominican Republic since Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. She now looms over the Turks and Caicos as she continues her destructive path.

Hurricane Fiona left severe damage to the areas she has hit, causing thousands of people to leave their homes, and millions without power. So far there have been 5 reported deaths associated with this disastrous storm.

Hurricane Fiona remains a threat as she has transitioned into a Category 4 storm, reaching wind gusts of 155 mph, and expected to strengthen even more as she leaves the Turks and Caicos and heads to Bermuda. As she heads towards Bermuda, the United States issued a level 3 travel advisory warning citizens to not travel to Bermuda and urging those on the island to leave.

Hurricane Fiona continues her northern pathway and is expected to turn west of Bermuda, but because of her size the impacts could still be felt. Below is the latest tweet from the National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlanic) of Fiona’s anticipated path, timeline, and important details.

What is being said about Hurricane Fiona on social media? To get a better understanding about the conversations surrounding this hurricane we used Sprinklr to search “Hurricane Fiona”. In the last seven days, the term “Hurricane Fiona” was mentioned 416k times, reaching 11.81 billion users. The overall sentiment associated with this search was 88% negative. Twitter overwhelmingly is dominating the conversations with over 300k mentions. While the conversations saw more negative words, the positive sentiment associated with this topic is filled with people showing support for the victims of this hurricane whether it be offering words of support and resources. Below is a highly retweeted thread providing resources for people who want to directly support those in need.

This support for those impacted by this hurricane was felt throughout all tweets. Below are the most used emoticons associated with Hurricane Fiona, as you can see the Puerto Rican flag is the most used symbol associated with these conversations.

Who is talking about Hurricane Fiona? The majority of those engaging with conversation around Hurricane Fiona are people from the United States. There is little difference between Male and Female users; 125k females have engaged in conversation and 124k males have. The top influencers are major news outlets like The New York Times, Reuters, CNN, Good Morning America, and of course, the National Hurricane Center.

The National Hurricane Center is continuing to monitor additional disturbances that are being found in the Atlantic, while also following Fiona’s path. The Social Media Listening Center will continue to follow this storm and update you with any new information.

 

Author: Michelle Brazeau

Clemson Community Takes Over Social Media with #EllaStrong

September 19, 2022

The South Carolina community has come together as #EllaStrong to support a Clemson family during their daughter’s fight against cancer. Bryan Bresee, a Clemson athlete on the football team, was supported by the Tiger community and team as his younger sister, unfortunately, finished her fight against a rare pediatric cancer.

The hashtag #EllaStrong took over on Clemson’s game day, Saturday, September 17th, as well as on Thursday, September 15th, as Ella Bresee passed away, finishing her fight against cancer. The sentiment over the social media platforms was overwhelmingly positive, according to Sprinklr’s data. Looking at Twitter, the South Carolina community came together to express their support for the Bresee family, as well as others who battle brain cancer. It is the power of the Clemson community that can come together for a family that is going through one of the most challenging times.

It was brought to the attention via Twitter by a Clemson alumna to the Barstool Clemson account to spread the word of a “grey out” for the Saturday football game against Louisiana Tech. With this “grey out” the attendees of the game would wear grey to show solidarity and support for those who are continuously fighting against brain cancer and for those who have lost their battles. Within a few days’ turn around, there was an eye-opening amount of grey worn during the Clemson home game; this emphasizes how quickly social media can reach large audiences.

The electronic word-of-mouth marketing spread quickly via Barstool Clemson’s post with over 600 retweets and 2000 likes. The posts were also shared on other platforms, and Sprinklr’s data analysis of #EllaStrong showed that between Clemson’s game against Furman and a week later against Louisiana Tech, 31.98M people were reached by the hashtag, and 7.36K were mentioned with it.

The players of Louisiana Tech saw word of the “grey out” and the head coach even wore a shirt dedicated to the hashtag. Furthermore, each player on the opposing team wrote hand-written letters to the Bresee family.

It was positively overwhelming (89% of the Tweets, to be specific) to see such a heartwarming response via social media for those impacted by this tragic loss. Ultimately, the gratitude and appreciation the Clemson community shows for each other will prevail on social media platforms.

Author: Louisa Glazunova

Queen Elizabeth II Passes at Age 96

September 16, 2022

On Thursday September 8th, 2022, the world was shocked with the news of the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II at age 96. Both the United Kingdom, the 53 other countries over which she reigned, along with the rest of the world collectively mourned the devastating loss.

The news of her passing came shortly after Buckingham palace announced that the Queen had fallen ill. It was said that the palace was waiting until all family members were able to say a final goodbye before announcing to the public. Her passing came unexpectedly as she had been working and recently photographed with the newly appointed Prime Minister, Liz Truss, two days before her death.

Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning British monarch and the second longest reigning sovereign behind King Louis XIV of France. Her Majesty sat upon the throne for 70 years after being crowned in 1952 after the death of her father, King George IV. Her Majesty recently celebrated a platinum jubilee this year, commemorating her 70th year of service. Her Majesty leaves behind 4 children. One of which, King Charles III, ascended to the throne this weekend as Queen Elizabeth’s first son and heir.

While we understand the legacy Her Majesty the Queen will leave behind, what has the public saying about her since her passing? To gather a better understanding of how this has been discussed online, we searched the terms “Queen Elizabeth” and “The Queen” using Sprinklr’s software. Since September 7th, the term “Queen Elizabeth” has been mentioned over 9.6 million times and “The Queen” 19.2 million times. Unsurprisingly, both terms saw a massive spike in mentions on the 8th of September. With “Queen Elizabeth” increasing from 7,345 mentions on the 7th of September to 4,746,317 mentions on the 8th of September. And “The Queen” increasing from 76,773 to 8,357,261.

Who is talking about Her Majesty? It seems that those participating tend to be males in the United States, shortly followed by those in the United Kingdom. Conversations are overwhelmingly taking places on Twitter. Top influencers on this platform are major news outlets such as, BBC News, CNN, TIME, The Associated Press, and The New York Times. Other influential voices on this topic include other political leaders such as, President Joseph Biden and Liz Truss; as well as political commentators such as, Larry Madowo of CNN, Peter Baker of MSNBC, and Philip Lewis of Huffington Post.

Both mentions of “Queen Elizabeth” and the “The Queen” were overall neutral. But leaned more negative when comparing positive and negative sentiments. With 63% of the mentions around “The Queen” being negative and 66% of mentions being negative when searching “Queen Elizabeth.” While at first this may seem higher than normal, the negative sentiments tend to be coming from words such as “death’ or ‘mourning’. To get a closer look at these conversations, we have attached a word cloud which shows the top terms associated with this search.

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II will be buried on Monday, September 19th in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after a ceremony at Westminster Abbey. The funeral will be broadcasted for public viewing in the United States on television networks such as ABC, CNN, and Fox News. As always, The Social Media Listening Center will continue to follow this historic event and update you.

Emmy Awards Viewership Continues to Drop

September 14, 2022

The 74th Emmy Awards took place Monday night, and while there were plenty of high points in the show, it continued the recent trend of awards shows making controversial headlines.

Not that there were many eyes to see those controversies, anyway – competing with the first Monday Night Football game of the season, the show hit an all-time low in viewership with just 5.92 million viewers, down 19% from last year. Per Deadline, the MNF game earned nearly double the viewers compared to the Emmys.

However, online platforms spanning from news sites to social media picked up on all the moments of the show, from red carpet fashion to long-overdue award winners to Jimmy Kimmel flopping on a bit. In the United States alone, from Sept. 11 through noon on Sept. 14, the Emmys were mentioned 276.94K times, reaching 12.14 billion feeds.

Let’s look at some of the top trending moments of the show. As always, Zendaya stunned on the red carpet and won another award for her portrayal of Rue in HBO’s “Euphoria.”

Zendaya also recently celebrated her 26th birthday, which host Kenan Thompson joked about, saying she was now too old to date Leonardo DiCaprio (who, relatedly, just broke up with yet another 25-year-old). Zendaya herself was mentioned 75.13K times during the same time window, a whopping 95% of which were positive in sentiment.

She was one of several Black women to earn accolades at the show, including musician Lizzo and “Abbott Elementary”‘s Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Ralph, who has been an entertainment staple for decades, finally earned her first Emmy for her role as Barbara Howard in ABC’s heartwarming comedy. The multi-talented performer accepted her award with an a cappella version of Dianne Reeves’ song “Endangered Species,” widely acknowledged as the top moment of the night.

Ralph was mentioned 85.84K times with an even more overwhelming 97.7% positive sentiment. Many reacted with widespread joy that she had finally won an award:

Emoji Reactions to Sheryl Lee Ralph's Emmy Win
Top Emoji Reactions to Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Emmy Win

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, while it was no Will Smith slap, one of the more controversial moments of the show was when comedian Jimmy Kimmel continued a bit he had been enacting with Will Arnett as Quinta Brunson accepted her award for “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.” Kimmel continued lying on the stage as Brunson had to step around him and give her acceptance speech above him. Many argued that not only did it take away from Brunson’s big moment, but it was also the epitome of white male privilege. More than 50% of all mentions of Kimmel this week are negative.

Brunson herself weighed in after the show, playing down the incident, but didn’t rule out confronting Kimmel during her guest spot on his show later this week.

Beyond the off-screen drama, several past winners cleaned up again this year. “Ted Lasso,” “Succession,” and “Squid Game” returned strong, while new winners from “White Lotus” and “Abbott Elementary” entered the ring.

With lots more engaged dialogue online than passive viewership on TV, perhaps the Emmys may want to consider returning to old formats of broadcast – either moving away from Monday nights or returning to COVID-era online productions.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Underdogs Bring in the Upsets in NCAAF Week Two

September 12, 2022

With college football in full swing, there have been several upsets overtaking social media platforms during week two. Several out-of-conference backyard-brawl games have allowed the “underdog” team to fight their way to a win over power 5 teams.

Starting with unranked Marshall’s Thundering Herd win over ranked number 8 Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish on Saturday, September 10, 2022. Marshall defeated Notre dame 26 to 21 and caused an upset on social media platforms. Over 5.13k mentions were logged as well as a 9.58 million broad reach. Within a 24-hour span, Sprinklr recorded 28.32% (175) positive mentions versus 71.68% (443) negative mentions. Twitter recorded the highest number of mentions with 2,312, and Reddit followed closely behind with 2,114. The sentiment seems to believe highly in Marshall’s favor and branding Notre Dame as ‘overrated.’ 

Secondly, unranked Appalachian State’s Mountaineers mark a win over ranked number 6 Texas A&M’s Aggies. Appalachian State has a history of bringing upsets to power 5 conference teams, but this one specifically gained an exponential amount of social media hits. Beating the ranked team by three points was a slap to the face to Texas A&M after being both invited and paid to attend the Aggies’ stadium. Within 24 hours, Sprinklr recorded 34.75k mentions with an outstanding 139.02 million broad reach. Of those, 68.92% (5.81K) negative mentions and 31.08% (2.62K) positive mentions. Twitter recorded the highest number of mentions with 16,536, and Reddit followed closely behind with 15,397. The sentiment seems to surround the fact that Texas A&M paid Appalachian State to be there, assuming that it would be an easy win. 

Lastly, Georgia Southern’s Eagles defeated Nebraska’s Huskies in a three-point differential, 45 – 42. The previous 214 games played on Nebraska’s home turg when 35+ points were scored had all been Huskie wins. Now, their statistical record is 241-1. Following the very first game and loss of the season, the head coach was fired, and the sentiment on Twitter was negative, seemingly outraged over the price of college football.  With an extremely high buy-out, many tweets with negative sentiment revolved questioning the funding and allocation of crucial money in a public institution. Sprinklr’s data record 7.2k mentions with a 2.3 million broad reach. Out of those statistics, 28.76% (564) were positive mentions, and 71.24% (1.4K) were negative mentions. 

These wins by the underdogs brought on a majority of adverse reactions from social media platforms, according to Sprinklr’s data. Social media platforms have become an outlet for both loving and hating fans to express themselves. It can be vital for teams to engage with their audience on platforms such as Twitter to keep authenticity and loyalty high amongst the fans. Although it is only week two, upsets will continue to stack up for the teams with the odds stacked against them, and those wins will be translated into Tweets and Reddit streams by the dedicated fans!

Author: Louisa Glazunova