The News in New Media

Year: 2023

Merge or Split: PGA Tour and LIV Golf

October 16, 2023

Over the years, the PGA Tour has held names such as Phil Mickelson, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. Upheld as the gold standard within the sport of professional golfing, reviews and ratings for the PGA Tour are at an all time high. CBS reported an average of 2.59 million viewers for PGA Tour events in 2023 which was a 4% increase YoY, according to Josh Sim with SportsPro Media. Recently, the organization has found itself a part of one of the most controversial topics nationwide as news of a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf came to light in June of 2023.

Since 1968, the PGA Tour has held as the dominant league and organization for professional golf. The idea of competing golf leagues arose in 2019 with the announcement of the Premier Golf League (PGL) which had its inaugural launch in the 2023 season. An additional competing organization, LIV Golf, was founded in 2021 and held its inaugural season in 2022. LIV Golf has been known to persuade players to leave the PGA Tour and join their new organization that is primarily funded by the Saudi Arabia government’s sovereign wealth fund: the Public Investment Fund (PFI). With the creation of these alternate organizations, players became trading pawns as they were encouraged to change alliances and at times be banned from leagues, events, and tournaments. Prior to June 2023, many antitrust claims/lawsuits had been filed between PGA Tour and LIV Golf and additionally, letters of disapproval were sent from PGL to both PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Social Media conversations surrounding this new merger have been controversial for many different reasons. Collectively, the topic had over 235.31K mentions and an overall negative sentiment among users. The conversation on the topic peaked on June 6th, with the announcement of an agreement between PGA Tour and LIV Golf which would combine the two organizations’ commercial businesses and rights into a new for-profit entity. 

Conversations entailed criticism for the PGA Tour/ Commissioner, Jay Monahan, for the insensitivity of the merger to the 9/11 community, commentary on former President Donald Trump’s predictions on the merger, and overall thoughts on the deal.

In light of the news of a merger that would drastically change golf’s current governance structure, several other implications came about. The merger announcement implied all prior litigation between the two organizations would end, player recruitment would end, the PIF would be making capital investments in the new for-profit entity, and new (unequal) governance structures would take place for the board of directors. The announcement resulted in bipartisan scrutiny among legislators as they brought up Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights and antitrust issues that would emerge if it came to fruition. Players also retaliated upon hearing of the deal and now argue for more power in the new entity. A senate subcommittee hearing was held on July 11th, 2023 regarding the matter. 

Most recently, PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan has admitted miscalculations in the announcement and taken responsibility for the misinformation and issues with the rollout of the merger to LIV Golf. However, he stated “But ultimately the move that we made is the right move for the PGA Tour and I firmly believe that. As we go forward, time will bear that out. It was the right move”. 

According to Bloomberg News, the merger deal will be delayed past its anticipated deadline of December 31st, 2023. Many publics remain eager to see the implications of the new entity, should it come to pass. 

Author: Lexi Merriman

Clemson’s September in Review

September 25, 2023

Over the past two decades, Clemson University has received praises for its accomplishments as a public land grant university and for its rankings by the U.S. News and World Report and Wall Street Journal. This year, Clemson was named the best college in South Carolina by Niche and ranked number 25 in best public institutions in the nation according to the 2024 Wall Street Journal/College Pulse rankings. Conversations about Clemson continue to rise as the university progresses in varying projects like the development of new programs, interdisciplinary collaborations on campus, and top ranking sporting teams. 

Conversations on the release of Clemson’s ranking with the Wall Street Journal peaked on September 13th, 2023 and had a reach of 658.47 K and 123 mentions. The majority of conversations surrounding the announcement had a positive sentiment and key words of discussion indicated praises of the university’s leadership in achieving the ranking. Jim Clements, President of Clemson University, created the most conversation on the topic with his statement regarding the rankings.

In addition to the national recognition the university received this month, Clemson has also had great achievements in women’s soccer. As of September 17th, 2023, Clemson women’s soccer was ranked no. 6 in NCAA Division 1. The team held their season opener against the university’s in-state rival South Carolina on Thursday, August 17th, 2023. Since the start of the season, @clemsonwsoccer has had a reach of 4.87 million with 445 mentions and an overall positive sentiment.

Prior to moving up in ranking, conversations peaked for Clemson Women’s Soccer on September 7th, 2023. The team was ranked no. 9 in the matchup against No. 7 Arkansas. Following the big win over Arkansas, overwhelming support has been seen for the team on social media. In general, the team’s support is visible on multiple social media platforms. 

Conversations continue to peak with every game the Clemson Women’s Soccer Team completes and the overall sentiment surrounding the team indicates the community looks forward to seeing what the Tigers will do during the final matches of the season. The Tigers are set to take on their next opponent (Syracuse) on September 30th, 2023. 

The university has also announced their participation in a collaborative effort with the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina in the creation of a first-of-its-kind Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. The announcement of this research facility came alongside the announcement of $10 million coming from in-state funding announced by legislators to aid in the project. Conversations are starting to pick up as the university begins this project with other top state research institutions. Clemson’s post alone on this effort has had a reach of 20.9 K and other participating institutions are promoting the Center as well. Read more about the partnership here: 

South Carolina’s top research institutions collaborate to advance comprehensive Alzheimer’s disease research, medical discoveries and education

As Clemson University nears the middle of the fall semester, community members remain excited about what’s to come for the new programs and projects, as well as, how sports teams will perform.

Author: Lexi Merriman

Social Media Conversations following UNC Chapel Hill Shooting

September 17, 2023

In a world where gun violence and school shootings are becoming more prevalent, universities find themselves making new plans of action to accommodate for the changing environment we now live in. UNC Chapel Hill experienced this on August 28th, 2023 at 1:03 pm when they went into lockdown due to a perceived threat of a gunman on campus. Community members took to social media during and after the incident and conversations are still ongoing nearing three weeks after the lockdown. 

The incident had a reach of 6.16 billion and as of today had 901.81 K mentions. In addition to the shooting on August 28th, UNC Chapel Hill experienced another lockdown on Wednesday, September 13th, 2023. 

Conversations peaked on August 28th, 2023 and additionally peaked on September 13th following the second lockdown. Conversations and mentions of the topic were primarily held on X (formerly Twitter).

In addition to debates on gun laws in North Carolina and the response of UNC Chapel Hill to the two lockdowns, one of the major conversations that took place surrounding the incident on Aug. 28th was pertaining to the university’s student newspaper.

Not only is the university’s student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, a nonprofit publication, it is also the only print publication for Orange County, NC. This made for an even larger local audience to boost conversations. On August 30th, 2023, the student-led newspaper released an addition of the paper attempting to capture what students, faculty, staff, and community members all felt during the events two days prior.

https://x.com/caitlyn_yaede/status/1696678904683970574?s=20

The Daily Tar Heel’s X (formerly Twitter) account reposted the announcement of the newspaper cover by Caitlyn Yaede, print managing editor of the student paper. The newspaper cover has since been used nationally by numerous reporting agencies as they cover the incident. The post (and newspaper) went viral with 8.3 million views and 24.4K reposts. Additionally, it opened another avenue in the comments for users to hold discussions on the newspaper, both positive and negative.

   

Other major conversations surrounding the incident were in regard to the UNC Chapel Hill’s March for Our Lives Chapter, a gun activist group, presence at North Carolina legislature meeting. The group was escorted from the Chambers after chanting “vote them out” at the legislators. Social media conversations highlighted this event as it was only one day before the school and community members found themselves in a second lockdown (September 12th, 2023). 

https://x.com/NC_Governor/status/1702047911570555047?s=20

Conversations are still ongoing as the nation and the UNC Chapel Hill community deals with the effects of this incident. The shooting on August 28th, 2023 resulted in the death of Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the department of Applied Physical Sciences.

Author: Lexi Merriman 

Clemson Tigers Return to the Field for the 2023 Season

September 9, 2023

The Tigers returned to the field this past Monday in a game vs. the Duke Blue Devils. The game took place at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, NC, kicking off the 2023 season. The event was the season opener for both teams in the ACC conference and was a greatly anticipated start to the season for the no. 9 Clemson Tigers. Despite the predictions given for the game, for example Sports Illustrated gave an FPI prediction of the Clemson Tigers with an 86.9% chance of winning the game outright compared to Duke at 13.1 %, the Blue Devils beat the Clemson Tigers by a score of 28-07 (Perks, 2023). 

Following the unexpected outcome, there were a lot of conversation surrounding the game for Tiger fans. From September 3rd through September 8th, the game results plus the anticipation for the next matchup had a reach of 803.42 million and 94.48K mentions overall. Mostly pertaining to the excitement of spectators before both the Duke game and the anticipated game against Charleston Southern University (CSU) on September 9th, there was an overall positive sentiment. Conversations peaked on Monday, September 4th about the game vs. Duke with the most utilized platform being X (formerly Twitter). 

On Monday September 4th, one of the primary conversations was surrounding a post made by the College Football Report regarding Clemson’s participation in the Playoffs. Many fans held discussion on the validity of the statement from the College Football Report.

Additionally, this game marked Duke’s first AP top-10 win since 1989. This sparked conversations among Duke fans regarding the team’s exciting win and also on upsets across conferences. Conversations also highlighted skepticism from viewers on pre-season ranking in general. 

In looking forward to the next game, fans are discussing the opportunity for Clemson to just play for fun and without stress after last week’s loss. Quarterback Cade Klubnik took some heat for his performance in the game against Duke, but spectators are excited to see him get to play on his home field and with a little bit less pressure. Additionally, Tiger fans are eager for the new Tiger Walk and first game back in Death Valley. 

Spectators wait to see if a home team advantage will give Clemson the edge they need as they take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers today, Saturday (Sep. 9).  

Author: Lexi Merriman

NHL, NBA Postseasons Begin

April 15, 2023

Featured image courtesy of Bleacher Report. 

The NHL and NBA are both set to embark on their postseasons as teams compete for their respective trophies in one of the most exciting times of the year for sports fans. The NHL regular season just wrapped up last night and the NBA’s play-in bracket also concluded as their playoffs have officially begun today. 

Both final playoff brackets include 16 teams, though the way those teams were selected differ. The NHL’s are simply the top 8 teams in each conference points-wise, while the NBA hosts a play-in tournament for teams seeded 7-10. Those mid-tier teams must go through each other first to make it into the final two spots in each conference’s bracket. 

Let’s take a look at each of these major leagues’ playoff pictures.

The NHL

The NHL’s postseason officially begins on Monday, but the playoff picture was only set in stone as of last night as the regular-season games concluded. 

There were quite a few surprises leading into the postseason for the League and its fans. First and foremost, the Pittsburgh Penguins missed out on the playoffs for the first time in sixteen seasons, the longest playoff streak in all pro sports. Almost immediately, the team announced major changes in their front office, firing their general manager, assistant general manager, and president of hockey operations the next morning. Several other teams who missed the playoffs also made changes, as the Washington Capitals and Columbus Blue Jackets both fired their coaches and the Anaheim Ducks announced they would not extend their own coach’s contract.

In the last week, the Penguins were mentioned 21.55K times, though as with all sports teams this doesn’t represent the whole picture as certainly many people refer to them just by their nickname (i.e., “Penguins”) or their nickname’s nickname (i.e., “Pens”). 61.7% of this conversation was negative in its sentiment, as the top themes of discussion talked about the Penguins’ first miss in so long, failed hockey ops leadership, and if the core three players’ careers were being squandered. Interestingly, Reddit was the top platform in terms of discussion volume and most influential users, which is not something we see often. 

Another plotline is the record-breaking Boston Bruins. This juggernaut squad took the NHL by storm this year, winning the most games in a season ever, with 65, and most points ever, with 135. They clinched both their playoff spot and the President’s Trophy (for the team with the most points) incredibly early and it seems unlikely that anyone will be able to beat them. However, it is the playoffs, and anything can happen. 

Like with the Penguins, Reddit was again the top-volume source of digital conversation, revealing a vibrant hockey community on this platform we don’t see much of in the mainstream news coverage. 

Round 1 of the NHL playoffs begin on Monday evening. 

The NBA

The NBA’s postseason has already begun, with its first games taking place this afternoon! Now that we’re past the play-in tournament, the competitive landscape can be revealed. 

The play-in works by the 7th and 8th seeded teams playing each other while the 9th and 10th seeded teams play each other. The winner of the higher-seeded game automatically moves on to the 7th seed position, while the loser of the higher-seeded game plays the winner of the lower-seeded game; the winner of this match then takes the 8th seed. The Western play-in winners were the L.A. Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves while the Eastern play-in winners were the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat. 

Over the last week, the NBA Play-In has been mentioned a stunning 299.2K times, with a surge starting on April 11-12, when the games began. Interestingly, mentions of this bracket format were 63.3% negative, and as it only began during the pandemic it seems that fans’ responses are mixed about this expanded format. Meanwhile in the NHL, journalists and commentators like Greg Wyshynski are pushing for a similar play-in format, again to mixed feedback from fans. 

Meanwhile, the NBA has seen its own share of controversy in the end of its season, as the Dallas Mavericks have faced backlash from its own players as well as fans and the league itself for allegedly sabotaging their own postseason chances. Star player Luka Doncic candidly shared that he was unhappy with his team’s management and performance, while the NBA later fined the organization for resting key players when they should have still been competing hard. 

More controversy came from early on in the playoff round, as the Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert appeared to hit his teammate during a mid-game huddle. While this action is certainly concerning to management and fans, some fans online saw the humor in the moment, recalling the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when Gobert notably did not believe in the virus and ran around touching other people and their belongings. Sentiment around Gobert’s name is overwhelmingly poor, with 87.7% negatively coded mentions. 

The NBA playoff games are ongoing! We look forward to seeing which teams win each league this season and what other storylines develop. 

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

A Week After the Indictment

April 10, 2023

Image courtesy of ABC News

In the week following the formal indictment of Donald Trump, nearly 450 thousand Tweets have been sent mentioning the former President’s predicament. The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday April 4th, includes 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to alleged hush money payments made in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels. 

Mentions reached a sharp peak on April 4th as the details of the charges came to light, with 186 thousand mentions of Trump and ‘indictment’ in a single day. The message with the most retweets that day was the Manhattan District Attorney’s own tweet: 

Conservative voices were the loudest on Twitter that day, with the most popular Tweets coming from politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Ted Cruz. These and other Republican voices came to Trumps’ defense, calling the indictment at best anti-democratic or, at worst, fake. 

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1643341848029659139

The severity of the charges against Trump and the likelihood of his conviction seem to depend on which source one consults. Unsurprisingly, perspectives seem to divide along partisan lines. 

Trump himself is of course left out of the conversation on Twitter since his ban, but has been very active on TruthSocial, his own social networking site. Trump has posted 14 times in the past 24 hours and since the indictment has averaged over a dozen posts per day. Some of Trump’s posts seem cryptic and frightening, but most simply accuse, in myriad ways, the state of New York of conspiring against him. Trump maintains a loyal following on TruthSocial, with nearly every one of his posts receiving more than 20 thousand likes.

Donald Trump Jr. has also been active on TruthSocial since the indictment, but caused a stir when he shared a news article featuring a picture of the judge in Trump Sr.’s case, Juan Merchan, with his daughter, Loren, and claimed that she worked on the Biden-Harris presidential campaign. Trump Jr. has since deleted the post after it caused too much outrage.

While the breaking news of the indictment struck, the conversation on Twitter reached a fever pitch. However, now that the news is out, the conversation seems to have died down. While the day of the arraignment saw over 186 thousand tweets about Trump’s indictment, today there have been only about 6 thousand. 

This graph demonstrates the peak of the conversation on April 4th and its decline over the past week

Currently, prosecutors are seeking to prohibit Mr. Trump from posting evidence on social media or otherwise providing it to the media. Some speculate that Judge Merchan may have to consider a gag order for Trump in order to keep the case progressing normally, but until then we look forward to keeping an eye on the conversation.

By Molly Riddell

March Madness 2023 Wraps Up With Two New Champs

April 5, 2023

The annual NCAA National Championship tournament just wrapped up this week with two new winners cutting down the nets. The UConn Huskies beat San Diego State by a score of 76-59 to win the men’s tournament while LSU beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 on the women’s side. Meanwhile, UConn’s Adama Sanogo and LSU’s Angel Reese earned the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) titles. 

Naturally, with more than a month of hype and games, there was a massive amount of discussion around both the men and women’s tournaments. While the competition is officially known as the National Championship, the colloquial term “March Madness” is more popular in common parlance and online. From March 1 through today, the phrase “March Madness” or the hashtag #MarchMadness have garnered more than 2.32 million mentions, while the more official hashtag #NationalChampionship only earned 127.2K mentions. 

On both fronts, a majority of the sentiment was considered positive, in part due to so many people discussing great plays and some of the amazing talent on show this year, like both MOPs mentioned above as well as Iowa’s star Caitlin Clark. 

However, like in most competitions, there was some debate and dissensus throughout, particularly depending on whose favorite teams were ahead at the time. For example, Iowa’s Clark taunted an opponent with a “you can’t see me” gesture earlier in the tournament, while LSU’s Reese then turned the gesture back on her during the final game, adding to it with a “talk to the ring” gesture. Online pundits immediately jumped on Reese by calling her “classless,” which in turn prompted others to respond by arguing they only have a problem with Reese making the gesture because she’s Black, while Clark is white. 

https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/1642648288280162305?s=20

Adding fuel to the fire was First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, who suggested inviting both teams rather than just the victors to visit the White House. In both professional and collegiate sports, the team who wins the national championship has traditionally visited the White House and met the president following their win. Dr. Biden’s suggestion was immediately shot down by LSU and echoes some of the concerns of racism by others, given that Iowa’s stars are predominantly white while LSU’s are Black.

https://twitter.com/Reese10Angel/status/1643024890813874179?s=20

Despite these concerns and competing opinions, the tournament did demonstrate a great step forward for women’s sports and demonstrated the market is there for women’s team brands to compete with men’s teams. ESPN’s public relations team shared some of the record-breaking statistics: 

In fact, there were not only broadcast records shattered but also many athletic records, including records broken by both Reese and Clark.

A positive and charming storyline to come out of the tournament was that a pair of cousins won their respective championships. Reese and her cousin Jordan Hawkins, who plays for UConn, each took home a trophy. Sounds like they’re already planning quite the celebration back home!

Congratulations to the UConn Huskies and LSU Tigers on their championship wins!

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Recapping the SMLC’s First Social Media Week

March 31, 2023

Our team here at the Clemson SMLC is proud to share we’ve just finished our first-ever Social Media Week event! This event was the first conference in our new facility, which just opened last August, and we enjoyed the opportunity to host so many industry experts and Clemson students with a wide range of majors and interests.

Below, we’ll recap the panels we hosted and let you know how to find our incredible guest speakers on social media! 

Customer and Fan Engagement – Kyle Coulter

Clemson Athletics’ own Kyle Coulter helped us kick off the inaugural Social Media Week by hosting our first panel, focusing on customer and fan engagement. If you’ve ever seen content from Clemson Football, it was probably Kyle’s brainchild! 

Kyle spoke to students about his experiences working with the Clemson Football brand and how to reinvigorate a brand to resonate most with audiences. Not only are athletes and employees extensions of a brand, but everyone should be working together to reach the same “North Star” through a unifying, guiding vision.

You can follow Kyle on Twitter at @kylecoulter_ and Clemson Football at @ClemsonFB! 

The Art of Storytelling – Wes Gay

Wes Gay is an expert in storytelling and the power of narratives, sharing the StoryBrand technique with his own agency, Wayfinder Agency. The StoryBrand technique provides a roadmap of marketing principles: just like the archetypical Hero’s Journey, consumers follow a certain path during their purchasing journeys. By paralleling this plot line, social media experts and marketers can more genuinely reach users and meet their needs.

Most importantly, “if you confuse, you’ll lose.” Make sure your story is clear and straightforward and makes sense to your followers, and be sure you’re acting as a guide to help those followers solve problems. 

You can follow Wes on Twitter at @wesgay and the StoryBrand organization at @storybrand! 

Measuring Social Media Success – Chas Williams

Clemson University’s executive director of social media, Chas Williams, was the first member of his team to join us here at the SMLC. Chas discussed ways to measure and understand social media success, which goes beyond simply evaluating metrics. 

Whether it’s for an organizational brand or individual brand, make sure you start by understanding your “why” – what motivates you and what are you trying to achieve, day in and day out? If you’re working constantly to meet that “why” and stay in line with your values and image, you’re contributing to your brand success. Strategy is key! 

You can follow Chas on Twitter at @cwilliams3 and Clemson University at @ClemsonUniv! 

Sports and Social Media – Kaley Humphrey & Teri Johnson

We had a full house for our sports session, featuring Kaley Humphrey of the Greenville Triumph and Teri Johnson of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Students had an opportunity to engage in a more panel-like discussion and ask the two experts about their experiences as women working in sports, the rigors of the industry, and the best ways to break into such a competitive field.

Both reiterated the importance of knowing your audience and your market – as Teri said, it can be difficult to market minor-league hockey in a Southern city! – and reaching fans online with content they really want to engage with. 

You can follow Kaley on Twitter at @humphrey_kaley and the Greenville Triumph at @GVLTriumph, and Teri at @terimichelle13 and the Greenville Swamp Rabbits at @SwampRabbits!

Influencer Relations – Raine Riley

Kaley was only the first of three students who earned their M.A. in Communication here at Clemson to re-join us this week: Raine Riley was another one! She returned to the SMLC to share her knowledge on influencer marketing. While maintaining strong relationships with a brand’s audience is important to a brand’s ongoing success, it’s also incredibly important to keep relationships with influencers tight. 

Raine helps her public relations firm and its clients work with influencers within their industries, which in turn helps bring awareness and new fans to the clients’ brands. There’s no one-size-fits-all marketing strategy for every organization, but Raine thinks influencer marketing is here to stay, and brands that are getting in on the ground floor today may be better set up for success tomorrow. 

You can follow Raine on Twitter at @RaineTRiley and her PR firm, Jeff Dezen PR, at @jeffdezenPR!

Building Social Networks – Nicole Day

Another member of Clemson’s social media team, Nicole Day, joined us to kick off our third and final day of Social Media Week. Nicole taught students about the importance of building networks via social media, and how those networks can pay off during your job hunt. 

You may be surprised to know that LinkedIn is not the only approach you can take to social media networking! Depending on your industry, other social media platforms, like Twitter, may be more appropriate to build connections with others and share your professional accomplishments. It all depends on what you’re trying to achieve and who you’re hoping to connect with. 

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicolemcday, and Clemson University at @ClemsonUniv!

Personal Branding – Nigel Robertson

If you’ve ever watched WYFF News 4 in Greenville, you might be familiar with Nigel Robertson! Nigel has been with the network since 1999, and he visited us to share his insights on the changing media landscape and how one’s personal brand can fit into that.

By walking students through the timeline of mass media from the early days of a few newspaper conglomerates to our modern world of information overload, Nigel explained how it’s important to create a brand that will stand out from this saturated landscape and make you a unique commodity. He also discussed the democratization of news, and how we’re in a unique time when anyone can be a creator and share content in real time. Where will the media world go next?!

You can follow Nigel on Twitter at @thetopstoryWYFF and WYFF News 4 at @WYFFNews4!

Social Media Listening & Market Research – Agassy Rodriguez

We closed the week out with a great session from our third and final Clemson MAC alum, Agassy Rodriguez. Agassy graduated with his M.A. in Communication last spring and now works with Campus Sonar. Agassy explained the differences between social media monitoring and social listening to students, as well as the importance for all brands, not just universities, to keep an eye on conversations surrounding them on social media.

A majority of all the mentions of your brand are going to be earned – that is, people will just discuss your brand on their own rather than you, as a brand representative, pushing out owned media. Consumers are also more likely to trust this earned media as they trust their peers more than a company, so it’s important to not try to talk over the social discussion: work alongside it to meet your goals and guide your business strategy. 

You can follow Agassy on Twitter at @Agassy_R and Campus Sonar at @campussonar!

Thank you to all our fantastic speakers for sharing your expertise with us, and thank you to our Tiger community for attending and making our first Social Media Week a great success! 

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Nation in Mourning after mass shooting in Tennessee

March 31, 2023

Image courtesy CNN

The nation reels in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Nashville, TN that left 3 children and 3 adults dead as well as the shooter themselves, who was killed by police. 

Globally, the terms “Nashville shooting” or “shooter” were mentioned 1.2 million times in the first 24 hours after the incident, with over 469 thousand of those mentions coming from within the United States. As usual in the aftermath of a mass shooting, the conversation on social media centered in part around the need for reform in gun ownership laws. 

Comparisons between the incident in Nashville and previous school shootings constituted another large portion of the conversation, with Uvalde ranking as Tuesday’s number one trending topic on Twitter. Other trending topics on Tuesday included AR-15 (number 3) and Columbine (number 26). 

Nationally, many conservative figureheads honed in on the identity of the shooter: Audrey Hale, a 28 year old former student, who identified as transgender and used he/him pronouns on social media. Conservatives were quick to connect the shooting to Hale’s gender identity in Tweets that many considered offensive and worrying for others in the trans community. As usual, Marjorie Taylor Greene helped lead the charge. 

More locally, many users in Tennessee called the attack a hate crime against Christians due to the fact that the shooting took place at the Covenant School, a private elementary school on the grounds of Covenant Presbyterian Church. This effect was compounded after it was revealed that one of the lives lost was that of 9 year old Hallie Scruggs, daughter of a local pastor. 

Other users in Tennessee challenged this narrative, instead arguing that gun culture and congressional impotence were to blame for the violence. 

As police released more information about the shooter, the term ‘manifesto’ began to occupy space in the Twitter conversation, with over 10 thousand users asserting that the FBI should make the shooter’s writings public. Some insist on conspiracy, alleging that the FBI is covering up the shooter’s manifesto to avoid perception of the shooting as a hate crime. Most of these Tweets attached a video of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, whose influence on social media, while regrettable, remains considerable:

Those murdered in the tragedy were Evelyn Dieckhaus, age 9; Mike Hill, age 61; Katherine Koonce, age 60; Cynthia Peak, age 61; Hallie Scruggs, age 9; and William Kinney, age 9. The SMLC and the rest of the nation mourn their senseless deaths. 

By Molly Riddell

2023 Oscars Recap: No Slap, But There’s Still Drama

March 16, 2023

Earlier this week we took a brief look at the social media traffic surrounding 2023 Oscars awards, which took place Sunday night. Now, we’re looking into a deep dive of what people were talking about regarding one of the most star-studded ceremonies in the world. 

https://twitter.com/ClemsonSMLC/status/1635430544677666824?s=20

From March 10 (the Friday before the show) through March 16, the Oscars (“Oscars” OR “Oscar Awards” OR “2023 Oscars”) were mentioned a stunning 11.23 million times around the world, with 1.34 million of those mentions coming from the United States. Another top traffic contributor was India, thanks to the Indian film “RRR” making waves and its original song “Naatu Naatu” winning the Oscar for Best Original Song as well as being performed live. India contributed 921.7K mentions to the global discussion of the awards show. 

For once, sentiment was largely positive: 83.9% of all mentions were coded as positive. Some of the most-used words and phrases within these positives mentioned included “Congratulations,” “won,” and “winner,” indicating that users were congratulating both the nominees and winners. Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis were also frequently mentioned positively for their performances in “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” as well as both praise for and critiques of the increased diversity of nominees and winners. 

Yeoh would ultimately win Best Actress, Quan would win Best Supporting Actor, and Curtis would win Best Supporting Actress, all for their roles in that film. Brendan Fraser joined the winning coterie with the Best Actor award for his emotional performance in “The Whale.”

Despite all the positive sentiment, though, there were still some controversies around the evening. While nothing quite reached the virality level of “The Slap” last year, it wouldn’t be a Hollywood awards show without a little chaos. 

Hugh Grant was immediately called out for seemingly being rude to Ashley Graham while she was interviewing him on the red carpet. Discussion online ranged from praising Graham for how she responded, arguing that she just missed the joke Grant was trying to make, and maligning Grant for how he was acting. Of course, many have also asked the real question: 

Grant’s name was mentioned 59.8K times in the same time window, with a spike on March 13 as people began to share the interview and discuss their interpretations. Sentiment is split nearly perfectly in half – 49.1% positive and 50.9% negative – indicating that people truly cannot decide who was in the wrong, or if there was even any wrong done. 

Other headlines from the night included Ke Huy Quan and Harrison Ford reuniting on stage for the first time in decades, especially since Quan had retired from acting until “Everything Everywhere All At Once” came calling. The heartwarming moment brought back memories of their (literally also heartwarming?) movie together, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” 

Additionally, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” editor Paul Rogers discussed his white male privilege when he accepted the award, especially resonant as the film focused on an Asian-American immigrant family and most of its actors were Asian or Asian-American. Many fans praised this transparency and acknowledgement, especially in contrast to how Harry Styles accepted his Album of the Year Grammy several weeks ago. 

Ultimately, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” ended the night with seven wins out of its 11 nominations while Netflix’s German-language epic remake of “All Quiet on the Western Front” followed closely with four wins out of its nine nominations. 

Author: Kayleigh Jackson