The News in New Media

Month: February 2023

A Tale of Two Cities (and Two Presidents)

February 24, 2023

Featured image courtesy of Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via The Hill

President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday, Feb. 20th to show his support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and to mark the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion that sparked prolonged conflict and generated mixed global response. 

Since Sunday there have been 1.6 million total mentions of Biden and Ukraine or Zelenskyy on Twitter, with the hashtag #ukraine used 83.3 thousand times. After news of the visit broke, conversation on social media consisted of volleys between political opinion leaders as they argued about whether the trip was appropriate in light of major concerns here at home, particularly the train derailment that took place earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio. 

Fox news offered their own analysis of the “Ohio vs. Ukraine” conversation’s polarizing effect, describing how “conservative and liberal pundits sparred on Twitter”. As usual, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Congresswoman from Georgia, gained considerable traction with her tweet that criticized Biden for traveling to Ukraine rather than attending to issues here in the States. 

Greene usually features prominently on conservative Twitter, and this tweet was no different, reaching 5.2 million viewers. While the high number of likes and interactions with MTG’s tweet does imply that many users agree with her statements, it should also be noted that the majority of the quote tweets and replies to the tweet are negative and express disagreement. 

Greene was not the only one tweeting vitriol at Biden, and her sentiment above was echoed by many other popular conservative accounts. However, Biden supporters made their voices heard as well, with many users interacting with tweets that compared Biden favorably to Trump. 

Themes comparing Biden to Trump continued throughout the week, since President Trump visited East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday to hand out beans and water to victims of the toxic conditions created by the train derailment. While some responded to Trump’s visit with support, others couldn’t help but question Trump’s motives for the trip.

The dramatic situation in Ohio remains deeply entangled in social media conversations about Biden’s choice to visit Zelenskyy. On Twitter, the words most commonly associated with Biden’s visit to Ukraine include war (161k mentions), people (127k mentions), Russia (123k mentions), and Ohio (119k mentions), demonstrating the importance of the Ohio derailment to America’s understanding of the Ukraine visit’s impact, success, and utility. 

Most conservative backlash on social media seems to take issue not with the visit itself, but with the prioritization of foreign issues over our own, local problems here in the States. The New York Times reports that planning for Biden’s trip to Ukraine had been “under way for months”, but that the final decision was made Friday. This left some Americans feeling snubbed.

Was Biden “brave” and “strong” for going to Ukraine, or is he showing “weakness” and “disgrace”?  As the social media conversation continues, we at the SMLC keep listening.

Author: Molly Riddell

Environmental, Political Concerns Continue Following Ohio Train Derailment

February 22, 2023

On Feb. 3, a catastrophic train derailment in East Palestine, OH, led to a toxic spill of the chemical vinyl chloride. The accident resulted in a looming cloud of poisonous smoke, displaced residents, dead wildlife and pets, and international concerns about environmental protections and cleanup efforts. 

Now, nearly 20 days later, the disaster is – predictably – a political battleground, as some residents say they feel forgotten and as if they’re being used as puppets with little concern for their livelihood and wellbeing. 

Former president Donald Trump visited East Palestine on Feb. 22, yet politicians and disaster-relief experts across the country considered his visit to be more of a political stunt than any real relief expedition. East Palestine is located in a “reliably red” county in Ohio and Trump’s trip has seemed to be something of a launching point for his 2024 presidential campaign. 

Social media posters on both sides of the political spectrum are lauding or lambasting Trump for not only the visit but also reforms made during his administration that possibly made the accident, and even more recent derailments in Nebraska and Michigan within the last few weeks, more likely to occur.

The combined search terms of “East Palestine” AND “Trump” returned 354.04K mentions from Feb. 1 through today, with a predictable spike on Feb. 18, the day Trump announced he would visit the embattled town. However, poster sentiment is wildly negative, with 89.4% of these mentions being negatively coded. These unhappy users are displeased with essentially everything going on, from the disaster itself to political responses from both the Democratic and Republican camps. Combined terms of “East Palestine” AND “Biden” are even more displeased, with 97.3% of the 644.2K mentions negatively coded. 

President Joe Biden has been particularly vilified for visiting Ukraine during his own constituents’ time of need. The mayor of East Palestine, Trent Conaway, went on FOX News and called Biden’s visit to Eastern Europe a “slap in the face.”

Negative effects from Biden’s trip were also immediately obvious on the global scale, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin “upstaged” and “embarrassed” by the surprise trip into an active war zone. Putin responded by suspending Russia’s participation in START, a nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. and prompting “World War III” to start trending on Twitter. 

Altogether, the combination of these crises reflects negatively on Biden’s international and domestic politics, though the trip to Ukraine was intended to boost morale in Kyiv. One popular Tweet circulating alleges that the slow response from Biden, secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg, and FEMA is because Columbiana County, home of East Palestine, voted against the Democratic party in 2020. 

However, there is some potentially positive news coming out of what seems to be a no-win situation. After concerns of widespread environmental effects such as poisoned waterways, air pollution, and toxic seafood were raised, the EPA has ordered Norfolk Southern, the company at fault, to clean up East Palestine and shoulder the costs for the efforts. Norfolk Southern’s previous efforts to appease residents have been rightfully ridiculed: 

Ongoing water testing in the watershed and in residents’ private water sources have provided mixed results based on who is doing the testing, yet hopefully cleanup efforts will prove fruitful. 

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Clemson alumna Nikki Haley announces run for president

February 17, 2023

Photo from @nikkihaley on Instagram

Former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley announced her campaign for the 2024 presidential race this week. Haley is a home-grown South Carolinian, a Clemson alumna, and was appointed to a lifetime position on Clemson University’s board of trustees in 2021. 

The formal announcement came Tuesday, Feb. 14 in the form of a video tweeted from Haley’s Twitter account. Haley’s tweet containing the video was retweeted over 3 thousand times within the first 24 hours, reaching more than 8.5 million viewers.

In the video, Haley proudly identifies as the daughter of Indian-American immigrants. She denies that the founding principles of the United States are “racist” or “evil”, and points to countries like Iran and China as examples of true “evil”. Haley reminds viewers of her faith in God following a mass shooting at a Church in Charleston in 2015 and urges viewers to turn toward God again. Haley argues for a “secure border” and “fiscal responsibility” while denigrating the “socialist left”.

In the first 24 hours after the early morning announcement, users posted over 85k tweets about Nikki Haley, with a total reach of over 4 million users. Sentiment during this period was 85% negative with many pointing out the unfortunate timing of the announcement, which came the morning after a deadly shooting at Michigan State University.

However, many were quick to voice their support for Haley, including Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina since 2003.

The most popular tweet from within South Carolina during the first 24 hours after the announcement was a video of Haley from more than a decade ago discussing her position on the Confederate Flag. Many users seemed to use the video in negative contexts to show their criticism of Haley’s past positions.

Many users debated the efficacy of Haley’s choice for her video’s closing line: That when she’s kicked by bullies, she kicks back, and it hurts them worse because she’s “wearing heels”. Reaction to this line in particular was largely negative on social media with over 94% of tweets expressing negativity. 

Don Lemon, anchor for CNN, became the 3rd most trending topic on Twitter on Thursday with 23.8k mentions after sparking outrage with his claim that Nikki Haley might be too old to be president, since a woman’s “prime” is “in her 20, 30s, and maybe 40s”. Haley is 51. Social media users – especially conservatives – were quick to come to Haley’s defense and to point out misogyny in Lemon’s comment. Lemon has since walked back his comments on his own Twitter account.

We at the SMLC look forward to covering our hometown candidate as she competes for the Republican nomination. For more information on Haley’s campaign kickoff, check out The Tiger covering Haley’s formal announcement and rally event Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at the Charleston Visitor Center.

Author: Molly Riddell

Balloon Wars

February 16, 2023

Americans are still scratching their heads concerning the sudden onslaught of news about surveillance balloons, UFOs, and other confusing aerial phenomena. What began with a single balloon over Billings, Montana has grown into at least 4 balloons identified and shot down over the United States. 

The saga of the balloon wars began on the 28th of January when the United States began tracking a large balloon entering US airspace over Alaska. News of the balloon was made public on Feb. 2 when local newspapers in Billings, MT began to report sightings. 

During the first 24 hours of the Thursday Feb. 2 newsbreak, most discussion occurred on Twitter with over 621k mentions of the Chinese balloon. The platform with the second most mentions of the Chinese balloon was Reddit as users shared links to news articles announcing the situation.

The most retweeted content during the initial 24 hours was videos of the balloon itself provided by amateur photographers from across the country.

The Twitter accounts of news agencies such as BBC and CNN tweeted links to their coverage of the story, and these messages were the most widely retweeted content during the initial story break, reaching the largest number of users.

By noon on Fri. Feb. 3 the conversation had become critical, with controversial Republican authorities and prolific tweeters like MTG and Lauren Boebert using their twitter accounts to malign the Biden administration’s reaction to the balloon. MTG, with 1.9 million followers on Twitter, holds particular sway over the conversation at this point, with her meme below reaching more users than even Fox News’ tweets linking to their coverage of the story.

The Twitter conversation during the afternoon and evening hours of Friday, Feb. 3 mentioned the balloon over 1 million times, with the hashtags #china and #chinesespyballoon used with predominantly negative sentiment. CNN reports Chinese foreign officials released a statement claiming that “The airship is of civil nature and is used for scientific research such as meteorology. Affected by the westerly wind and its own control ability is limited, the airship seriously deviated from the scheduled route”. However, Twitter users in America remained skeptical. As users debated the balloon’s origins, its level of threat, and the best course of action, the words most commonly associated with the terms ‘Chinese balloon’ were spy, emasculation, weakness, and communist.

For some users on Twitter, the situation provided ample fodder for jokes and memes. Many were critical of what some saw as Biden’s relaxed stance toward a potential threat to national security, while others seemed to argue that the fear was overblown.

South Carolinians like former Governor Nikki Haley also took to Twitter to voice their opinion from our unique position on the direct flight path of the balloon.

The saga of the first balloon came to an end here in the home state when it was shot down at 2:30 pm on Saturday, Feb. 4 off the coast of Myrtle Beach. Some users from SC shared their own images of the moment the F-22 jet engaged the balloon.

While the first balloon kicked off social media buzz, the conversation continues as three more high-altitude balloons have been shot down over US airspace in the last week. Keep an eye on the blog – and on the skies – for updates on the balloon wars.

Author: Molly Riddell

Super Bowl LVII: From the Commercials to the Calls

February 12, 2023

Super Bowl LVII took place this evening in Phoenix, AZ, between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, and it was a high-octane ride from start to finish. This game was in the headlines even more than normal Super Bowl matchups for a variety of reasons, including Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ lingering injury concerns.

This Super Bowl also checked off a number of “firsts” for the NFL, including the first Super Bowl game in which two brothers played against each other (Travis and Jason Kelce), the first Super Bowl game in which two Black quarterbacks started, and the two youngest quarterbacks to ever face off.

But, as most of us know, there’s more to Super Bowl night than the game itself. It’s a time to enjoy good food and drinks with friends and family, and settle in for blockbuster commercials and jaw-dropping musical entertainment. Tonight, we saw all those components in spades, and we followed along on our Twitter account throughout the night. Here’s a more in-depth look at the night’s biggest news. 

The Matchup

The Super Bowl was off to an emotional start tonight, as Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was brought to tears as the emotion of the moment sunk in. His team soon provided a reason to keep the tears of joy coming, as Eagles QB Jalen Hurts drove his team quickly down the field and into the end zone for an early 7-0 lead.

However, the Chiefs would answer back with a rapid touchdown of their own, evening the score at 7-7. That’s how the first quarter would end, after the Chiefs missed a field goal to keep the game square. 

The Eagles started off the next quarter just as hot as they started the game, scoring a touchdown immediately and taking a 14-7 lead before even 10 seconds had passed. The back-and-forth continued as the Chiefs forced a fumble, and Kansas City’s Nick Bolton scooped up the ball for another tying touchdown.

The first half would end with the Eagles ahead 24-14 and more bad news for the Chiefs as their QB Patrick Mahomes limped off the field, appearing to be in extreme pain, with just over a minute and a half left.

Yet Mahomes would power through the pain and led his team out to start the second half, bringing them back within reach by scoring on the opening touchdown. In fact, it was quite a reversal of fortunes as Bolton picked up yet another loose ball and ran it into the end zone – immediately ruled as a fumble on the field, but a subsequent review overturned the call and ruled it incomplete, keeping the score 24-21. 

Hurts would similarly impress, breaking the record for rushing yards by a QB in a Super Bowl before the end of the third quarter. Though the Chiefs went back ahead during the fourth quarter, Hurts led his team not only to another touchdown but also to a two-point conversion, tying the game at 35 with under five minutes remaining. 

A game this crazy would be decided by nothing less, and a controversial Eagles penalty with just over a minute left put the Chiefs on the doorstep. The Chiefs opted to kick a 27-yard field goal with eleven seconds left on the clock, and kicker Harrison Butker nailed it to put his team ahead 38-35 with only eight seconds remaining. Other top-tier athletes weighed in on the call that may have cost Philadelphia its second NFL championship in five years: 

The game ended with a score of 38-35 in favor of the Chiefs, an MVP award for Mahomes, and a whole slew of angry football fans. Sentiment toward the NFL expressed in media shifted from 53% positive between 6pm-6:30pm to 81.3% negative between 10pm-10:30pm. 

Some quick social stats from the end of the game: 

  • The Chiefs were mentioned 817.62K times with a reach of 9 billion feeds between 6pm and 10:30pm. Fans’ sentiment toward the team shifted over the course of the game but ultimately ended fairly evenly, with 53.5% negative sentiment. 
  • The Eagles were mentioned 909.73K times with a reach of 9.03 billion feeds between 6pm and 10:30pm. Even though their team lost, fans held slightly more positive sentiment over the course of the night, averaging out to 53% positive. 
  • Chiefs QB and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes was mentioned 316.2K times between 6pm and 10:30pm, with a reach of 3.96 billion feeds. 
  • Eagles QB and record-breaker Jalen Hurts was mentioned 222.4K times between 6pm and 10:30pm, with a reach of 7 billion feeds. 

The Media

Commercials are, for many, the best part of the Super Bowl, and this year we began with an interesting combination of content. Some ads were instant hits – like a Dunkin’ commercial featuring proud Boston son Ben Affleck and with a cameo from Jennifer Lopez – while some baffled – an odd app commercial offered only a QR code to scan and bizarre graphics.

Lots of familiar faces also returned in the commercials, including early appearances by Alicia Silverstone, reprising her role as Cher (“Clueless”) in a Rakuten ad, and Ben Stiller, donning the Derek Zoolander (“Zoolander”) mantle for Pepsi Zero Sugar. 

Our partner service, Sprinklr, provided a fascinating real-time visualization of the top social traffic around the advertisements, including top-mentioned brands by state and a comprehensive graphic of sentiment around the ads. You can explore the tool here. 

Serena Williams was another familiar face in the star-studded lineup, appearing in two separate alcohol commercials already before the first quarter was over. QR codes were also a frequent feature, with the aforementioned app ad as well as a joint ad from Michelob Ultra and Netflix directing fans to scan their code for early access to a documentary. 

Speaking of, there were quite a few crossover commercials as well. Not only did Michelob and Netflix team up, but Netflix also partnered up with GM while Heineken hopped on the superhero craze with Paul Rudd as Ant-Man from the upcoming movie “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Massive international beer company Molson Coors even got a three-for-one as they advertised their brands Miller, Coors, and Blue Moon all in one clip! 

Overall, advertisers seemed to take a “more is more” approach, maximizing their (very expensive) time slots with most commercials being loaded up with multiple celebrities, if not multiple brands, involved. 

Miss anything? You can find all the commercials from throughout the night here, thanks to Adweek.

The Music 

Sheryl Lee Ralph continued her banner year, coming off her first Emmy award win for “Abbott Elementary” last fall along with several other awards and nominations for both her role on the show and for her humanitarian efforts. She sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the “Black National Anthem,” to kick off the event.

Meanwhile, Chris Stapleton sang the national anthem as a team of all-female military pilots performed the pregame flyover. 

However, the most anticipated performer of the night was Rihanna, making her first concert appearance in five years! She performed a medley of her hit songs during the halftime show to rave reviews across social media. Between 8pm and 8:45pm tonight, Rihanna was mentioned 775.9K times! What’s more, that number leapt from 680K mentions at 8:44pm to nearly 100K more mentions in just one data refresh a minute later. Clearly, she stole the show – and that content volume will only continue to grow! 

Rihanna wore an artfully draped red outfit during her performance that drew attention to her midsection. Her first child was born last May, and many fans excitedly jumped to the conclusion that she was expecting a second with her longterm partner, rapper A$AP Rocky. Her representative confirmed the news shortly after the performance – congratulations to the expecting parents! 

With a high-energy back-and-forth game and incredible performers throughout the evening, this Super Bowl was one for the ages. 

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Biden Gives 2023 State of the Union Address

February 8, 2023

On Feb. 7, President Joe Biden addressed the nation with the annual State of the Union speech. Biden touched on many hot-button issues dividing the country right now, including price inflation, police violence, and government-funded benefits for senior citizens. 

Not only were there many obvious and vivid reactions from members of the crowd, including other politicians and special invitees, but there were also myriad responses on social media. In just the last 24 hours, the terms “State of the Union” and its abbreviation, “SOTU,” were mentioned over 1.27 million times in media. While many other nations around the world had tuned in or joined the discussion, 570.2K of those mentions came from the United States.

Sentiment was proportionally similar both globally and nationally, as 67% of mentions worldwide were negatively coded and 66% of U.S. mentions were negative. Perhaps it’s more shocking that one-third of all mentions were positive, as many people use online platforms to attack opposing viewpoints regardless of if they agree with the speech’s content. 

Twitter was where the bulk of the content volume came from, but traditional news sources’ online vehicles also provided lots of traffic, with NBC News, the BBC, CNN, and USA Today’s websites among the top contributors. 

Beyond policies, political drama made a lot of headlines. Divisive Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene engaged in her usual antics, not only heckling Biden with other audience members but also bringing a white balloon with her to parody the Chinese spy balloon event earlier this week. 

Additionally, recently elected Republican representative George Santos, who has been the subject of several investigations surrounding his credentials and allegedly lying about various parts of his resume and personal biography, received a frosty welcome. Biden appeared to snub him as the president entered and greeted many other representatives, and Mitt Romney called Santos a “sick puppy” and said he “shouldn’t be there.” 

Some political issues that arose in Biden’s address included taxation, police violence, and Medicare and Social Security for seniors. One thing Biden argued for an increased tax on billionaires.

Biden also hosted the family of Tyre Nichols at the address. Nichols was killed by a group of elite police officers in Memphis several weeks ago, and the video of the beating was recently released to the public. Biden spoke out about how white families never need to have “the talk” with their children that Black and brown families do, about how to act around police and the extra danger many minority groups face. 

A last major point from the night was benefits for America’s seniors, including Medicare and Social Security. Amidst Republican attempts to cut these benefits, Biden reaffirmed his commitment to the elderly and even used the platform to get his opponents to agree to this sentiment.

Among his supporters, this moment was triumphed as a masterstroke of politicking and a highlight of the night. People began using the moniker “Dark Brandon” to refer to Biden’s effective speech-making. This phrase was mentioned 23.9K times in the last 24 hours with a major surge around 10 p.m. Eastern time, shortly after this topic was addressed. 

https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1623150933633822721?s=20&t=dVAIFIX1eBf1O5C5vTWCwQ

Yet among his opponents, including many of the Republicans who feature among the most-shared Tweets of the night, it was just another example of “lying,” as Marjorie Taylor Greene called out throughout the address. However, fact-checkers were also busy online throughout the night and did indeed find several Republican representatives arguing for the very thing they said they never did and never would .

Overall, like many political addresses and events, the State of the Union address was fraught with drama and discord. The two sides couldn’t even agree on whether this strife was appropriate or not, with Tweets arguing it was both close to what the Founding Fathers intended government to be, as well as wholly inappropriate and childish to engage in debate and audience discussion. 

You can watch the entire State of the Union address here. 

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Student Loan Forgiveness Rises to Supreme Court

February 4, 2023

Featured image courtesy CNBC

Since President Biden announced his Student Loan Forgiveness Plan, Americans have taken to social media to debate the legality, feasibility, and precedent of such a far-reaching executive action. Millions of borrowers stand to benefit from student debt relief, but many social media users are wary of the potential consequences of student loan forgiveness.

Biden’s student debt cancellation plan was first announced on Wed. Aug. 24, 2022. According to WhiteHouse.gov, “The Department of Education will provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell Grant recipients with loans held by the Department of Education, and up to $10,000 in debt cancellation to non-Pell Grant recipients. Borrowers are eligible for this relief if their individual income is less than $125,000”.  Some government officials, like former President Obama, were quick to voice their support.

However, sentiment surrounding the loan cancellation conversation was 90% negative, with users casting vitriol on existing predatory student loan practices as well as the President’s forgiveness plan. Many users compared student loans to PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans provided to corporations and businesses during COVID. Many businesses had their PPP loans forgiven, and social media users were quick to point out potential hypocrisy by elected officials who benefitted from PPP forgiveness yet oppose student loan forgiveness.

Conversation about loan forgiveness also concerned itself with class issues as users worked to articulate their support or opposition depending on who they thought benefited most from the plan.

Governor Ron DeSantis’ above tweet about “gender studies” began a rhetorical thread in the discourse that some users chose to adopt and repeat, while other users responded critically.

Conversation picked up around November 11, 2022 as users speculated that the loan forgiveness plan might be a ploy to spark a blue wave during the midterm elections. However, soon after the elections, the plan was officially blocked by Republican lawmakers from Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina who filed suit against the Biden administration, arguing that the debt cancellation plan skirts congressional authority.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case on Feb. 28, 2023, and as we approach that court date social media users continue to argue about whether or not the President has the authority to enact such a wide-reaching fiscal policy. While some major political figures such as Elizabeth Warren have used the popular hashtag #CancelStudentDebt to argue that Biden has the authority through the Higher Education Act, others strongly disagree. Tweets arguing that Biden lacks authority are far less popular and gain less reach than those arguing for the legality of the plan.

As we await the Supreme Court’s decision on this vital issue, many Clemson Tigers hold their breath as up to $20,000 of debt relief hangs in the balance. While popular opinion on social media seems eager to push the plan forward, fiscal conservatives worry that the outcome might be more than we bargained for. Keep checking the SMLC blog for more updates on the issue as we approach the Supreme Court hearing. 

Author: Molly Riddell