Author: carla3

Police located the 62-year-old man wanted for the Brooklyn subway train shooting following a city-wide search. New York police were offering a $50,000 reward for information related to the suspect.

A normal Tuesday morning commute turned into a horrific scene of violence when Frank James released a smoke bomb and open fired on a crowded subway car. He was taken into custody after he was spotted by bystanders Wednesday.

According to New York Crime Stoppers, one call came in claiming to be the suspect himself. James called the NYPD and wanted to turn himself in stating, “I think you’re looking for me, I’m seeing my picture all over the news and I’ll be around this McDonalds.”

He reportedly told police that he would be in McDonald’s charging his dying phone or he would be standing out front. When police arrived, James was no longer in the McDonalds but was down the street charging his phone at a kiosk.

New York Mayor Eric Adams revealed that James was taken into custody by the NYPD and will be charged under a federal statute that prohibits terrorist and other violent attacks in mass transit systems. He will also be charged for crossing state lines. James was a resident in Philadelphia and is assumed to have driven a rental U-Haul to New York to proceed with the attack. James will face life in prison if convicted of the attack.

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated, “We hope this arrest brings some solace to the victims and the people of the city of New York. We used every resource at our disposal to gather and process significant evidence that directly links Mr. James to the shooting. We were able to shrink his world quickly. There was nowhere left for him to run.”

Officials have said that the motive of this crime remains unclear, but witnesses said the gunman was seen mumbling to himself while wearing a reflective vest before putting on the gas mask and removing a canister from his bag that then filled the car with smoke. He then began shooting.

Ten people were struck by bullets, while others were either grazed or hurt in the chaos that followed. Luckily, none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

Frank James was first a person of interest in this crime but after reviewing an investigation that included video, cell phone data, and witness interviews, officials identified him as the primary suspect.

According to Sprinklr, the Brooklyn shooting has been mentioned 362K times since the incident occurred Tuesday. Posts have reached over 11 billion feeds. Most of the social media conversation is occurring through Twitter with over 278K mentions on the platform. Top themes of discussion include Frank James, Brooklyn Subway Station, New York, and Police Presence.

While the shooter has been brought into custody, this incident provides a tangible example of how social media conversation can assist in both identifying and solving crime. A combination of video, photo, and witness remarks shared through social media were all utilized by investigators to ensure the shooter responsible was located. As always, we will keep you updated on the conviction of Frank James and any possible motives that are later revealed through additional investigation.

President Biden united automakers in his mission to drive American leadership towards zero-emissions vehicles when he set an ambitious target of 50% of electric vehicle (EV) sale shares in the U.S. by 2030. In December 2021, President Biden released an EV Charging Action Plan which outlines steps to support developing and deploying chargers throughout American communities across the country. TheDepartment of Energy (DOE) and Department of Transportation (DOT) established a Joint Office of Energy and Transportation which will focus solely on deploying EV infrastructure including charging stations and implementation practices across the industry. The new department will also work alongside industry leaders, manufacturers, workers, and other stakeholders to ensure the nation is appropriately prepared to support convenient EV charging for all.

According to The Biden-Harris Electric Vehicle Charging Action Plan, $5 billion dollars has been allotted to funding for states with the end goal of building a national charging network. In hopes of managing the shifting demand for charging stations, 10% of this budget is set-aside each year to provide grants to States in order to help fill gaps in the network (Whitehouse.gov). The Action Plan also provides $2.5 billion dollars in funding for communities to better support innovative approaches and ensure that charger deployment meets Administration priorities such as rural charging, improving local air quality and increasing EV charging access in disadvantaged communities (Whitehouse.gov).

While the push towards electric vehicles remains a top priority for the administration, news broke late last week regarding an additional measure to ensure the success of EV’s across America. President Biden announced the Defense Production Act last Thursday. An initiative which primarily focuses on the promotion of domestic mining and production of key minerals used in electric vehicles. Biden stated at the press release that this Act is implemented under the assumption that the United State’s long-term reliance on China and other countries to supply inputs for U.S. electric vehicles will be significantly lessened.

According to Sprinklr, the volume of content released on social media in regard to The Defense Production Act nearly tripled over the course of the week leading up the President’s announcement. Trending hashtags alongside the initiative included #rggi which stands for Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative which aims to reduce emission from United States industry. Content was most prominent in New York, Texas, and Washington, D.C. While the majority of news dissemination occurred through traditional news outlets (8,196 posts in the past week), additional conversations surrounding The Defense Production Act occurred on Twitter, Reddit, and through different chat forums.

While sentiment scores remain heavily neutral for the time being (11.9K), it is likely that this conversation is far from over. President Biden also announced a new electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility in North Carolina last Tuesday. This project is worth approximately $4 billion dollars and promises to create more than 7,000 jobs while rolling out hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles and batteries across the nation. It is expected that as the project rolls out an increased number of news sources and specifically North Carolina residents, will weigh in on the conversation.

The promise of an all-electric vehicle future is bright. Plans are being initiated to ensure the transition to zero-emissions vehicles will be as fruitful for American workers, as it will be for the environment.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man (worth 219.1 billion) is no stranger to letting his thoughts out on Twitter. The founder of both Tesla and Space X took to Twitter Monday challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to “single combat” over Ukraine.

Musk wrote Putin’s name written in Russian and noted “Stakes are Ukraine” where Ukraine is spelled out in Ukrainian lettering.

On March 5^th Musk posted a video to his twitter page with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Following Russia’s invasion on February 24, Musk provided Ukraine with access to SpaceX’s satellite-internet system Starlink – a system of some 2,000 satellites which provide web access to underserved areas of the world. President Zelensky thanked Musk, tweeting: “I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds.”

Musk reiterated in a later tweet that he is “absolutely serious” about the offer. When asked if he would be surprised if Putin accepted the challenge, Musk insisted it “would be an honor.”

“If Putin could so easily humiliate the west, then he would accept the challenge,” Musk wrote in another response on Twitter. “But he will not.”

Ukraine’s vice prime minister and head of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, also weighed in on Elon’s challenge: “I am sure that @elonmusk can send Putin to Jupiter.”

Since Musk tweeted his challenge to Putin, he has been mentioned on Twitter over 123K times. Twitter remains the highest site of discourse surrounding the Musk Vs Putin fight tracking 98.4K mentions in the last 24 hours.

While overall sentiment scores regarding Musk’s tweet remain largely neutral (78K of mentions have been neutral) some Twitter users have has a comical response to the tweet while others have deemed his remarks as insensitive to those who are on the ground in Ukraine fighting.

Some users have also pointed to the likelihood that Musk’s account could be suspended for his reckless tweeting.

Conversations on Twitter that center around Elon Musk have also led to an increased number of mentions surrounding his business ventures. Tesla, Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and SpaceX have all been accounted for as some of the top terms of discussion within this thread.

Since Elon represents wealth and power within the United States, increased mentions of Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world, have also been initiated alongside this conversation. Discussion of inflation in relation to the ongoing war has also surfaced as result of Musk’s Twitter activity.

As the conversation unfolds, the Social Media Listening Center will keep you updated on the latest trending topics as they relate to Musk’s threat and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

TikTok feeds have transformed into a new experience for many users in light of the War between Russia and Ukraine. Users have recently complained about scrolling through mundane content including funny animals, useful lifehacks, or DIY projects and without trigger warning then being shown live action from the devastation in Ukraine. A Twitter user explains the strange phenomenon in a Tweet, “Twitter feels especially dystopian on nights like this. Tweets about war mixed in with sports, memes, etc like it’s all of the same importance. Don’t think we were meant to absorb info like this.”

Users have deemed the transformed platform “War Tok”. Vox reporter Rebecca Jennings explains this was never what TikTok intended to become. When the popular app was created in 2018 it promoted itself as a carefree place to share content with the goal of allowing users to enjoy comical, lighthearted content. Contrary to the creator’s vision for the platform Jennings notes, “Over the past three years, TikTok has become the site of political commentary, political activism, political propaganda, and in moments of war, a complicated, confusing, and sometimes crucial record of civilians on the ground.”

Other complaints have surfaced about scammers benefiting from the war by way of fake relief funds which are being promoted on the platform. War Tok is also under fire for the spread of misinformation and fake news. Mainly out-of-context audio clips and video have been circulating within the app gaining millions of views despite TikTok’s community guidelines that does not permit misinformation that causes harm to individuals or the larger public regardless of intent. One video posted on the platform showed Russian soldiers parachuting into Ukraine but was actually several years old. Another clip claimed to show Russian and Ukrainian troops “face to face,” but it dated back to 2014. And an ultra-viral video, which supposedly depicted Ukrainian soldiers saying goodbye to sobbing loved ones, was cut from a 2017 documentary film.

According to Sprinklr, War Tok has been mentioned over 10K times across platforms and has reached a total of 34.08 Million feeds since Russia declared the invasion of Ukraine on February 24^th. Trending hashtags surrounding the War Tok content include #ukraine, #war, #tiktok, #putin, and #russian. The overall sentiment within this conversation is overwhelmingly negative. 91.4% of mentions include negative sentiment reflective of the short comings of the platform since the war began.

While this is not the first time a major social media platform has been receiving backlash for the spread and promotion of misinformation, in the context of war, users are not hesitating to share their discontent and have threatened to boycott the app.

Although fake news has been swirling around TikTok, the situation in Ukraine is very much real. An estimated 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries and European Union officials predicted that upwards of 7 million could eventually be displaced. If you would like to donate to an organization on the ground that is ensuring the safety and health of fleeing refugees, please visit one of the following links:

https://www.airbnb.org/ – The Air BnB organization ensures safe housing during times of crisis.

https://www.care.org/?_ga=2.153724984.1601197845.1646750438-1182808869.1646750438 – CARE provides food, water, hygiene kits and medical attention to those in need.

https://convoyofhope.org/response-updates/convoy-reaching-out-to-help-in-ukrainian-crisis/ – The Convoy of Hope is providing families with meals at the polish border and funding to resettle.

The next time you are scrolling through TikTok, be sure to consume it’s content carefully as it pertains to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

As war rages on in Europe, President Biden sought to unify a divided, fearful country in the annual State of the Union Address last night. While upwards of 37 Million viewers turned on their TV to watch, social media response to the president’s address was nothing short of substantial. A total of 34.94K mentions were noted across platforms from the night before the event through today. An impressive 396.85 Million feeds were reached with news regarding The Address. A shocking discrepancy in net sentiment scores reveals most participants within the social media conversation were displeased with the president’s remarks. Only 6.14% of mentions were positive while 93.86% had a negative tone.

President Biden’s first formal State of the Union address largely focused on Ukraine, inflation, the Covid-19 pandemic and a four-point “Unity Agenda.” According to Domenico Montanaro, Senior Political Editor/Correspondent for NPR, “Biden urged world unity in standing up to Russia, listed ways he’s trying to address rising prices (even if they will likely have limited to no effect in the short term) and offered an optimistic outlook about the end of the pandemic. Biden made mention of some progressive policy items, such as the need for robust voting-rights legislation and stood up for transgender and abortion rights (while leaving out some other topics such as climate change).”

Kevin Liptak, political correspondent for CNN noted that Republican audiences were seemingly unimpressed with Biden’s ability to counteract inflation. Although inflation is difficult to combat for any president, “The stark divisions currently fracturing the country were just as plain Tuesday as they have been since Biden took office. His economic proposals gained almost no applause from Republicans in the audience.” Liptak notes, “In the eight months until November’s critical midterm elections, Biden isn’t likely to have a larger audience than he had Tuesday night; his message will have to resonate if he hopes to speak next year to a Congress still controlled by Democrats.”

Twitter surpassed traditional news outlets for leading the conversation surrounding the State of the Union Address with over 15.6K mentions while news sources gathered around 13.2K. Trending hashtags included #secureourborder, #foxnews, #sotu (State of the Union), and #Ukriane. These trends corelate to the larger trends in the conversation surrounding Ukraine and the large republican response to the president’s latest address.

Leaders in the conversation surrounding the State of the Union Address included CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Associated Press. While the President set the tone for the political agenda in the coming months, we are sure to receive additional responses from numerous state government officials in the coming weeks. As always, the Social Media Listening Center will keep you up to date with all of the latest trending topics.

You can listen to President Biden’s full State of the Union Address here:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2022/

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics came to an end Sunday following a 16-day long competition in across 109 events. The closing ceremony was one to remember with snowflake-shaped lanterns and fireworks that spelled out “One World, One Family.”

According to NPR, “The closing ceremony, like the opening one, was a simplified affair compared to the 2008 Summer Games, emphasizing children, Chinese tradition and ordinary people.” Chinese President Xi Jinping sat next to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in the stands, watching the ceremony unfold.

The closing of the first ever Olympics to take place with Covid-19 restrictions meant a small crowd of invited guests attended the ceremony after the city announced they would not sell tickets to the public. Beijing, the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympic games announced that Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy will be the next destination for the Winter Games.

Recap

In addition to strict Covid-19 restrictions, this year’s Olympics were also marked by a U.S.-led diplomatic boycott over China’s human rights record, tensions between Russia and Ukraine and a high-profile doping saga involving a 15-year-old figure skating phenom.

In early December 2021, the Biden administration revealed they would not be sending any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing Olympic Games given the People’s Republic of China’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses. This would be the first time in a long time where no U.S. government officials attended the Games, but U.S. athletes were still able to compete. The last boycott occurred in 1980, when the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Conversation on social media surrounding the boycott peaked on February 4^th– the day of the opening ceremony- when over 4,500 mentions on social media were made regarding the United States decision. The conversation was largely led by News outlets sparking over 11.4K mentions, while Twitter ranked as the second source for this conversation at 2.8K mentions.

Ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine certainly echoed throughout the games as Russia has a previous history of utilizing the Olympic Games as a guise to their advantage. Russia’s invasion of Crimea occurred in 2014 amid the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and in 2008, Russia invaded Georgia during the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Russia also took advantage of the Tokyo Games in 2020 to execute cyberattacks as part of a broader, worldwide hacking campaign. Cyber attacks against Ukraine occurring last Thursday prior to the close of the Olympics were likely no different. This ongoing conversation has garnered 5.29 million mentions on social media since February 1^st and has reached over 109 billion feeds. Twitter is the largest leader in the conversation totalling 3.5 million mentions, while News outlets rank second at 631K mentions.

Finally, Kamila Valieva mad headlines following her tearful 4^th place finish in women’s single figure skating. The 15-year-old Russian favourite was ruled to participate despite having tested positive for a banned heart medication. Valieva’s test results surfaced following her historic quadruple jump in Olympic competition which helped team Russia secure gold. The United States won the silver. The decision to let her skate again in individual competition sparked controversy in many athletes around the world. More specifically, Valieva was mentioned on social media over 536K times since February 1^st. Her story has reached an astronomical 21 billion feeds. This case raised many eyebrows partly due to her age, still being a minor, and Russia’s history of doping in the Olympic Games. Overall sentiment scores revealed the majority of conversations remained neutral (372.9K), while more than 45K mentions were positive and 98K mentions were negative.

The closing ceremony received lots of social media attention on Sunday, reaching over 2 billion feeds across platforms. The Olympics provide an opportunity for global conversation like no other. Our social media data provides a peak into the top trending topics throughout the games and we look forward to analyzing the next Olympics at the Social Media Listening Center.

If you tuned into the Super Bowl last Sunday night you may have been invested in the football or there’s a chance you were like me, curious about the commercials. With the hottest ticket in advertising, airing a commercial during the championship game costs an average of 7 million dollars. It is no surprise that we see industry giants scoop up this prime real estate to sell their products.

Among one of the many advertisements, you may have noticed one that followed a run-down animatronic band. To the tune of the 1985 hit- Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, the old plush characters discover a new passion for life, music, and friends in the Metaverse. Meta likely spent around $13 million for the 60 second ad’s single run during the Super Bowl. Deemed the most expensive VR-related ad to date, Meta used this platform to promote their Quest 2 headset and of course the Metaverse itself.

Bigger than Football

While Meta has been making progress in the widespread household adoption of VR technologies, they have also been making headlines outside of their multi-million-dollar advertisement.

Meta threated to shut down within the European Union in an official report following and ongoing data dispute. All Meta-owned apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram are at risk of being cut off in Europe due to data transfers between Europe and the U.S. that are deemed unethical in terms of privacy protection.

The European Court of Justice ruled the data transfer process between the EU and the U.S. is a breach of privacy according to their regulation. Lawmakers in Europe are looking to implement new legislation that will dictate how EU citizens’ user data gets transferred across the Atlantic.

While the EU believes that the current data protection standards are not being met due to a reliance on US servers, an unnamed source from Meta spoke with CNBC last week stating: “the simple reality is that Meta, and many other businesses, organizations and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the U.S. in order to operate global services.”

Meta wrote: “If we are unable to transfer data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, or if we are restricted from sharing data among our products and services, it could affect our ability to provide our services, the manner in which we provide our services or our ability to target ads.”

Meta believes an agreement will be reached sometime this year, however if it is no longer allowed to use current processes or similar alternatives, it will “likely be unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe.”

European lawmaker Axel Voss tweeted in response, “Meta cannot just blackmail the EU into giving up its data protection standards, leaving the EU would be their loss.”

What does Sprinklr tell us?

In the past month there have been 26.94K mentions of Meta’s tensions with the EU. These posts have reached 4.41 million feeds with an overall sentiment score of 17.3% positive mentions and 82.7% negative mentions. News outlets dominate this conversation in online spaces, accounting for over 17K of the 26.94K mentions. Blogs, Reddit, and Twitter account for the remainder of mentions within the past month.

It is important to note the significant influx of mentions about Meta and the Metaverse on Super Bowl Sunday, however their tensions with Europe were in fact outshone by their creative, musical advertisement. On Sunday, February 13^th there was a total of 450 mentions of the ongoing privacy issues between Meta and the EU, however 4.16 million mentions surrounded the Meta Quest 2 Super Bowl ad.

Although Meta successfully steered the online conversation towards their newest VR product, it is important to analyze other, smaller conversations that are ongoing. There is always more to the story when it comes to the worlds leaders in social media technology.

On January 22^nd a group of protesters began traveling across Canada to meet and rally in the nation’s capital city, Ottawa. The reason for the protest- vaccine mandates for truck drivers. What has been dubbed the “Freedom Convoy” began as new regulations were implemented for cross-border truck drivers from Canada and the United States to be fully vaccinated to enter their respective countries. If they are not vaccinated, they are being asked to follow strict testing and quarantine protocols.

Despite an estimated 80% vaccination rate among current Canadian truck drivers, the Freedom Convoy has quickly escalated into one of the largest protests in Canadian history. The Canadian Trucker Alliance, an industry leader, said “a great number of these protestors have no connection to the trucking industry and have a separate agenda beyond a disagreement over cross border vaccine requirements.”

The city of Ottawa declared a state of emergency on February 6^th after protesters have used trucks to block traffic and continue to blare horns continuously throughout the day. Ottawa police have launched 60 criminal investigations, issued an estimated 100+ tickets, towed vehicles and made at least 20 arrests since February 4^th. National monuments have been vandalized and businesses forced shutdown over security concerns. Some pockets of the crowd have been friendly and protesting lawfully, but police say others have intimidated and harassed locals. In addition, the Convoy has been consistent in other Canadian cities including Toronto, and Windsor, where Ambassador Bridge connects to Detroit, MI.

Officials say the protests have grown into tackling the entire government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as pandemic-related issues. Canada Unity, one of the organizers of the protests, said that they plan to submit a “memorandum of understanding” to the Senate and Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Canada, to compel them to drop the public health measures or dissolve the government — something that is beyond their constitutional powers. Trudeau wrote on Twitter that Canadians have the right to protest, “But let’s be clear: They don’t have the right to blockade our economy, or our democracy, or our fellow citizens’ daily lives,” he said. “It has to stop.”

Gaining momentum outside of Canada

The Freedom Convoy has attracted support from many U.S. Republicans including former President Donald Trump, who called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates” and urged the convoy to come to Washington to protest the United States’ public health measures.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, tweeted over the weekend that their states will investigate GoFundMe after they decided to freeze donations to the convoy’s organizers. The popular fundraising platform announced that all proceeds would be refunded since law enforcement reports of violence and other unlawful activity has surfaced. The fundraiser had reached C$10 million—around $7.9 million in US dollars – with C$1 million already distributed before the fundraiser was halted.

Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness of Canada, tweeted saying “It is certainly not the concern of the Texas attorney general as to how we in Canada go about our daily lives in accordance with the rule of law.” He later said in a press conference, “We need to be vigilant about potential foreign interference. … Whatever statements may have been made by some foreign official are neither here nor there.”

Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador under President Barack Obama tweeted, “under no circumstances should any group in the USA fund disruptive activities in Canada. Period. Full stop.”

It is likely that the Convoy’s reach on social media will continue to grow and there will be additional rallies outside of Canada. For example, on February 6^th in Alaska more than 100 truck drivers gathered in Anchorage and rallied to show support for the Ottawa protesters according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Social media presence

According to Sprinklr, our social media analytics database, the Freedom Convoy has had an impressive 2.1 Million mentions across social media platforms and has reached 10.74 Billion feeds since its debut on January 22^nd.  The top hashtags for the protest include #freedomconvoy2022, #truckersforfreedom, #cdnpoli (Canadian Politics), and #Canada.

An ode to the peaking interest within the United States, the US leads mentions of the Freedom Convoy on social media with 66,000+ more mentions than those coming from accounts based in Canada. Sprinklr also revealed that the 1.26 Million mentions that shared additional content were likely to contain either a link, photo, or video.

Tweets from high profile advocates who oppose vaccine mandates including Elon Musk and Donald Trump have significantly impacted the increase in audience from a variety of different demographics across all channels from Twitter to Tik Tok.

The ongoing protest is likely to continue creating headlines in the coming weeks.

Word games are cool again and if you don’t believe me Wordle’s global popularity proves it. The simple daily 5-letter word game asks players to guess the word in 6 attempts or less. It was developed by founder Josh Wardle in late 2020, inspired by the joy Wardle felt while playing simple word games like crosswords throughout the pandemic.

Wordle’s success has largely been attributed to its ease of accessibility through its web-based experience. The game was copied by multiple app developers in an effort to capitalize on the game’s popularity, but Apple quickly banned any knockoffs. It’s free cost and unique 5-letter word answers have also played a role in its recent growth.

Additionally, the ability to share Wordle scores has introduced a community building aspect to the game. In an interview with NPR, Wardle revealed that sharing results is “a way for people to connect with friends and family that they couldn’t otherwise see, and it just provides this really easy way to touch base with others”. This element has surely promoted a significant portion of the 6.33 million mentions across social media platforms within the last month. The viral emoji-based messages containing green, yellow, and grey blocks reveal how players did on the puzzle without spoiling the answer for others.

Grey blocks reveal the encased letter is not included in the final answer. Yellow blocks contain letters that exist within the word, but their placement is incorrect. Finally, green blocks contain letters that are correctly placed within the final answer.

Selling Wordle

On January 31^st, a large spike in Wordle mentions across platforms was noted following an announcement from the creator of the game. A sudden increase of 200,000+ mentions across social media platforms followed the news of Wordle exchanging hands. A heartfelt note was posted on Twitter by Wardle explaining that Wordle had been sold to The New York Times.

Although Wardle makes no mention of price, New York Times revealed that they acquired the game for “an undisclosed price in the low seven figures.”  Leaders in the conversation led on Twitter following the news included Josh Wardle, The New York Times, and CNN which account for a combined follower count of over 107 million.

In his statement, Wardle promises that the game will continue to be accessed for free and that he is working alongside personnel from The New York Times to ensure players do not lose their win streaks in the turnover process.

Opportunities for growth

Wordle’s success is not only felt in the North America’s. Its global potential for growth remains opportunistic since the game has only been offered in English. A chart from our social media analytics tool, Sprinklr, reveals additional countries who have already participated in the Wordle craze on social media. Multi-language settings might be one of the upgrades we see early on in the transition to The New York Times.

Until the sale, Wardle was the sole operator of the game and The New York Times revealed that he was in many ways, relieved, to have passed on the game to a much larger entity. The New York Times offers the appropriate resources to carry on the legacy of the homemade Wordle while ensuring improvements and growth that were otherwise inaccessible.

The Wordle legacy

It is hard to believe that one man’s 5-letter word game has created such a large impact across the globe. Twitter pages have been dedicated to the game, fan communities have developed within family and friend circles, one Twitter user even crocheted her own Wordle.

As I wrap up this blog, I want to note how important it is to share your ideas and interests with others. If Josh Wardle did not make Wordle accessible to the public, he would not be a “somewhere in the low 7 digits”-illionaire today. Small joys and hobbies that we experience in our day to day lives hold the potential for global influence and more importantly- the opportunity for us to spread happiness.

A new treatment for severe cases of Covid-19 is under the process of seeking federal approval in the United Kingdom. Antivirals are medicines which are swallowed as a capsule to help treat people with Covid-19 infections to reduce the risk of hospitalizations and death.

The UK is currently searching for 6,000 adults over the age of 50 who have tested positive for Covid-19 within the last five days to participate in a new clinical trial. Although the pill has not yet been approved by UK or United States regulators its trials have provided promising results thus far. Molnupiravir, the Covid-19 antiviral involved, has already shown to reduce the risk for non-hospitalized adults with mild to moderate Covid-19 by 30% in previous testing.

On December 23^rd, 2021, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the use of Molnupiravir in certain emergency situations. Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said, “Molnupiravir is limited to situations where other FDA-authorized treatments for COVID-19 are inaccessible or are not clinically appropriate and will be a useful treatment option for some patients with COVID-19 at high risk of hospitalization or death.”

The deputy chief medical officer for England said this study could help determine the best course of action for using antiviral medications in the treatment of Covid-19. The UK health secretary Sajid Javid is urging eligible populations to participate as this study could “help us learn more about medicines which would save thousands of lives”.

Volunteers in the study are provided with pills to take home. There are currently 4,500 participants undergoing the proposed treatment, but 6,000 participants are required to satisfy the trial. Javid explains that the best outcome in the proposed approval of the Molnupiravir antiviral pill will directly impact the lives of the most vulnerable populations by preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

While many are experiencing Covid burnout- or are perhaps focusing less on the ongoing conversation surrounding the pandemic, Molnupiravir has re-sparked interest among almost 30k individuals worldwide. According to Sprinklr, our social media data analytics tool, Molnupiravir pills have been mentioned 29.53K times across social media and have reached a whopping 464.49 million feeds largely through news channels and on Twitter.

However, the overall sentiment of each mention reveals that there may not be as many citizen-led responses as anticipated. In fact, 21.49K of the mentions across all social media platforms indicated a neutral sentiment. This is likely due to the nature of news sources remaining unbiased in their reporting.

Of the remainder, there were 5.32K negative mentions and only 2K positive mentions regarding the newest Covid-19 pill undergoing testing protocols. This indicates that amongst the total number of individuals sharing their thoughts on the matter, there is notable aversion in more than 70% of responses towards this proposed treatment.

Perhaps it is our inability to predict the potential length of the ongoing pandemic that leads to increased negative mentions or overall distrust towards the treatment. Regardless, it is likely that the prominence of Covid-19, and its treatment options will remain of high importance on social media as we navigate the future course of the pandemic. Covid-19 pills like Molnupiravir will likely become more prominent the media and accessible as treatment for the virus in the coming months.

It can only be our hope that the study of Molnupiravir will be conducted to its full scale and provide results that will better our chances of surviving the pandemic while keeping our most vulnerable populations safe.