The News in New Media

Author: kayleij

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

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

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

The Aftermath of Alex Murdaugh

March 8, 2023

With last week’s verdict and sentencing, a case that has lasted several years and ensnared the minds of not only South Carolinians but people all across America has come to an end. Alex Murdaugh was found guilty on all counts last Thursday for murdering his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie, in 2021. On Friday, he was sentenced to two life sentences without parole.

With this case so close to home, it’s no wonder that so many people in the Clemson area were following it closely. To give you an idea, a woman sitting in front of me at a Clemson baseball game was watching the trial on her phone on Opening Day, while I was asked to pause the bar trivia I was leading on Thursday to announce the verdict. It’s no wonder that Murdaugh’s name has been mentioned in media, social or otherwise, 818.9K times since the start of the year (460.9K mentions specifically from Twitter), with 27.8K of those coming from South Carolina Twitter users alone. Just since this article draft was started, there have been approximately 3,000 more posts, indicating people are still actively discussing the verdict and case.

In case you aren’t familiar with the case, it’s full of twists and turns that ultimately ended the more than a century-long hegemony of the Murdaugh family. Things began when the Murdaughs’ younger son, Paul, was involved with a boat crash in 2019 that killed a friend, 19-year-old Mallory Beach, and was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Investigations for Paul’s case led to inspections into Alex’s finances, which had been padded for years by fraudulent practices, including stealing money from the clients he would represent as a prominent lawyer. 

Alex then arranged for a suicide-for-hire plot, attempting to distract from the crash. However, it was unsuccessful, and he survived, sparking distrust from lawyers. As suspicion built up, Alex’s wife, Maggie, and Paul were killed violently near the family’s kennels. The murders occurred just days before the original trial was meant to begin, and essentially ended that prosecution in its tracks.  

In the end, though, Alex’s story he told investigators rapidly unwound, and he became the top suspect in the case. Not only did he seemingly kill his wife and younger son, but a variety of other unsavory activities came to light: the death of the family’s housekeeper several years ago, legal manipulations around the boat crash trial, fraud and embezzlement, and Alex’s addiction to opioid painkillers. 

The sordid drama captivated the nation as this local scion’s story collapsed with every new twist and turn. Like with many other violent crimes, people were shocked how someone could do such heinous things. Buzzfeed News wrote about the psychiatric term “family annihilator,” and how it applied to Murdaugh and his sense of ownership over family members. The entire ordeal became an example of privilege and entitlement.

As the trial was ongoing, Netflix also made headlines for releasing a docu-series about “The Murdaugh Murders,” which was a top trend in social media discussions. Some top responses by users who watched the show discussed how they knew many people like the Murdaughs who used their privilege and money corruptly, as well as offering their condolences for the lives lost, including Mallory Beach, whose unfortunate death essentially kicked off the entire chain of events. A podcast of the same name has also gained popularity during the trial, and one of the hosts, Mandy Matney, shared a tribute to Beach. 

https://twitter.com/MandyMatney/status/1629282543055896577

While the sentiment surrounding Murdaugh’s name is overwhelmingly negative – 84.7% – there is relief that justice has been served to a man who, for so long, considered himself above justice. People are praising the prosecution, including lead prosecutor Creighton Waters, for their excellent work turning largely circumstantial evidence into a strong case about which the jurors needed only three hours to debate. 

An overwhelming sense of pride in the underdog came through in news stories and social media posts alike. The jurors were praised for being able to halt what was a multi-generational legal dynasty before it exercised its power any further: 

It will be many years before their community heals from the damage caused by Murdaugh’s actions, but at least we in South Carolina, and around the U.S., can rest assured that justice was served. 

Author: Kayleigh Jackson 

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

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

Upsets, Drama in First Few Days of Australian Open

January 18, 2023

The Australian Open tennis tournament has been in full swing for just a few days, but it’s already made shockwaves in the sporting world. Since qualifying rounds began on Jan. 8 for both men and women’s singles players, we’ve seen upsets, withdrawals, and even a pregnancy announcement!

One of the first tournaments since all-time greats Serena Williams and Roger Federer retired from tennis near the end of last playing season, remaining members of the old guard like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were expected to continue their reign. However, Nadal was upset fairly quickly in the round of 64 by American player Mackenzie McDonald, shocking many fans despite nagging injuries that had been plaguing Nadal, as well as an injury he suffered during the match. Nadal had been the defending champion “down under” in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, the embattled Novak Djokovic was permitted to compete in the Australian Open this year after not being allowed to compete last year and even being deported due to his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Many of the most popular Tweets surrounding Djokovic were praising his anti-vaccine stance and arguing that the tournament’s decision to allow him to compete is proof that his stance is correct. However, the tournament is also allowing players who test positive for COVID-19 to actively compete, so perhaps this is not the best example of good judgment.

Nadal’s name has garnered 281.82K mentions since qualifiers began Jan. 8, with an unsurprisingly major uptick in volume as matches began and the number-one seed was quickly eliminated. The most traffic around his name came from the United States as well as his native Spain. A fun fact discovered during demographic research: the word “nadal” in Polish translates to “still,” and so it is also a very popular word in Polish content, though not relevant to our tennis research.

Meanwhile, Djokovic’s name has 214.1K mentions in the same time period, and the volume around his name has fluctuated much more than Nadal’s as people continue to weigh in on his vaccine stance and whether or not the tournament was right for allowing him to play again this year. Yet 63% of all these mentions were positive, indicating that people are still supporting him for either his position or his play, which has admittedly been strong already.

In other news about controversial players, Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the tournament just a day before his first match due to an injury. Kyrgios is an Australian and, despite being something of an abrasive personality and divisive athlete, is always a hit in front of his home fans.

Kyrgios and Djokovic played an exhibition match on Jan. 13 prior to the start of the Australian Open, which drew tons of fans and indicates a repair in the relationship between the two players. Kyrgios himself weighed in on the success of the match and his own image in the news media:

Lastly, another star player withdrew just before the tournament, but for a positive reason rather than an injury: Naomi Osaka is pregnant! The 25-year-old star announced on Jan. 11 that she was expecting her first child and would understandably be missing the Australian Open and much of the 2023 season. She shared an image of the sonogram on her Twitter page along with a statement:

Osaka is well-known not only for her stellar play at a young age but also her outspoken emphasis on mental health and how pro athletes should be treated by fans and media members, as well as her in-tournament support of the Black Lives Matter movement. While she will certainly be missed from the lineup, fans seem to be celebrating her announcement regardless: more than 60% of the mentions of her name were positive.

Another young star is holding down the fort with Osaka out: American Coco Gauff stormed onto the scene a few years ago while still in her mid-teens to go on an improbable run. Now just 18, she’s starting the Australian Open strong as well with a much-publicized battle against 20-year-old Brit Emma Raducanu. This was a battle of next-generation stars and Gauff came out on top this time around.

The tournament will continue over the next few weeks as new champions are set to emerge on both the men and women’s sides of play.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson 

FIFA World Cup Continues In Qatar

December 7, 2022

While this year’s staging of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar has earned quite a share of controversy both leading up to and during match play, the quarter-finals phase is about to begin with just eight national teams remaining.

A total of 32 countries had soccer teams qualify for the World Cup. These teams were broken down into eight groups of four for a round robin-style competition, after which the top two teams from each group would move onto a knockout stage. The first round of this knockout stage, the Round of 16, wrapped up yesterday, and the quarter-finals will begin on Friday, Dec. 9.

The two matches on Dec. 9 will be between Croatia and Brazil, and Netherlands and Argentina. Two more matches will take place the following day between Morocco and Portugal, and England and France. The United States’ men’s team surprised many by making it to the Round of 16 but ultimately were knocked out by the Netherlands, losing 3-1.

The group stage kicked off (pun intended) on Nov. 20 with a match between Ecuador and the home team, Qatar, with Ecuador winning 2-0. From that date through today, the combination of terms “World Cup” OR “FIFA” OR “Qatar 2022” have turned up a whopping 31.27 million mentions across social media and news networks. This is not surprising for such a large global event, especially when controversy has surrounded the choice of host nation since it was selected in 2010. In fact, the sheer volume of controversies have led to a single Wikipedia page with a laundry list of them all, ranging from human rights concerns and hundreds of deaths of migrant workers building the stadiums to more recent assaults on patrons following matches and incidents that have already taken place during matches, including fans storming the pitch and protests by the Iranian team.

However, nearly 64% of the mentions from Nov. 20 through today are positive. Many of the most-shared posts within this positive segment are about individual or team performances, such as players from league clubs putting up strong numbers for their countries. Accounts for many teams and global or national news sources have also shared updates and positive information about their nation’s performances or impressive stories.

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1595027331910799365?s=20&t=2wRhTzwUsQDdN4Tt5nccFA

There have even been some heartwarming stories that have moved beyond the soccer world, such as Japan’s considerate treatment of their locker room after an upset victory, when many other teams would have trashed the room in celebration:

https://twitter.com/sportbible/status/1595546057425195009?s=20&t=lKQSUIrvfoxY0XdJTfpYfg

Additionally, many teams have used their global platform as an opportunity for activism. The Moroccan team, which is the first African team to make the quarter-finals since 2010, waved a Palestinian flag after their upset win over Spain yesterday:

https://twitter.com/_amroali/status/1600193400598253568?s=20&t=ZnhwoYh4lvXOqjXZWppT0Q

Iranian fans have also protested in favor of women’s rights, following strict and violent backlash in Iran against pro-women’s rights protestors. A pitch invader also supported women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and Ukraine all in one go, in a much-praised highly visible stance:

Since this is a global event at its core, it’s not surprising to see that nearly every nation has chimed in with either social media or traditional news about the World Cup. The United States leads the way with 2.3 million mentions, while the United Kingdom, Japan, Nigeria, and India round out the top-five countries with the most discussion of the World Cup. The U.K. is the only one of these countries to still have a team in the running, with England reaching the quarter-finals.

Star players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé are top trending themes within this massive volume of content, as well as K-Pop star Jung Kook who performed in the opening ceremony. With so many people chiming in from so many regions of the world, social discussion of the World Cup is, much like the event itself, never dull.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson