Author: kayleij

This past Sunday, February 27, the 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (or SAG Awards) were presented. Notably, these awards focus solely on acting and performers, rather than the broad range of cinematic categories that are often found in other award shows, such as editing, sound, costume design, casting, and so on. As the SAG Awards website states, the focus on individual and ensemble performances emphasizes “what all actors know – that acting is a collaborative art.”

With just 13 categories of awards, the show moved quickly, but there was no shortage of marquee names or high fashion. Even with major global events going on, there was no shortage of social media discussion as well. On February 27th alone, the official #SAGAwards hashtag was mentioned 313,616 times with a reach of more than 6.43 billion! A stunning 95.3% of these mentions were positive, with top trends including “Squid Game,” “House of Gucci,” and Selena Gomez.

Let’s look at a few of the big winners:

CODA: Won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture; Troy Kotsur won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

CODA, which stands for “child of deaf adults,” follows the eponymous child as she struggles with familial identity and responsibility while navigating high school and a desire to express herself through music. This film was notable for casting deaf actors in deaf roles, rather than hearing actors, following Marlee Matlin’s lead. Kotsur is also the first deaf male actor to ever be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, showing how powerful CODA is.

CODA was mentioned 22.48K times on Sunday, and many of the most frequently used emojis are hand symbols, representing the import of sign language. The most-used emoji overall was the ASL sign for “I love you.”

pic.twitter.com/KN1nMcqfSl This is #CODA

— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) February 28, 2022

Squid Game: Nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series; Lee Jung-jae won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series; Jung Ho-yeon won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series; won Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series

“Squid Game” was the hot topic last fall as fans flocked to Netflix’s Korean drama about life-or-death versions of childhood games. In the show, 456 players who are in dire financial straits risk it all to win a massive monetary prize. It currently holds the title of Netflix’s most-watched series ever, and it cleaned up with three wins out of four nominations at the SAG Awards and 52.25K mentions on Sunday. Fans are clearly dedicated, as a widely shared Tweet sought to take down HBO’s “Euphoria”‘s monopoly over Sunday-night television:

tweeting "squid game" 800,000 times to offset this https://t.co/bOoaIxe02r

— ro ramdin (@roramdin) February 25, 2022

Ted Lasso: Won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series; Jason Sudeikis won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, which Brett Goldstein was also nominated for; Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham were both nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

“Ted Lasso” is the hit comedy series of the year, a heartwarming but introspective show about an American football coach recruited to become the head coach of a professional soccer team in London. Sudeikis’ Lasso is full of quips and optimism, but also as the series goes on we see his struggles with his divorce and mental health. Even the characters viewers dislike are nuanced and layered, and we get to see great narrative arcs for everyone. With the show set to wrap up after a third season, this comedy is a hit start to finish.

The show title was mentioned 11.86K times while Sudeikis’ name was mentioned nearly 6K times. Nearly 94% of the mentions were positive, exemplifying the widespread love people feel for the Apple TV show.

this sag award winning ensemble of ted lasso #SAGAwards pic.twitter.com/IimQbYh9a5

— best of hannah waddingham (@ofwaddingham) February 28, 2022

Other category winners include:

• Michael Keaton in “Dopesick” – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
• Kate Winslet in “Mare of Easttown” – Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
• Jean Smart in “Hacks” – Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
• “Succession” – Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
• Will Smith in “King Richard” – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
• Jessica Chastain in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” – Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
• Ariana DeBose in “West Side Story” – Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
• “No Time to Die” – Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Buckingham Palace recently announced that Queen Elizabeth II is currently battling COVID-19, the latest in a difficult past few months for the monarch. While she is reported to have only mild cold-like symptoms, she is apparently continuing to execute “light duties”.

Queen Elizabeth II has tested positive for the coronavirus, Buckingham Palace announced Sunday. The British monarch is experiencing “mild cold like symptoms,” the palace said, but is expecting to continue “light duties” at Windsor over the coming week. https://t.co/uY2Lv37GUd

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 20, 2022

The news broke Sunday morning, and just since midnight GMT on Sunday, there have been 613,640 mentions of the queen’s name across social media. Those mentions skyrocketed throughout Sunday, reaching more than 402K mentions, as people around the world took in the news.

Top themes on social media include the phrases “God save the Queen” as well as “speedy recovery.” As with many COVID-19 related topics, sentiment remains split, with nearly 60% of the mentions being coded as positive. However, as many people tweet support, negatively valanced words and phrases describing COVID itself may skew the machine-learning.

That said, with how polarizing the monarchy and much of British politics in general has been in recent years, certainly sentiment remains all over the board. Some Tweets discuss the implications of a 95-year-old COVID patient continuing to work, despite her age and illness, and what that says to everyday citizens who do not have the resources and support system the queen does. Others are using the moment to discuss and critique other leaders like Prime Minister Boris Johnson and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, especially as Johnson ended COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom just today. Perhaps his timing could have been a little better.

Following a tumultuous year that saw the death of Prince Philip, the ongoing legal drama surrounding Prince Andrew’s sexual assault charges, Harry and Meghan stepping away from royal duties, and health woes that prompted the queen to withdraw from multiple events and even spend time in the hospital, it’s no wonder social traffic encompasses many themes and sentiments of discussion from people around the world.

Even Nicki Minaj offered up well wishes, from one queen to another:

https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/1495636794632982529?s=20&t=p-B-ga-tCtvkBSvOn1Adog

Americans are offering up posts aplenty, having mentioned the queen 97.6K times. Also unsurprisingly, the United Kingdom comes in a close second in mention volume, with 84.2K. Other former dominions or current commonwealth realms like Canada (14.6K mentions), India (11.3K mentions), and Australia (7.5K mentions) round out the top-five nations of discussion.

Meanwhile a search for the terms “queen AND covid” returns 257,209 mentions in the same time window. While much of this content also critiques Boris Johnson’s COVID protocol, this more-focused traffic demonstrates the high level of concern many people feel toward the queen, conveyed in a map of the most-used emojis: the praying hands emoji, along with the British flag and crown, dominate the visual landscape.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

So much happened during Super Bowl LVI, on February 13, 2022, that each one could have its own article! From the star-studded halftime show to the middling commercials and the game itself, there was plenty for fans to talk about on social media.

The game itself was a close-scoring affair, and it would ultimately come down to the last minute – just like many of the playoff games leading up to it. While the Cincinnati Bengals had managed to go ahead with a score of 20-16, the Los Angeles Rams steadily made their way down the field, managing the clock well and taking advantage of several penalties against Cincinnati to inch closer to the endzone and keep the drive alive. A Rams touchdown with 1:25 remaining pushed the home team ahead and would ultimately be the nail in the coffin for Cincinnati, launching the Rams to their first Super Bowl championship in 22 years.

https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1493063179215147012?s=20&t=OCEHxoAu8Q5GM6FSNg2baQ

Not surprisingly, there was a massive amount of online dialogue throughout the game. On February 13 alone, there were more than 2.73 million mentions of the Super Bowl! Just over 2.07 million of those came from Twitter, with Reddit and news outlets rounding out the top three content sources. Discussion ramped up as the game started, spiking around 8 p.m. ET – right around the halftime show – and again near 10 p.m. ET – as the stressful last few moments of the game concluded and the Rams became champions.

The United States was home to most of the traffic, with more than 851,000 mentions, but our North American neighbors also chimed in, with more than 42,000 mentions from Canada and more than 33,000 from Mexico. Brazil also comprised a significant slice of the mentions, on par with Canada with just over 42,000 as well.

Many notable individual players also drove a lot of online traffic. Let’s take a look at the stat breakdown:

• Joe Burrow (QB, Cincinnati): 22/33, 263 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, sacked 7 times. 247.2K mentions – including a top theme our social listening software categorized as “Genuinely Concerned For Joe Burrow’s Life.”
• Matthew Stafford (QB, Los Angeles): 26/40, 283 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT, sacked 2 times. 107.8K mentions – spiking only around 10 p.m. ET after most of the game was already over but Stafford’s best plays were yet to come.
• Cooper Kupp (WR, Los Angeles): 8 receptions for 92 yards, 2 TD. Named Super Bowl MVP. 146.3K mentions, nearly 80% of which were positive as he turned in a truly phenomenal performance.
• Tee Higgins (WR, Cincinnati): 4 receptions for 100 yards, 2 TD. 29.9K mentions. Lots of the discussion focused around a controversial play in which Higgins ran in a touchdown after grabbing Jalen Ramsey’s facemask, with no flag on the play.
• Odell Beckham, Jr. (WR, Los Angeles): 2 receptions for 52 yards, 1 TD. OBJ left the game in the second quarter after suffering a knee injury, now reported to be ACL damage. 69.2K mentions. The praying hands emoji was frequently used following his injury.
• Ja’Marr Chase (WR, Cincinnati): 5 receptions for 89 yards. 26.1K mentions. Other than his name, “wow” was the most frequently used word in content that mentioned Chase – enough said about his rookie year as a whole!
• Aaron Donald (DT, Los Angeles): 4 tackles, 2 sacks. 151.2K mentions. Retirement might be on the table for the defensive superstar, but much of the conversation agrees that if this was his last game, it was a last game for the ages.

But what about the rest of the night’s headlines? After all, many people who aren’t sports fans watch “The Big Game” to see the iconic commercials or halftime entertainment. Never fear; both those subjects sparked extensive discussion as well.

The halftime show was a star-studded event featuring many of the all-time greats of hip-hop and R&B, including Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, and Anderson .Paak. While halftime shows have become a constant game of one-upmanship, and they can never please every fan, social dialogue indicates that an impressive majority of viewers enjoyed the show – more than 75% of the sentiment was positive. Even those who aren’t hip-hop fans could surely appreciate the staging and entertainment value that went into the mini-concert. More than 922.2K mentions discussed the halftime show!

https://twitter.com/NFLonFOX/status/1493030963932282883?s=20&t=RKDt10dZbkd5MZvolW26rA

Lastly, how about those commercials? If you aren’t into cryptocurrency, you might have spent at least half of the commercial breaks perplexed – or even if you are, you may have been perplexed. Many commercials featured surreal, CGI-heavy scenes (you okay, Meta?) and celeb-packed rosters. Some of those guest pairings made sense – Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansen, Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton – and some did not, tapping marquee names without much connection to one another other than brand affiliation (Nissan, for one, mixing “Schitt’s Creek” stars Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara with Marvel actors Brie Larson, Danai Gurira, and Dave Bautista).

Blockbusters like Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Moon Knight, as well as the latest Jurassic Park/World installment and Jordan Peele’s Nope also garnered plenty of views.

How did that translate to social media? Hootsuite kept an eye on “The AdBowl” throughout the night, taking a look at some of the heaviest hitters before the game:

https://twitter.com/hootsuite/status/1492999748890017799?s=20&t=KHc5ZUztSMGq9KBuvxqltQ

Here’s a quick look at those same top 10 brands during and after the game (from 6:00 p.m. ET through midnight ET on Feb. 13):

• NFL: 705,620 mentions
• PepsiCo: 105,486 mentions
• Avocados from Mexico: 2,394 mentions
• FTX: 55,333 mentions
• Amazon: 332,323 mentions
• Busch Light: 1,118 mentions
• DraftKings: 2,693 mentions
• Squarespace: 5,303 mentions
• Meta: 53,581 mentions
• Crypto.com: 2,663 mentions

Our search parameters may be a little different than Hootsuite’s, but there’s no doubt that these advertisers got their money’s worth!

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Any fear there may have been of over-saturation with two Olympics within 12 months of each other was quickly put to rest as the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games began on February 4. Despite COVID-19 concerns and international rumblings about China’s appropriateness as host nation, nearly 2,900 athletes from 91 countries/national organizational committees turned out for the chance to earn medals in an international spotlight.

On social media – as one would expect from such a blockbuster global event – there has been excessive discussion, cheering, and news dissemination from countries around the world. From Feb. 1 – Feb. 7, the Olympics have been mentioned more than 2.465 million times, with a reach of 61.96 billion – the world’s population multiples times over, based on unique content often reaching the same audience members repeatedly.

Between Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, the night of the opening ceremonies, discussion surged, escalating from 347.9K mentions to 604.6K mentions over just one day. While the volume has since dropped and plateaued, the daily number of mentions still hover around a steady average of 375K.

Top themes of tend to focus on specific sports – notably, the bigger-ticket events like figure skating and ice hockey – as well as broader discussion surrounding the event itself as well as Beijing and China. The United States is generating the most content by far with more than 619K mentions; Canada and the United Kingdom follow with just over 90K mentions apiece. The host nation, China, lands sixth on the list with 29,197 mentions across social media.

Political pressures are evident in top posts, however; many posts coded with positive sentiment focus on the Opening Ceremony, wins, teams, and the hashtag #togetherforasharedfuture. Meanwhile, negative mentions have their own bunch of unique terms: boycott, genocide, communist, and human rights, to name a few. While international concerns are nothing new in Olympic history, individual post output and vocalization of personal opinions on social media has certainly grown over the last few years.

While Russia is currently leading the way with 7 medals and Canada follows close behind with 6, let’s take a look at a sport-by-sport breakdown to see which events are medaling in the digital sphere. With fewer events than the summer games, it’s much more manageable to keep up with the conversations! [All data comes from a window of Feb. 4 – 12:00 p.m. EST, Feb. 7]

• Alpine Skiing: 24,161 mentions. Top subjects are the U.S.A.’s Mikaela Shiffrin (who suffered a disappointing fall in a recent round) and France’s Johan Clarey (who just won the silver medal, becoming the oldest Alpine skiing medalist ever).
• Biathlon: 46,432 mentions. Bucking the trend of U.S.-centric content, much of the conversation is in French, as France earned silver medals in two biathlon events so far and seem to have taken to the Internet to celebrate.
• Bobsleigh: 10,465 mentions. The United Kingdom takes the lead in volume of content here, due to a widely circulating meme of several lambs in a trough captioned as the “bobsleigh team from Shropshire.”
  

  Good luck to the bobsleigh team from Shropshire in the Winter Olympics pic.twitter.com/ZauezjSsOl

  — Heather Bennett (@heather_benne) February 6, 2022

• Cross-Country Skiing: 14,302 mentions. Norway’s Therese Johaug is a frequently mentioned subject, as she just won gold in the 15km skiathlon event.
• Curling: 135,866 mentions (30,742 mentions with the Boolean addition of “Olympics”). Ah, curling. The Internet’s favorite sport is back. While nothing can top the glory of the Norwegian men’s team’s pants a few Olympics ago, trends indicate that audiences are tuning in – and getting invested.https://twitter.com/bling_bangtan/status/1490036222139543557?s=20&t=IdmKSCSPEgDiEDwhCWIsPQ7
• Figure Skating: 89,855 mentions. The U.S.’s Nathan Chen and Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu are two of the top-billed skaters and conversation has certainly been circulating around these talented athletes as the short program event nears. Unfortunately, the U.S.’s Vincent Zhou made news this morning as he was forced to withdraw due to testing positive for COVID-19.
• Freestyle Skiing: 16,237 mentions. Lots of drama has been going down in the freestyle skiing world! Sweden’s 21-year-old skier Walter Wallberg upset Great Britain’s iconic Mikael Kingsbury to win gold in the moguls event, while Chinese-American skier Eileen Gu, competing for China, is the subject of many op-eds and other opinion pieces about national loyalty and cheering conflicts.
• Ice Hockey: 255,388 mentions (37,531 mentions with the Boolean addition of “Olympics,” since the NHL’s All-Star Game also occurred over this time period). In today’s not-remotely-shocking news, the U.S. and Canada women’s teams are absolutely dominating, outscoring their opponents by massive margins every game. Scheduled to meet in a clash of the titans at 11:10 p.m. EST on Feb. 7, discussion surrounds this high-pride game, as well as the American Brianna Decker’s injury in the very first game of the tournament plus controversy over the ROC-Canada game on Feb. 6.
• Luge: 37,802 mentions. Much of the conversation around luge is in German, thanks to powerhouse lugers from Germany, such as gold medal winner Johannes Ludwig. Felix Loch and Max Langenhan also placed fourth and sixth, respectively, rounding out the top six with a solid three German competitors.
• Nordic Combined: 5,958 mentions. For those who follow the Nordic combined event, the games have already have their share of controversy. Top discussions follow the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) response to three-time gold medalist Eric Frenzel and the German delegation’s complaint about how he is being treated while he quarantines for COVID-19 symptoms.
• Short Track Speed Skating: 14,377 mentions. While the name describes the sport – speed skating around a short track – many viewers seem to be concerned about the more detailed logistics of said sport, with “rules” being a top theme associated with this sport.
• Skeleton: 7,878 mentions (with the Boolean addition of “Olympics” already included). Skeleton, luge, and bobsleigh seem like equally dangerous sides of the same sporting die, and indeed media users seem to agree (with “luge” as a top overlapping term of discussion). Other discussions focus on Nathan Crumpton, an American Samoan skeleton athlete who rolled up to the Opening Ceremony and his role as flagbearer shirtless, in a tribute to the iconic “shirtless Tongan flagbearer” who could not attend this year.
  

  With Tonga out of the Winter Olympics, American Samoa stepped up to keep the tradition of the "shirtless flagbearer" alive. Read more here: https://t.co/dHYhtsfPHs pic.twitter.com/kGeSvqoC8X

  — 9NEWS Denver (@9NEWS) February 4, 2022

  Sorry, not sorry.

• Ski Jumping: 19,566 mentions. The icing on the terrifying-winter-sport cake, ski jumping fans got right to the point with lots of discussion about the gold medal, as well as the debut of the mixed team event. Slovenia won the first-ever mixed team ski jumping gold medal!
• Snowboard: 68,969 mentions. It’s hardly surprising that a thrilling sport with some of the most dynamic personalities in the field (paging Shaun White, Chloe Kim, and the McMorris brothers) has drawn so many fans. Also not surprisingly, the U.S. and Canada wipe the board (pun intended) with snowboarding content.
• Speed Skating: 33,151 mentions. The Netherlands’ medal count is like a who’s who of speed skating, with all five of their medals so far coming in either speed skating (4) or short track speed skating (1). Two golds, a silver, and a bronze for the full-length speed skaters isn’t too shabby at all.

The 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing continue through February 20!

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

Music-streaming giant Spotify made plenty of positive headlines in December for their annual “Spotify Wrapped” promotion, but they’ve found themselves back in the spotlight this month for more controversial reasons.

Recently, Neil Young led the charge of artists who pulled their musical catalogues from the platform after Spotify allowed provocative podcaster Joe Rogan to keep up episodes of his show that contained misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine. Young, Joni Mitchell, and other musical icons offered Spotify an ultimatum – their music or Rogan’s show. Rogan’s show is the most listened-to podcast on the platform, and – whether or not that played into their decision – remains available on Spotify.

Spotify took a major hit both in the market and in public opinion following the decision. According to Reuters, investors have now begun to build Spotify’s stock price back up, but the social media world is less immediately forgiving. Many of the top hashtags demonstrate this negative feeling, with thousands of mentions of #deletespotify, #spotifydeleted, and #boycottspotify.

Using the parameters of Jan. 23, 2022, through Jan. 31, 2022, with the term “Spotify” combined with Neil Young or Joe Rogan’s names, or both, we harvested more than 620.2K mentions across platforms in the United States. An overwhelming 87.3% of those mentions registered negative sentiment – unsurprising, given that Spotify would alienate a significant portion of its users as well as talent no matter their choice. Despite the high volume of anti-Spotify hashtags, trends such as #thanksjoerogan and #thanksspotify also contribute more than 5.6K mentions apiece and demonstrate public sentiment toward both positions.

The news began to gain traction on Jan. 24, reaching a fever pitch on Jan. 29 with more than 135.1K mentions in that single day! Top terms of discussion as well as a deeper analysis of content indicate social users were concerned about the implications of banning content. The term “censorship” appeared frequently by those who were pleased with Spotify’s decision, while “misinformation” and “anti-vaxxer” appeared frequently in the other camp.

This entire incident highlights the pitfalls companies must plan for and try to avoid in the modern world with social media, where reputation is just as important as who’s streaming on your platform or what wider repercussions your decisions may have. While Rogan responded (if not quite apologized) and Spotify declared they would offer “content warnings,” ethical implications abound on all sides as social media users continue to debate. Meanwhile, Spotify itself has offered no statements or even mentions of the decision on its own social media pages.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson

This weekend, eight teams were reduced to four as the National Football League’s (NFL) Divisional Round broke hearts and spiked pulses around the nation. Three games were decided by last-minute field goals while the final was sent to overtime by a high-stakes FG as well. Not surprisingly, fans, players, and media members took to social media over the intense few days of football and made their voices heard.

In a search window beginning Friday, January 21 – the day before the games began – and ending Monday, January 24 – the day after the games ended – a whopping 728,639 mentions of the NFL were made on social media across the United States. NFL-related content reached more than 5.4 billion users across the country.

With so much content to evaluate, let’s break down the weekend game-by-game.

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Tennessee Titans (Bengals won 19-16)

The underdog Bengals came into this game on the heels of their first playoff victory in 31 years, and Cincinnati was out in force – Skyline chili dogs and goetta alongside. 323,785 social media posts were published mentioning the Bengals, with nearly 60% of those mentions coded as positive; a far cry from the past few decades of Cincinnati professional football.

The #bengals hashtag featured 25,453 mentions while #rulethejungle reached 9,560 and #whodey followed closely with 9,167 mentions. Top terms among the positive mentions were “joe” and “burrow,” referring to the young Bengals QB, while the negative mentions frequently referenced “o-line” and “sacked,” referring to the poor offensive play that allowed Burrow to be sacked a staggering nine times in one game.

Meanwhile, 200,543 mentions on social media referred to the Titans, with more than 56% of those marking negative sentiment. The Titans were the top-seeded team in the AFC and earned a bye during the wildcard round, leading many to assume the well-rested Tennessee team would walk all over Cincinnati.

The #titans hashtag recorded 30,669 mentions while #titanup dropped off to 6,648 mentions. However, #titanup was significantly more positive in its content than simply #titans, indicating that the fans who used the slogan were more engaged and optimistic than the widespread coverage surrounding with just the #titans hashtag, often used by content creators such as journalists. Top terms of discussion included star player Derrick Henry; however, much conversation veered to the Super Bowl LVI halftime show and its “star-studded” roster – indicating those tweeting about the Titans were less engaged overall than Bengals fans.

San Francisco 49ers vs. Green Bay Packers (49ers won 13-10) 

This punchy matchup defied expectations, with two offensively-powerful teams being reduced largely to field goals. During the time window, 416,009 mentions were made of either “49ers” or “Niners” – and they were more evenly spread out over the window rather than simply surging during the game, indicating fans are continuing to discuss the topic following the upset victory. Like for other teams, many of the top mentions contained references to star players; however, so much conversation surrounded Nick Bosa that he ranked among a top theme of discussion.

Meanwhile, the Packers raked in 356,593 mentions – an overwhelming two-thirds of which were negative. Many, of course, focused more on quarterback Aaron Rodgers than the game itself, as Rodgers has had an intensely controversial season following his declaration that he was “immunized” against COVID-19 while not actually being vaccinated. Rodgers himself was mentioned 386,483 times over these four days, with the hashtag #byeaaron earning 6,825 mentions.

Interestingly, “Kaepernick” was listed as a top term of discussion along with Rodgers, comparing how Colin Kaepernick had been blacklisted and his career essentially ended for speaking out against racial injustice while Rodgers continued his play as normal while spreading misinformation during the pandemic.

Los Angeles Rams vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Rams won 30-27)

Sunday’s first game followed Saturday’s formula to a T – everything came down to the last play, and the victory was sealed with a field goal. As with the Packers, much of the conversation surrounding this matchup hinged on star individuals – Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski – and the direction their careers may take following an early playoff loss. 180,622 mentions referred to the “Buccaneers” or “Bucs,” while 343,312 discussed Brady and 9,908 discussed Gronkowski (or “Gronk”). Fan and media focus was firmly concentrated around the player many consider the G.O.A.T. of American football.

The Rams, while competing traffic-wise with 300,033 mentions, couldn’t compete with the ongoing narrative of Brady’s potential retirement. A surge during the game quickly tapered off again, and one of the top discussion themes even in Rams content was “Brady!” Los Angeles won the game battle but lost the news war, unable to pull headlines away from what could be a looming, sport-altering decision.

https://twitter.com/RobGronkowski/status/1485780792118853633?s=20&t=Uoyo-KYREUquvlW5GIokzw

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills (Chiefs won 42-36 in OT)

The final game of the Divisional Round was the first and only to buck the trend of last-minute field goals sealing the deal, but it hesitated to go too far off-piste. Though the Bills went ahead with a touchdown with just 13 seconds left, the Chiefs were able to tie the game as regulation ended – and then won the game in overtime! This matchup was the most-watched Divisional Round game since 2017, peaking at 51.7 million viewers, and for good reason.

However, the high-stakes drama was overshadowed by discussion of the NFL’s controversial overtime rules. Rather than allowing both teams an opportunity to score, the rules state that the first touchdown wins the game. Decided by nothing more than a coin flip, this luck-of-the-draw rule all but eliminates any home-field advantage or equal opportunity chance – something frustrating in the regular-season, to be sure, but potentially career-devastating in the playoffs.

Many of the most-used words in Bills-related mentions surround overtime and the spate of emotions Buffalo fans felt: “angry,” “pissed,” “frustrated,” and the words “coin” and “rule” popped up frequently as well. The only similar words appearing in Chiefs mentions are “overtime” and “rules,” indicating the victors are perfectly happy to let sleeping dogs lie for now, as it worked in their favor.

Four intense games later, it’s clear that fans had lots to say not only about their own teams and players but about league legends, game rules, and implications beyond the gridiron. With just the AFC and NFC championship games remaining before the Super Bowl, it’s unlikely social traffic will die down any time soon.

Author: Kayleigh Jackson