While the week started light and fluffy when it came to news on social, a number of serious tragedies and events have taken place at the end of the week. In keeping our spirits and outlook high, we'll be analyzing social discussions that dominated that week from sharks, celebrity (non) feuds, and the ever fattening roster of republican presidential wannabes.
Tell me what you want, what you really really want... (I know it's social data).
When the real Sharknado comes, we'll Tweet about it
Sharknado is an actual thing because...who knows why? But people love it as it's spawned three movies with the third premiering last night. The #Sharknado3 hashtag received more than 317K mentions on Twitter.
With 88% of the #Sharknado3 conversation happening within the US, perhaps people will start saying, "As American as Sharknado" as opposed to apple pie.
The stars of the movie were the night's true (social) winners as Ian Ziering and Tara Reid were among the most mentioned tweeters. For extra star-power, Mark Cuban and Frankie Muniz also made a splash.
Mick Fanning: Defender of surfers, intimidator of sharks
We all know that you shouldn't go to the shark's house, but what if you get paid substantial money to shred waves? I suppose you risk a shark attack, but if you're Mick Fanning you put a shark in its place.
Since Fanning's close-call at the J-Bay Open, the online conversation has garnered more than 42K mentions with many hailing fanning as the next Chuck Norris, or calling for his presidential election - despite the fact that he's Australian.
You can see the top hashtags around Fanning's heroics below.
Space Jam 2: an Internet reaction
You can't please everyone, and that especially holds true in this era of internet and social media. As it came to light that the beloved 90s film Space Jam might receive a sequel, people took to the internet to react not only about the possibility of the film, but the possibility of it starring LeBron James.
This conversation exploded, and has accumulated more than 115K online mentions. The sentiment is twice as positive as negative within tweets that are categorized by sentiment in Brandwatch, with most negative mentions revolving around the sequel's alleged protagonist, LeBron James.
So who was the internet's leading contender to play the starring role behind LeBron? Kobe Bryant. The Laker legend has over 27K mentions in the Space Jam 2 conversation. You can see how prevalent he has been talked about in the cloud below.
#Curvy's rollercoaster ride on IG
I'm sure it's not easy running a popular social media platform, but when Instagram banned #Curvy in an attempt to cut possibly pornographic posts, people were not pleased.
The internet was quick to remind Instagram with 5K mentions that #Curvy is also an empowering word that many use to describe themselves, and sexy doesn't have to be overly sexual.
The cloud below shows both how people reacted, and their concerns with the ban.
To counteract the ban, people started using the hashtag #Curvee to show solidarity in their use of the word and how empowering it actually is. #Curvee garnered nearly 20 million impressions.
Ultimately, Instagram listened to the people and have lifted the ban on #Curvy. Another example of how social media allows everyone to be heard and can inform change for businesses, individuals, and even social networks themselves.
VMAs - The Miley Show
The VMAs were in the news this week as they announced this year's host, Miley Cyrus, and unveiled each categories' nominees.
Both announcements contributed to nearly 610K online mentions. The sentiment around this conversation is very negative with 71.7% of sentiment-categorized tweets being negative.
Most of that negativity came from the fan armies of One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer, as neither group received a nomination.
Their largely female fandoms, dominated the VMA conversation as women provided most of the unique tweets at 61%.
Of course, there were other causes for the negative mentions around the VMAs, such as artists feeling like they were snubbed in certain categories. A perfect example of this is Nicki Minaj, who tweeted her displeasure, and we all know where that went...
Taylor Swift vs. Nicki Minaj in Twitter Battle
If you pay close attention we're all about to discover what happens when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object. I'm talking about the Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj Twitter kerfuffle, of course.
The conversation accumulated more than 173K online mentions as each fan-set has already fallen behind their artists of choice. Now all you can wonder is, "Who's winning?"
The short answer is Nicki Minaj. While Swift has more mentions, Nicki's personal hashtag (#NickiMinaj) has already accumulated over 30 million more impressions than #TaylorSwift. Minaj's Twitter handle has also been used more in tweets. This shows a more engaged and active following, which is especially impressive when you consider that Swift has 60.8 million Twitter followers and Minaj only has 19.8 million.
When all was said and done, Twitter gave us this great feud and took it away too. Taylor sent an apology tweet to Nicki which she accepted, and the world seemed to get a little brighter.
If one feud in the span of a week isn't enough, Meek Mill's allegations about Drake's ghostwriter should count as another. This conversation generated more than 106K online mentions.
A look at the top hashtags certainly paints an interesting picture.
Two feuds told through hashtag, and you can almost completely comprehend both discussions.
Have you heard who's running for president? Everyone.
This is becoming dangerously close to becoming a weekly occurrence, but this week saw another candidate announce their intention to run for the Oval Office.
This week it was the Republican governor of Ohio, John Kasich. You can now see all the hopefuls in the following charts.
Democrats
Republicans
Errbody
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