SOCIAL MEDIA WINS BIG
So who won the debate? Social media, in a landslide.
While presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump slugged it out for 90 minutes, viewers kept up a loud and raucous side-patter on Facebook and Twitter. The social networks racked up huge numbers of posts and tweets, to borrow a favorite word from one of the debate participants. Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio called it the “most tweeted debate ever.” There were 10 million tweets during the first presidential debate in 2012, according to Twitter. (Twitter launched in 2006.)
The most-tweeted topics: the economy, foreign affairs, energy and environment, terrorism and guns. The most popular single tweet was a 2012 tweet of Trump’s denial of calling global warming a Chinese hoax.
Twitter said the three-most tweeted moments were Trump’s vow he has “good temperament,” his comments on stop-and-frisk police actions and an exchange between the combatants on their plans to defeat ISIS.
A number of tweeters noted Trump’s frequent sniffling during early stages of the debate. Several invoked Richard Nixon’s profuse flop sweat during his 1960 debate with John F. Kennedy.
On Facebook, the debate was the top event of this presidential season, spokesman Andy Stone said. Some 18.6 million members in the U.S. generated 73.8 million likes, posts, comments and shares. Top issues were taxes, ISIS, racial issues, the economy, and crime and criminal justice.
The top social moment in the debate’s first half, according to Facebook, was when Trump said, “She tells you how to fight ISIS on her website. I don’t think Gen. Douglas MacArthur would like that too much.” During the second half, it was Trump again: “My strongest asset is my temperament.”
As good as it was for Facebook and Twitter, TV networks did even better — the debate was viewed by 84 million Americans, ratings service Nielsen said.
On both platforms, Trump generated the most conversation (79% on Facebook, 62% on Twitter) — both good and bad.
Peak traffic of live videostreaming was on a par with that of the women’s team gymnastics final during the Rio Summer Olympics last month, according to content-delivery network provider Akamai Technologies.
“It’s the equivalent of downloading 110 two-hour HD movies every second,” said Ben Bloom, senior manager of media and gaming professional services at Akamai.
“Viewing the debate on social (media) was like attending an eclectic cocktail party,” said Livestream CEO Jesse Hertzberg, whose company partnered with FedNet on a live-stream of the event. The variety of comments was “revealing,” he said.
Traffic on sites with fact checkers soared 3,000%, according to content-delivery network Fastly.
Facebook and ABC teamed to stream the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Twitter formed a partnership with Bloomberg to present the debate, just as the micro-blogging site streams NFL games on Thursday night. Twitter, reportedly on the market, live-streamed the Democratic and Republican conventions via a deal with CBS.
Social media has been abuzz the past month: 33.6 million people on Facebook in the U.S. weighed in with posts related to Trump 367 million times; 28 million commented nearly 300 million times on Clinton.