Two “first” events occurred yesterday afternoon within an hour of each other in the online world. First, Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg took the online stage (via a live streamed webcast on the site) in order to announce the newest product to join the social networking site, video chat supported by Skype. While many had been waiting and expecting this announcement to occur, it still incurred a lot of buzz.
An hour later, President Obama held the first live streaming town hall meeting via Twitter. Twitter users could ask the president questions by using a specific hashtag in their posts and Obama would tweet his answer back to them.
Both events had a huge amount of publicity about them leading up to the start of each event. So who was out-tweeted? Surprisingly, it was the president. Jive Social Media Engagement conducted the buzz analysis and determined that Zuckerberg received over three times as much buzz for his expected (and leaked) announcement than the president did in attempt to connect with Americans individually.
These results made me step back and think for a moment. Why do we care more about the ability to video chat with our friends over Skype than we do with getting our thoughts, opinions, and questions about the state of our country and economy answered by the man in charge? Perhaps everyone who has a real interest in politics was too busy watching the live feed of the Casey Anthony trial online and forgot the tweet-along. Even she got more online buzz than the president. Do we not care that much about politics, or do we just care a little more to see if a woman suspected of killing her child will get the shock of her life? Perhaps, it is just a reflection of which social site we prefer. Facebook outweighs Twitter significantly in the user numbers, so maybe people just didn’t want to sign up for Twitter to have their voice heard.
An hour later, President Obama held the first live streaming town hall meeting via Twitter. Twitter users could ask the president questions by using a specific hashtag in their posts and Obama would tweet his answer back to them.
Both events had a huge amount of publicity about them leading up to the start of each event. So who was out-tweeted? Surprisingly, it was the president. Jive Social Media Engagement conducted the buzz analysis and determined that Zuckerberg received over three times as much buzz for his expected (and leaked) announcement than the president did in attempt to connect with Americans individually.
These results made me step back and think for a moment. Why do we care more about the ability to video chat with our friends over Skype than we do with getting our thoughts, opinions, and questions about the state of our country and economy answered by the man in charge? Perhaps everyone who has a real interest in politics was too busy watching the live feed of the Casey Anthony trial online and forgot the tweet-along. Even she got more online buzz than the president. Do we not care that much about politics, or do we just care a little more to see if a woman suspected of killing her child will get the shock of her life? Perhaps, it is just a reflection of which social site we prefer. Facebook outweighs Twitter significantly in the user numbers, so maybe people just didn’t want to sign up for Twitter to have their voice heard.
Kessler, S. (2011, July 7). Obama vs. Zuckerberg: Who Won the Battle of the Buzz? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/07/07/obama-vs-zuckerberg-who-won-the-battle-of-the-buzz/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable%2FSocialMedia+%28Mashable+%C2%BB+Social+Media+Feed%29
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