• Election Night 2012

    Tuesday, November 06, 2012

    One hundred million votes and 31 million Tweets later, Election Day 2012 has come to a close. As the results of the election were called by news organizations, the conversation about the election on Twitter surged, hitting a peak of 327,452 Tweets per minute (TPM). Before President Obama took the stage to address the nation, he shared a special update on Twitter. As thousands of supporters cheered in Chicago, more than 455,000 (and counting) retweeted his celebratory message:

    While the announcement of results was the biggest moment of the election cycle, there were many other notable Twitter moments tonight:
    -327,452 TPM - 11:19pm ET - Networks call Obama's reelection
    -85,273 TPM -11:12pm ET - IA presidential race called
    -69,031 TPM - 9:33pm ET - PA and WI presidential races called
    -65,106 TPM - 8:03pm ET - Polls close in various states; AP calls races for IL, CT, ME, DC, DE, RI, MD, MA

    As international leaders tweeted diplomatic messages directly to @BarackObama, Twitter also provided a glimpse into global politics:

    Since the campaign cycle unfolded on Twitter, it’s only fitting that for candidates nationwide, the journey also culminated here. After the votes were tallied, the candidates came to Twitter to share their final campaign Tweets. And so we'll wrap things up by letting them speak for themselves.
    Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS)
    Head of Government, News, & Social Innovation

    Posted by @ at 11:16 PM

  • NFL on Twitter: Week 9

    Rookie RB @DougMartin22 earned himself the most mentions on Twitter in Week 9, and made many fantasy owners very happy. His team’s match-up with the @Raiders resulted in a third place ranking for most tweeted-about games, and here are the other top match-ups from the weekend:

    1. @steelers vs. @giants
    2. @dallascowboys vs. @atlanta_falcons
    3. @TBBuccaneers vs. @Raiders
    Posted by Omid Ashtari (@omid)
    Head of Sports & Entertainment

    Posted by @ at 5:58 PM

  • Your guide to Election Day

    Today is the final day to make your voice heard by voting on national, state, and local ballots. To help you get out to vote, our @gov team compiled a list of Twitter accounts for each state’s Secretary of State (the office that oversees elections) as well as other relevant accounts offering voter information. From here you can check for updated information about your polling place, learn about what’s on your ballot, and find certified election results.
    After all the ballots are cast, the long campaign season will conclude as results at the local, state and national level are announced across the country. On Twitter, you can connect with everything from predictions and tabulations to analysis and punditry, as well as rea-time results as they are announced. To showcase relevant and engaging Tweets from political insiders and voters alike, we’ve created a special election event page at Twitter.com/#Election2012.


    After seeing 10 million Tweets during the first presidential debate, we expect today to be another record-setting day. Besides the event page, which will feature curated Tweets, we’ll be tweeting updates and data all day and evening at @gov about the election conversation on Twitter.

    #ivoted already. How about you?

    Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS)
    Head of Government, News, & Social Innovation

    Posted by @ at 7:46 AM

  • This week on Twitter: Nov. 5

    Monday, November 05, 2012

    On most Monday mornings, we’ll post “This week on Twitter” to alert you to key things happening in the coming week. Whether it’s a live chat with the cast of your favorite TV show, a Q&A with a political candidate or a pro sports team Tweepstakes, this is the way to keep current on the Can’t-Miss-Moments on Twitter for the week ahead. - Ed. 

    6 Nov. - #Election2012 Event Page
    We’ve created a special #Election2012 event page that went live this morning. It highlights Tweets from candidates and their staffers, media and other key players so you can hear directly from those close to the action. This page is your one stop shop for news as it develops all day and night.

    8 Nov. - Live-tweeting with @ScandalABC
    @ScandalABC fans can once again visit the #AskScandal events page this Thursday to ask their favorite cast members questions and engage in conversation. Live tweeters include:
    Kerry Washington @kerrywashington
    Columbus Short @ColumbusShort1
    Guillermo Diaz @guillermodiazyo
    Katie Lowes @KatieQLowes
    Joshua Malina @JoshMalina 
    Darby Stanchfield @darbystnchfld
    Tony Goldwyn @TonyGoldwyn 
    Bellamy Young @BellamyYoung
    Jeff Perry @JScandalP 
    11 Nov. - Sunday Movie Tweet-Along
    Omar Epps (@omarepps) will be doing a special Sunday Movie Tweet-Along at 6 p.m. ET on Nov. 11. Join the conversation using #SMTA, or just sit back and take it all in while watching “Juice” via @Netflix and/or @AmazonVideo.

    Check back next week for more!

    Posted by Rachael Horwitz (@rachaelrad)
    Twitter Communications

    Posted by @ at 5:00 AM

  • Twitter goes country for the CMA Awards

    Thursday, November 01, 2012

    Tonight on ABC (8pm ET/ 7pm CT/5pm PT), country music’s brightest stars will shine at the 46th Annual Country Music (CMA) awards. And you don’t have to be in Nashville to have a front row experience: Twitter will help you keep up with your favorite stars on-and off-camera.

    With @BradPaisley and @CarrieUnderwood hosting the show, and many of the CMA stars live tweeting, you won’t miss any of the fun. Here are some great accounts to follow for a perspective that only the attendees can provide:

    @FaithHill
    @TheTimMcGraw
    @ZacBrownBand
    @ScottyMcCreery 
     @HunterHayes
    @KramerGirl
    @ThompsonSquare 
    @RandyHouser 
    @CowboyTroy
    @GwenSebastian 

    We’ve also made an even fuller list of country music accounts to follow, here.

    Before tonight’s show, get a head start on all of the behind-the-scenes action by following the @CountryMusic conversation on our new Country Music Page. During the show, our new page will showcase the #CMAAwards hashtag and you’ll be able to watch the CMAs happen in real time.


    As always, Twitter brings you exclusive insights on your favorite performers:

    Here are @TheTimMcGraw,@FaithHill and @WillieNelson rehearsing for their #CMAAwards performance:
    To catch all of the CMA’s action in Nashville, be sure to visit the Country Music Page and follow the country all-stars who will be at the show.

    Posted by Tatiana Simonian (@Tatiana)
    Head of Music

    Posted by @ at 2:47 PM

  • Visualizing the 2012 election

    Throughout the 2012 election season, the biggest topics and emerging trends have played out on Twitter, offering an extensive dataset for our Analytics team to explore. Prominent issues in this year’s campaign range from Pell Grants for students to Medicare for the elderly, from coal production to clean energy. Of course, the salience of these issues varies greatly by state. A great deal of media and campaign attention focuses on statewide polling, so we’ve been particularly interested in how users engage with political content on a statewide level.

    At https://election.twitter.com/map/, we’ve built a visualization that illustrates people’s reaction to and engagement by state to Tweets from @MittRomney and @BarackObama. While the Twitter Political Index analyzes Tweets about the candidates, Nicolas Belmonte and I have also been studying how citizens interact with Tweets from the candidates. We also want to see what insights you can glean from Twitter data, so this visualization is fully interactive.


    Here’s how it works: Select Tweets, represented by a bar, from the left or right columns. Tweets are organized by engagement level, and the size of the bar indicates the level of engagement that Tweet received. Hovering over the bar previews the Tweet text, and clicking on it will show you the state by state engagement level. You can also search for specific terms to see Tweets from @BarackObama and @MittRomney about the topics that matter most to you.

    Let’s start with an example from our visualization. This map shows statewide engagement rates for Tweets that mention coal:

    The darker color indicates a higher rate of engagement (measured by the number of favorites and retweets). As the map shows, states that are leading producers of coal — West Virginia, Kentucky, and Montana — are among those with high engagement rates.

    Clicking on “Noteworthy Reaction” will reveal where a Tweet had an elevated level of engagement: people in that state engaged with the Tweet more than they typically do other Tweets.

    To better understand the particular issues that resonate most in a given state, just click directly on that state. If you look at Ohio — a critical swing state — you’ll see that the most relevant topics from @MittRomney’s Tweets are the economy, energy/environment, taxes, and retirement. Meanwhile, the Tweets from @BarackObama that resonate the most in New York deal with abortion, terrorism, and foreign affairs.

    At https://election.twitter.com/map/, you can explore the political engagement map for yourself. It’s fully interactive so that you can analyze the Tweets, topics, and states that most interest you. Share your discoveries to us by tweeting @gov.

    Posted by Miguel Rios (@miguelrios)
    Analytics Team

    Posted by @ at 10:42 AM

  • NBA posts up on Twitter

    Tuesday, October 30, 2012

    The NBA season starts today on the court and on Twitter when the @WashWizards take on the @Cavs. There are currently around 400 players on Twitter - representing nearly 90% of the NBA, the highest percentage among all sports leagues.

    With over six million followers, @NBA is our most-followed sports league, and the @Lakers are the most-followed US sports team on Twitter. If you’re not among their nearly 3 million followers, you can still connect with your favorite team - all 30 NBA teams are on Twitter.

    To keep up with your favorite team and players, check out our new NBA Get Started page. Below each team name you'll find a link to their list of players, letting you follow them all with the click of a button.


    Among those 400 players, you’ll find the sport’s biggest names as well as its rising stars - and they all have incredible perspectives to share. During the Olympics, the NBA’s top players competed in London and took their fans along for the journey to gold:

    Fans also experienced the insider moments that usually are confined to the locker room. After one of the offseason’s biggest moves - the weekend’s late-night trade of James Harden (@JHarden13) to the @HoustonRockets - players took to Twitter to express their surprise. One of the most powerful Tweets only took 3 characters, coming from former teammate Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5): Other reactions varied from across the league. You can watch the players go 1-on-1 on the court, and on Twitter: Even NBA Commissioner David Stern has taken note of the power of Twitter to bring fans closer to their favorite teams and players day in and day out. In his historic year, @KingJames took his Twitter followers on the road during the season, to the championships, and to London:

    With all the teams and 90% of the players - including the NBA's biggest names - on Twitter, you’ll have an unprecedented view of the court all season long. Don’t miss out.

    Posted by Omid Ashtari (@omid)
    Head of Sports & Entertainment

    Posted by @ at 1:12 PM

  • NFL on Twitter: Week 8


    The @Atlanta_Falcons stay atop the league after 8 weeks of action. Not only are they the only undefeated team and number one in the power rankings, but they also came out on top in our list of most Tweeted-about games. The standings are:





    Buzz surrounding  Tony Romo’s four interceptions rocked the Twitterverse, landing him as the most-tweeted about player of the week.


    Almost halfway through the regular season, we can feel the February depression setting in already!

    Posted by Omid Ashtari (@omid)
    Head of Sports & Entertainment

    Posted by @ at 12:38 PM

  • Hurricane Sandy: Resources on Twitter

    Monday, October 29, 2012

    As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the east coast of the U.S., here’s a roundup of accounts suggested by local and state government officials you can follow to get real-time emergency information, plus tips for using Twitter during a crisis.

    In the event that power (and the Internet) are down, you can still get alerts from accounts on Twitter using your mobile device through text messaging (SMS):
    • Receive Tweets via SMS: Even if you don’t have a Twitter account, you can receive Tweets from any Twitter user directly to your mobile device. Just text 'follow [username]' to 40404 if you are in the U.S. For example, to follow FEMA (@fema), text ‘follow fema’ to 40404. Text notifications work with every major operator in the U.S. Learn more at our Help Center and find the shortcode or longcode for your country here. 
    • Set text alerts from your computer: When you are logged in to Twitter, you can turn on SMS notifications for a user from your computer. Simply click on their name or avatar, then click on the person icon and select “Turn on mobile notifications” from the drop-down menu. Whenever that user tweets, you'll receive it as an text message on your phone. More information on receiving text notifications is available here. 
    Here are some Twitter accounts and hashtags to follow from the states most affected by the storm:
    Other useful accounts to follow:
    Our @gov account has also compiled a list of widely suggested emergency and local accounts to follow: https://twitter.com/gov/sandy. We’ve also launched a #Sandy page where we will surface relevant and timely Tweets and information throughout the storm: twitter.com/#sandy

    Finally, we’ve offered Promoted Crisis Tweets to @RedCross, @FEMA, @NYCMayorsOffice, and @MDMEMA to help in keeping people in Sandy’s wake updated. If you represent a local or state authority assisting with Sandy recovery and would like to participate in this pro bono program, please contact us.

    Posted by Gabriel Stricker (@gabrielstricker) VP, Communications

    Posted by @ at 2:40 PM

  • 29 Oct - This week on Twitter

    On most Monday mornings, we’ll post “This week on Twitter” to alert you to key things happening in the coming week. Whether it’s a live chat with the cast of your favorite TV show, a Q&A with a political candidate or a pro sports team Tweepstakes, this is the way to keep current on the Can’t-Miss-Moments on Twitter for the week ahead. - Ed. 

     #Halloween: Tweeting with the stars 
    @abcnetwork’s live Twitter chats continue on primetime episodes during Halloween week. This Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, fans can join the conversation on Twitter with cast members (everyone from @MarioBatali to @Snoopy) as well as fellow fans.

               Mon. 10/29 11:00 a.m. ET/ 10:00 a.m. CT
              “General Hospital” @GeneralHospital, #GH
               Follow: Sean Kanan @seankanan

              Tues. 10/30 9:00 p.m. ET/ 8:00 p.m. CT
              “Happy Endings,” @HappyEndingsABC, #HappyEndings
               Follow: Zach Knighton @ZachKnighton

              Tues. 10/30 9:30 p.m. ET/ 8:30 p.m. CT
              “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23,” @Apt23, #Apt23
              Follow: Dreama Walker @PrimaDreama

              Wed. 10/31 12:15 p.m. ET/ 11:15 p.m. CT
              “The View,” @theviewtv, #TheView
              Follow: Elisabeth Hasselbeck @ehasselbeck
              Sherri Shepherd @SherriEShepherd

             Wed. 10/31 1:00 p.m. ET/ 12 p.m. CT
             “The Chew,” @thechew, #TheChew
             Follow: Mario Batali @MarioBatali          
             Michael Symon @chefsymon         
             Carla Hall @CarlaHall         
             Clinton Kelly @Clinton_Kelly         
             Daphne Oz @DaphneOz

             Wed. 10/31 8:00 p.m. ET/ 7:00 p.m. CT
             “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” @Snoopy, #Snoopy
             Follow: @Snoopy

    Get Out the Vote - Ya es hora and Latism Twitter Chat 
    Tues. 10/30 9:00 p.m. ET/ 8:00 p.m. CT
    @Univision and @Uvideos will host a special Twitter chat with @MariaESalinas to help encourage fans to vote this election. Other moderators include @Enrique_Acevedo and @SatchaPretto, who will use #liberatuvoz and #destino2012 to provide information on voting and related resources.

    24 Oct - Live tweeting with @ScandalABC
    Once again @ScandalABC will use the #AskScandal events page where fans can ask their favorite cast members questions each Thursday for the next two weeks.

    Live-tweeters include:
    Kerry Washington @kerrywashington
    Columbus Short @columbusshort1
    Guillermo Diaz @guillermodiazyo
    Katie Lowes @KatieQLowes
    Joshua Malina @JoshMalina
    Darby Stanchfield @darbystnchfld
    Tony Goldwyn @TonyGoldwyn
    Bellamy Young @BellamyYoung
    Jeff Perry @JScandalP

    Posted by Rachael Horwitz (@Rachaelrad)
    Twitter Communications

    Posted by @ at 5:00 AM