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Zignal Labs Breaks Down DNC Day One Speeches On Twitter

July 26, 2016 By WHC Insider

Zignal Labs, the data analytics firm that charts the social media response to political events and news, has come up with some fascinating ways to calculate the online reaction to the Democratic National Convention’s speeches.

According to Zignal’s Anthony York, “The opening of the Democrats’ convention in Philadelphia attracted more interest on social media than last week’s GOP convention. Zignal Labs tracked 2.4 million DNC mentions on Monday, compared to about 1.6 million mentions during the opening night of the GOP gathering in Cleveland.”

Zignal’s emoji-cloud charts captured which emjois were used most during First Lady Michelle Obama’s rousing primetime speech, which many called the highlight of Day One:

MichelleEmoji

Zignal also analyses the reach of particular twitter users and is capable of charting the reach of individual tweets. They found that Bernie Sanders’ convention tweet got 5 times more Twitter mentions than Hillary Clinton’s top tweet:

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 8.35.03 PM

You can learn more about Zignal Labs and read their work with The Washington Post’s Daily 202 newsletter here.

Filed Under: News Media Tagged With: DNC, Twitter, Zignal Labs

ZIGNAL LABS REPORTS: Obama’s SOTU Draws Massive Twitter Response

January 14, 2016 By WHC Insider

President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address on Tuesday and drew a massive response on Twitter. Zignal’s software tracked nearly one million mentions for the President during the speech.

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According to Zignal, twitter mentions for the address peaked around 6:30 to 7pm, towards the end of the President’s speech:

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Most of the top tweets of the night came from Obama’s official account, though satirical news site The Onion’s tweet also went viral:

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 7.22.42 PM

Filed Under: DC, Event Coverage, News Media Tagged With: Barack Obama, State of the Union, Twitter, Zignal Labs

The First Super #Seriously White House Correspondents Dinner Request of 2013

February 21, 2013 By WHC Insider


Forget the upcoming sequester/spendopocalypse. 2013 is officially the year it’s ok to ask out potential dates to Nerd Prom.

Daily Inteligencer caught the first awkward advances through Twitter earlier this morning. Buzzfeed was standing on the other side of the Internet, fiddling with their cat-laden Trapper folder filled with notes about 15 things from 15 years ago, rumors about Bobby Jindal and a list of 42 people you won’t believe exist copied on every page of their Trapper Keeper. And then he came in.

A legendary figure on the sports team. A titan of self-promotion and popularity, able to disappear and reappear without a second thought. Jose Canseco showed up on the Internet. So Buzzfeed–rather their press director–asked the jock out. And in true Buzzfeed fashion it worked (except when it didn’t but it probably did). While Canseco did say he has “always wanted to go to that dinner” he also “bet I could track dick lugar down there. set it up!”

Canseco went further when Buzzfeed political reporter Andrew Kaczynski stressed the former baseball star should show. “wouldnt [sic] miss it buddy. while there point out some super committee members so I can kick their ass for this damn sequester,”Canseco tweeted.

Shockingly this marks the first public semi-confirmation for an organization’s guest list to this year’s Correspondents Dinner. While Conan O’Brien was announced yesterday via White House Correspondents Chairman Ed Henry’s Twitter to take another crack at hosting, this marks the first time a media organization reached out so publicly to a potential guest. Even more interesting: does this mean Buzzfeed has a table at this year’s dinner, or just the usual set of tickets a group can purchase? If so, it seems like the cancelation of Reuters TV freed up a ton of space after all.

Filed Under: 2013 WHCD, Correspondents, Entertainment Tagged With: Jose Canseco, Media, Twitter, WHCD 2013, White House Correspondents Dinner

The Slurp Heard Around the SOTU

February 13, 2013 By WHC Insider

Marco Rubio stole the entire show after President Obama gave an unanimously praised speech at the State of the Union. For the fifth time, the president remained on record but with a far sterner message to congress during and after his speech.

But before we go back to Obama, let’s focus on Senator Rubio. His “Watergate” broke out over Twitter:

In case you forgot, this tweet comes straight from the boss. #staffisnotthisfunny MT @marcorubio#GOPResponse #SOTU twitter.com/marcorubio/sta…

— Val Mack (@Val_Mack) February 13, 2013

On YouTube:

and the same joke repeated ad naseum. Despite President Obama’s repeated plea for a vote for victims of gun violence, for Sandy Hook and for those that struggle to vote–like 102-year old Desiline Victor–it would be Rubio who would capture the Internet’s attention. But that comes after a groundbreaking number of Tweets Per Minute (TPM) according to the official Twitter Blog.

They even provided a timeline in handy graph form:

CHART: 2013 #SOTU Tweet volume, peak moments nearly double the 2012 speech. twitter.com/gov/status/301…

— Twitter Government (@gov) February 13, 2013

But don’t think Obama got away without a fist-bump of his own. Over the closing minutes, as Obama went through the Capitol,he could be heard encouraging Representatives and Senators that everything “deserves a vote,” in calling back to his address.

Filed Under: DC, Entertainment, The White House Tagged With: DC, Marco Rubio, Media, State of the Union, Twitter

The Twitterati Search Political Media Women

October 26, 2012 By Tammy Haddad

As seen on The Huffington Post

Masters of search and the Twitterati in this election have obsessed about the real headline makers, Barack Obama‘s Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter and Mitt Romney‘s Barbara Comstock.

Cutter’s previously invisible hand has led many initiatives in her roles in the White House, Treasury, the Senate and, of course, campaigns. For those who have shot her to the top of Google’s search by putting her name alongside “husband” or “workout routine,” she is not just another Washington lawyer. She is a fierce, effective and engaging advocate for the President and that is why a lot of people on the other side have gone after her.

And she is not alone. For example, in one of the most politically important swing states, there is Barbara Comstock. The Virginia delegate and Virginia for Romney co-chair began her media career as Chief Counsel with the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. She has been successfully working the ground game, grassroots and coalition efforts throughout the Commonwealth — door to door — as well as the leading woman’s voice on TV, radio and media; she’s micro and macro. Known in the nineties as one-half of “The Barbaras,” she and the late great Barbara Olson were the toughest Republican advocates during President Clinton’s second term when everyone wanted to be a prosecutor or was being investigated by one. As the most effective female voice for Romney, I am reminded of her challenging role in the Justice department press office post-9/11.

Shattering the debate glass ceiling were two of the longest-serving Washington correspondents. Candy Crowley and Martha Raddatz hosted two of the most important debates and showed the world just how in command strong women can be. CNN’s Jessica Yellin won the booking war by being the only reporter to host primetime specials featuring separate one-on-one interviews with President Obama and the first lady. They all represent a generation of Washington women who have played critical roles on the political inside and now have a supercharged public face. And none of these women blinked in the face of endless searches and comments about their personal lives and clothing.

Finally, there is the tech world. The prominence of women in media and politics is happening in technology chiefly through two top players, Sheryl Sandberg and Kara Swisher.

Washington Post veteran Swisher built the most important technology event of the year, All Things Digital’s D Conference, into the must-attend event for techie street cred. Swisher’s iconic interviews are best represented by hertough questions and velvet glove treatment with Mark Zuckerberg through a hoodie malfunction.

Zuckerberg turned to another Obama Treasury Department veteran, Sheryl Sandberg, to help him run Facebook and she has made history. This January, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, she mesmerized world leaders just by walking through the main hall.

Notably, she is bringing Silicon Valley and top women from across the country out of the backrooms and into the boardrooms, and on to the public stage.

A group of us were inspired by Sandberg’s efforts and started the Washington Women Technology Network, which includes successful women from politics and government — former Congresswoman Susan Molinari at Google, Marne Levine at Facebook and Mindy Finn from Twitter. Another former congresswoman, Ellen Tauscher, who was most recently Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in the Obama Administration, is the Vice Chair of the Brent Scowcroft Center at the Atlantic Council of the United States. She is promoting the role of women as political and business leaders in international security, diplomacy, and nuclear weapon non-proliferation.

So you can keep searching, pinning and tweeting but none of these women have been defined by or talk about who they date, what they wear or any food plan.

Filed Under: News, Washington Tagged With: Barbara Comstock, Candy Crowley, Jessica Yellin, Kara Swisher, Martha Raddatz, Media News, Sheryl Sandberg, Social Media, Stephanie Cutter, Twitter, Washington Women Technology Network

TamCam: Twitter Talks Politics at Final Debate

October 22, 2012 By WHC Insider

Adam Sharp, who is Twitter’s Washington Political and Elections Chief shows the power of the Twitter in the 2012 Presidential election.

Filed Under: 2012 Election Tagged With: Adam Sharp, Presidential Debate, TamCam, Twitter

Pope Sends First Tweet

June 29, 2011 By WHC Insider

It looks like you can teach an 84-year-old a new trick. Pope Benedict XVI launched the Vatican’s news information portal via Twitter on Tuesday using, what else? An iPad.

This is the latest in a series of moves from the Vatican to improve communication both internally and with the public. But don’t be fooled by all the “Benedictus” handles on Twitter, the Pope does not have a personal account. The papal tweet was sent from @news_va_en.

Check out the pontiff working the touch screen in this video released on the Vatican’s YouTube Channel. Yes, the Vatican’s been on YT since 2005.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: iPad, news.va, Pope Benedict XVI, Social Media, SocNets, Twitter, Vatican, YouTube

YouTube's Interview with the President

January 28, 2011 By WHC Insider

Two days after giving his State of the Union address, President Obama took to the Internet to directly answer questions from Americans and people around the world on a wide range of subjects. Over 1.3 million people voted on almost 200,000 video and text questions submitted through Google Moderator and Twitter, picking the ones they most wanted the President to answer.

President Obama sat down for “Your Interview with the President,” hosted by YouTube’s Steve Grove, and responded to questions on subjects ranging from education reforms, healthcare, the recent unrest in Egypt, to his “pick” for the Superbowl.

Watch the entire video here:

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Google Moderator, President Obama, State of the Union, Steve Grove, Twitter, worldview, YouTube

#newtwitterceo for #newtwitter

October 4, 2010 By WHC Insider

Evan Williams has stepped down from his role as CEO of Twitter and replaced himself with Dick Costolo, Twitter’s former COO.

In a posting on the official blog:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Media Strategy, News Tagged With: CEO, Evan Williams, Media, Richard Costello, SocNets, Twitter

The 48-Hour Fall of Rick Sanchez

October 4, 2010 By WHC Insider

The clock started clicking the minute Rick Sanchez said “I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot.”

During the remainder of his September 30th interview on Stand Up! with Pete Dominick went downhill. From there the accusations became how Jon Stewart’s targets (“Everybody else who’s not like him”) represent bigotry to the control of Jews running major media organizations like CNN.

[TheWrap provides a full transcript here.]

By Friday night, Sanchez was let go from the company with the briefest response possible:

Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.

No apology or word of the interview remained on Sanchez’ Twitter, which now is likely abandoned as the 145+ thousand followers will forget they ever followed the anchor who made new media his entire shtick. In fact, CNN’s only discussion of the event came during Howard Kurtz’ Reliable Sources yesterday according to TVNewser.

Of course far be it from Kurtz to not dig the knife in deeper by leading into his segment first with The Daily Show’s Sanchez reel and then asking whether Sanchez should’ve been “suspended…or tazed?”

Smooth, Howie. Smooth.

But now it’s Monday, no word about what will happen to Rick’s Twitter, which commands 140+ thousand followers who don’t seem to be dropping off–even after Friday’s announcement. So what happens when an influential Twitter personality just stops? Does it make a sound?

Filed Under: Correspondents, News Media Tagged With: CNN, Howard Kurtz, Jon Stewart, Pete Dominick, Rick Sanchez, The Daily Show, Twitter

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About White House Correspondents Insider

Exploring “behind the scenes” of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

We track the White House Correspondents’ weekend and all the activities around it, from journalists and media companies to the White House and politicos.

Tammy Haddad is Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of WHC Insider and CEO of Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents Insider is not affiliated with or approved by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which is a registered trademark of the WHCA.

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