Two of the most important political events of the summer – the Republican Primary Debate and Jon Stewart’s last episode of The Daily Show, occurred nearly simultaneously. It was no surprise that both events overtook the Internet at large, especially Social Media. But which dominated the conversation? We took to Twitter to find out!
First things first: the #GOPDebate.
Many tweets were about the boisterous and sometimes unruly performance of the candidates, especially the ever-entertaining Donald Trump. Here are some of our favorites.
If you had “Hillary Clinton” in your #GOPDebate drinking game you are already too drunk to drive.
— Jay Busbee (@jaybusbee) August 7, 2015
Trump is the friend who turns off the Xbox when he’s losing. #GOPDebate
— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) August 7, 2015
This is my Super Bowl wrapped in The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade covered in The Golden Globes. #GOPDebate — Jill Biden (@JillBidenVeep) August 7, 2015
Just one #BlackLivesMatter question at #GOPDebate? But we spent a half hour talking about fences?? pic.twitter.com/v7pqn2Qr84 — Mark S. Luckie (@marksluckie) August 7, 2015
It’s simple: Trump doesn’t not want to not say he won’t pledge not running against the winner if he does or doesn’t not win. #GOPDebate
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 7, 2015
A couple hours later, Twitter found a second wind in the hashtag dedicated to Jon Stewart’s last episode of The Daily Show, #JonVoyage. Some very big names in the entertainment industry and politics were tweeted a farewell to the host of 16 years:
“You’ve been a great gift to the country.” —President Obama to Jon Stewart on @TheDailyShow #JonVoyage pic.twitter.com/ku6QZx2nE1 — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 6, 2015
Celebrating the end of an era with @StephenAtHome and @SteveCarell. #JonVoyage @TheDailyShow #JonStewart pic.twitter.com/3nTIdDuc0Q
— Ed Helms (@edhelms) August 6, 2015
The end of an era. Congratulations, @TheDailyShow. #JonVoyage pic.twitter.com/9g2jcYlepH — Vice President Biden (@VP) August 7, 2015
Even some brands weighed in on Stewart’s departure:
Spooning in & saying goodbye. #jonvoyage
— Chobani (@Chobani) August 7, 2015
Sometimes Jon’s jokes about us were hard to digest, but we kept watching #TheDailyShow anyway. #JonVoyage pic.twitter.com/FGoLhf6QyX — Arby’s (@Arbys) August 6, 2015
And the cue the drum roll…
The more popular topic of the night was, in fact, the GOP Debate.
According to data via Topsy, in the last day 1,478,287 #GOPDebate tweets went out, while only 124,820 #JonVoyage tweets were posted. We would like to think there’s more to the story, though. This morning in Boston, only #JonVoyage was still trending, and it also achieved a higher Topsy Sentiment Score, which analyzes tweet content by positive and negative language. Scrolling through the hashtag last night, it was apparent that many of the #GOPDebate tweets were live tweets, responses, and even arguments. With the Republican Primary Debate being the first of this election season, there were predictions being made about the winners, losers, and future of the nomination and race at large. Within #JonVoyage we saw some high-profile brand and celebrity tweets with great engagement, and an overall sense of finality and sadness as one of the nation’s most beloved television personalities made his departure from the air.
The timing of the two events hardly seems coincidental, and Time even went so far as to call the overlap a cruel taunt. Regardless of who won, the tweets from last night made history, and are indicative of an ongoing aspect of all major current political and cultural events: they will be extremely well-documented.
There you have it, folks! For all the latest in social media keep up with us on Twitter @ovrdrv, and feel free to leave a comment with your favorite tweets from last night!
Photo credit: nytimes.com
