The Impact of Social Media and Politics
The social media world went bonkers commenting on the Casey Anthony trial. Did you join in on the discussion?
The verdict was controversial. That’s a fact. Casey Anthony wasn’t convicted on murder charges related to the 2008 death of her daughter Caylee. Nobody saw that coming.
But, what was just as astounding was the immediate rush of information-sharing and discussion on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
It seemed as if everyone, from celebrities to lawyers, to the common, every day person, had something to say about the trial itself, the verdict, or the Anthony family.
News sources are claiming that social media sites revolutionized the 36-day Casey Anthony trial. According to NewsMax.com, on Tuesday afternoon, following the announcement of a not-guilty verdict, the keywords “caseyanthony” appeared 34,000 times an hour on Twitter and “notguilty” appeared 20,000 times.
That’s stunning to say the least.
News media organizations and stations across the entire nation launched Twitter accounts and updated news stories on Facebook to give users up-to-the-minute coverage.
Both CNN and Fox News constantly had a live ticker on their online and mobile site.
Social Media’s Impact on Politics - Casey Anthony Trial
Facebook users even took the news into their own hands.
At the time this article was written, the following Facebook pages were created followed with the number of “likes”.
- Support Cindy Anthony – 7,266 likes
- We Support George and Cindy Anthony – 4,194 likes
- Casey Anthony Page – 21,832 likes
- Casey Anthony Updates – 237,625 likes
- **** Casey Anthony – 664,773 likes
- Casey Anthony is guilty – 58,855
The numbers don’t lie. People had to log on Facebook and search for related terms. They not only knew who the Anthony family was, wanted information about the trial, but formed an opinion and wanted to support it the only way they knew how.
MSNBC.com reports that Twitter locked up at times due to users sending Tweets in rapid succession. Twitter was so overloaded with tweets when the verdict was read, the website appeared to freeze.
The Casey Anthony trial went viral. And thanks to social media, the world had easy access for three years to invest their time and emotions.
And because of that, the huge outcry appeared once the verdict was read.
Social media played a huge part in the world’s involvement and investment in the trial.
If it wasn’t for social media, would the country have reacted in the manner in which they did? Perhaps. But, probably with no where near the level of emotion, though.
To date, it can be argued that the Casey Anthony trial is the social media case of the century.
Only time will tell where the future of social media and politics lies.
In the mean time, we’ll be checking our “feeds” and “update alerts.”
