Sign_up Login
 
Viralheat | Social Media Insights for Sonia Sotomayor 2009 Confirmation
Share_profile
Header-shadow-down
Social Media Scorecard For Sotomayor from July 13 - 17, 2009

On TV and in the newspapers last week, it seemed like every Senator on the judiciary committee was grandstanding for attention, and every pundit in America was sharing their opinion on the hearings and the nominee. At Viralheat, we’ve been keeping a close eye on how the Sotomayor story was playing across social media, and we wanted to share some of our insights:

* This was a big story—over the course of the week people added 21,100 videos about judge Sotomayor to the video sharing sites we track, and the word “Sotomayor” was mentioned over 50,000 times on Twitter
People on Twitter got bored too—reporters and pundits spent much of this week complaining about how repetitive the hearings were, and we saw the same thing in the social media discussion. Discussion of the hearings peaked on Tuesday and dropped through the rest of the week.

“Wise Latina” resonated—more people tweeted about the phrase “wise latina” (~3,158) than about Al Franken (~1,081), Orrin Hatch (~724), Clarence Thomas (~723), and Arlen Specter (~587) combined.
Jeff Sessions had a tough week—Jeff Sessions’s tough questioning of Judge Sotomayor may have backfired. More tweets about him had a negative sentiment than a positive sentiment—he was the only Senator who attracted more than 500 tweets where this was the case.

People Used Social Media Mostly To Share Other News—more than half of tweets that talked about Judge Sotomayor contained links to news stories, videos, or other web pages.
Twitter stats
Real-time Web stats
Video stats
(during hearing)
(during hearing)
(during hearing)
Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor
Total mentions: 69,876
Daily average: 6,925
Active Author: Legal_Times
Daily average: 3,015
Top link: Sotomayor backers urge reporters to probe New Haven firefighter | McClatchy
Hottest video: Why is Graham So Damn Condescending Toward Sotomayor?
Hottest Platform: CNN iReport
Patrick_leahy
Patrick Leahy
Total mentions: 235
Daily average: 23
Active Author: thecaucus
Daily average: 10
Top link: Patrick Leahy cuts off Kristen Gillibrand - Eamon Javers and ...
Hottest video: Sen Tom Dacshle Anthrax Attack Revisited
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Dianne_feinstein
Dianne Fienstein
Total mentions: 277
Daily average: 31
Active Author: ramsar123
Daily average: 8
Top link: July 12: 7 Best Moments from Sunday Talk - Page 1 - The Dail...
Hottest video: A Celebration of Women's History _ 1992 Congress Will Have More Women
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Herb_kohl
Herb Kohl
Total mentions: 144
Daily average: 16
Active Author: hambypcnn
Daily average: 4
Top link: OpenSecrets | Herb Kohl's Message to Telecoms: Break ...
Hottest video: Herb Kohl: Better
Hottest Platform: Google Video
Russel_feingold
Russel Feingold
Total mentions: 239
Daily average: 24
Active Author: blogdiva
Daily average: 9
Top link: Russ and Diddy flying to Vegas « Russell Brand
Hottest video: Action Alert: The 28th Amendment
Hottest Platform: Google Video
Charles_schumer
Charles Schumer
Total mentions: 113
Daily average: 10
Active Author: latimestot
Daily average: 6
Top link: Sen. Charles Schumer Questioning at Judge Sotomayor Confirmat...
Hottest video: Senator Charles Schumer
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Richard_durbin
Richard Durbin
Total mentions: 141
Daily average: 13
Active Author: dannowicki
Daily average: 7
Top link: 'This Week' Exclusive: Sens. Durbin and Kyl - George's Botto...
Hottest video: Senate Toy Safety Hearing
Hottest Platform: Google Video
Benjamin_cardin
Benjamin Cardin
Total mentions: 43
Daily average: 5
Active Author: hambypcnn
Daily average: 1
Top link: VOA News - Benjamin Cardin: BiH su potrebni kompromisi i usta...
Hottest video: Michael J. Fox, Ben Cardin
Hottest Platform: Google Video
Sheldon_whitehouse
Sheldon Whitehouse
Total mentions: 167
Daily average: 20
Active Author: blogdiva
Daily average: 4
Top link: RI Sen. expects easy confirmation for Sotomayor - Boston.com
Hottest video: Rivkin: Bush Admin. War Conduct Has Been "Exemplary"
Hottest Platform: Veoh
Ron_wyden
Ron Wyden
Total mentions: 30
Daily average: 2
Active Author: ajax556
Daily average: 1
Top link: Kalalau's Korner: My Video Letter to The Honorable Senator Ro...
Hottest video: News
Hottest Platform: Google Video
Amy_klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar
Total mentions: 102
Daily average: 12
Active Author: NotAmyKlobuchar
Daily average: 3
Top link: Klobuchar's Contrubution: A Senator Listens to Sotomayor
Hottest video: Sen Amy Klobuchar on Al Franken
Hottest Platform: Google Video
Edward_kaufman
Edward Kaufman
Total mentions: 5
Daily average: 1
Active Author: EyeOnGvt
Daily average: 0
Top link: --
Hottest video: D1#10 Frank Stella - Q&A WCS 2009
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Arlen_specter
Arlen Specter
Total mentions: 587
Daily average: 62
Active Author: The_Takeaway
Daily average: 19
Top link: Outrage, Investigation Mounting After Black, Hispanic Kids Ki...
Hottest video: Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) on Cameras in the Court
Hottest Platform: ABC News
Jeff_sessions
Jeff Sessions
Total mentions: 1,445
Daily average: 152
Active Author: MikeW789
Daily average: 52
Top link: Think Progress » Sen. Jeff Sessions Slams Soto...
Hottest video: Jeff session sceaux
Hottest Platform: Stickam
Orrin_hatch
Orrin Hatch
Total mentions: 724
Daily average: 72
Active Author: UtahPolicy
Daily average: 29
Top link: YouTube - Sen. Orrin Hatch Exposes Democrats' Health Care Abo...
Hottest video: LET'S PLAY OBAMANOPOLY! Senator Orrin Hatch pt.1
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Charles_grassley
Charles Grassley
Total mentions: 60
Daily average: 6
Active Author: 800wvhu
Daily average: 3
Top link: Sen. Charles Grassley Jokes After Protest Disrupt Hearing | P...
Hottest video: Headzup: Huckabee's Holy Friends
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Jon_kyl
Jon Kyl
Total mentions: 297
Daily average: 31
Active Author: blogdiva
Daily average: 11
Top link: Kyl and Brewer should reject D.C. power play
Hottest video: America's News HQ _ Fri, Nov 28, 2008
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Lindsey_graham
Lindsey Graham
Total mentions: 1,926
Daily average: 214
Active Author: MarcusBitch
Daily average: 60
Top link: Jon Stewart Hammers Lindsey Graham For Hypocrisy In The Sotom...
Hottest video: Lindsey Graham Bullies Sotomayor Over "Wise Latina" Comment
Hottest Platform: ABC News
John_cornyn
John Cornyn
Total mentions: 173
Daily average: 18
Active Author: rickdunham
Daily average: 6
Top link: Live Blogging Sotomayor Hearings, Day 4 - The Caucus Blog - N...
Hottest video: This is John Cornyn REAL Ad, He's Serious - Check It Out
Hottest Platform: UNIVISION
Tom_coburn
Tom Coburn
Total mentions: 234
Daily average: 25
Active Author: hololio2
Daily average: 8
Top link: .: United States Senator Tom Coburn :: Washington Waste of th...
Hottest video: The Angle "On Tom Coburn's Stimulus Report"
Hottest Platform: DailyMotion
Al_franken
Al Franken
Total mentions: 1,083
Daily average: 110
Active Author: FrankenSense
Daily average: 36
Top link: YouTube - Ann Coulter and Al Franken at The Connecticut Forum
Hottest video: Sen Amy Klobuchar on Al Franken
Hottest Platform: Yahoo! Video
Header-shadow
Header-shadow-down