The document summarizes data from the social media analytics company Radian6 about discussion of the 2012 Iowa Caucus over a 7-day period leading up to January 4th, 2012. It found that discussion volume grew starting on January 2nd and peaked on January 3rd with over 103,000 posts. The majority of conversation occurred on Twitter, and topics included predictions about candidates like Ron Paul and analysis of Mitt Romney's narrow victory. The data showed males ages 25-34 mentioned the caucus most frequently.
2. SUMMARY OF “IOWA CAUCUS” MENTIONS
We looked at mentions of “Iowa Caucus”, “IowaCaucus” and
“iacaucus” to gain an understanding of the volume and type of
conversation over the last 7 days. Most of the days were quiet but
volume began to grow on January 2nd, 2012.
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000 The data related to the Iowa
0 Caucus was pulled on January
4th , 2012 for the previous 7 days.
Dec 28 Dec 29 Dec 30 Dec 31 Jan 01 Jan 02 Jan 03 Jan 04
The highest recorded spike was
seen on January 3rd, 2012 with
Micromedia over 103,000 social posts.
Comments
Blogs
Forum Replies
Micromedia (Twitter) Top Hashtags during the last 7
Mainstream News
days connected to the Iowa
Facebook accounted for 89.7% of
Caucus were: #iowacaucus,
Videos the conversation. #iowa, #iacaucus, #tcot, #gop
Forums
Images
MySpace
0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000
male 117,373: 58.6%
female 82,922: 41.4%
Gender split for the last
7 days favored the male
gender by 17%.
The top tweeting age
25-34
bracket was 25 – 34 yo.
35-44
45-54
21-24
55-64
65+
18-20
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000
Salesforce Radian6 Report 2
3. CANDIDATE OVERVIEW
Within the conversation about the Iowa Caucus the following ranking was observed as it relates to
mentions of the candidates.
Much of talk that propelled
Ron Paul to the top of the
standings revolved around
the predictions &
confirmation that he would
not finish in the top 2.
Many comments discussed
how Romney had a narrow
win with many people making
reference to the 8 vote
margin.
Ron Paul: 29,250 – 24.5%
Mitt Romney: 27,613 - 23.1%
Rick Santorum: 25,377 - 21.3%
Barack Obama: 10,936 - 9.2%
Rick Perry: 8,084- 6.8%
Newt Gingrich: 8,078 – 6.8%
Michele Bachmann: 7,435 - 6.2%
The discussion included
comments of it being “too
Jon Huntsman: 2,606 – 2.2% close to call” and the ultimate
loss by a small margin to
Romney.
Salesforce Radian6 Report 3
4. TOP RETWEETS AND MENTIONED WORDS
Within the top retweeted users, there was a strong journalistic angle with 7 of Top 50 Mentioned Words
the handles having a connection to a news publication.
Only 2 handles, @rbreich and @ronpaulsvoice, had a known political presence.
The final handle, @borowitzreport, is a comedian and best selling author.
Top 5 Retweeted Mentions
1 2
3 4 5
@thefix
@borowitzreport
@rbreich
@huffingtonpost
@washingtonpost
@theonion
@huffpostpol
@ronpaulsvoice
@daveweigel
@thecaucus
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000
0
Salesforce Radian6 Report 4