4.15.13 Boston
By Mo Krochmal
Executive Editor, Social TV Daily
On Monday, April 15, 2013, the history of Boston, and the city’s annual spring marathon race were changed irrecoverably as two bombs exploded within seconds of each other as thousands of people gathered at the finish line of the 26-mile Boston Marathon.
Authorities reported three people dead and more than 150 injured, some horrifically, as law enforcement investigated. It was a day when social media again became an equal partner with television.
The Day Monday
The networks scrambled anchors to Boston and provided special programming earlier in the night, according to The Associated Press. NBC pre-empted the season premiere of “Revolution” for a special report with Brian Williams at 10 p.m. ET.
But, for the most part, broadcast television schedules played on and people shared on social media about the shows, including “The Voice” on NBC, “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC, and “The Following” on Fox. Those three shows, respectively, were the top three for the night on Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Viggle as measured by Trendrr, while on cable, “WWE Monday Night Raw” was the top show.
Bombing-related news programming mentions did not appear on the public Social TV analytic chart released by Trendrr.
Mobile and Social Response
Hours earlier, about 3 p.m., the communications world changed as people on site reached for their mobile phones after innocent lives and limbs were vaporized on Boylston Street, between the glass-fronted Lord & Taylor department store at one end, and the iconic masonry of the Boston Public Library at the other, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon where reporters were gathered under a photo bridge for broadcasting live TV from the race.
As the event unfolded, Twitter mentions, as measured by Topsy.com (see chart), surged from an initial peak of some 42,000 tweets after the race winners announced at approximately 2:20 p.m. to more than 1.8 million tweets at 4:20 p.m.
In a press conference Tuesday, law enforcement officials ask anyone with video and photographs to share them with authorities to help the investigation.
The following tweet from @nbcnightlynews was measured as the top tweet among all mentions of “Boston” Monday as we measured on Topsy (see chart).
BREAKING: Small homemade bomb is preliminary cause of explosion at Boston Marathon, law enforcement officials tell NBC News — NBC Nightly News (@nbcnightlynews) April 15, 2013
It was retweeted 7,829 times, according to Twitter, and “favorited” 401 times. The NBC Nightly News account had 189,675 followers, as of this morning, then climbing past 190,000 this afternoon. According to early ratings, NBC’s decision to provide special programming in the evening served the public.
NBC’s special report averaged a 3.1 rating with adults 18-49 and 8.9 million viewers — though it is subject to significant revision since it aired in different time periods across the country. NBC topped the night with adults 18-49 (4.5 adults) and edged past ABC in total viewers (12.47 million), the Hollywood Reporter said today.
On the ground in Boston yesterday afternoon, cell towers were overwhelmed with traffic after the bombs went off. People were asked to text their safe status or use social media to let friends and family know they were OK. Word spread and the hashtags #BostonMarathon and #PrayforBoston trended through the afternoon.
People gathered in front of TV screens on the street to find out what was happening, @kyleykim tweeted.
Social Media Trends
Online, things were messy as people shared and RT’ed unsourced information, but then, the social masses and media, to some extent, showed restraint among the conspiracy theories, allegations and unreported “facts.”
The sad news of the day overshadowed the announcement of the Pulitzer Prizes, with the Denver Post winning a Pulitzer for its breaking news reporting of the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. The Post’s reporting included a foundation of social media (Twitter, Facebook and Storify) and, arguably, among the very first Pulitzer award to hinge on social journalism.
Global Internet Usage for 4-15-2013 as Charted by Akamai (Screen grab)
Yesterday, it was social media, particularly Twitter, which was the real-time channel for news, pairing with new web tools to connect people.
The Boston Globe created a Google Doc that allowed displaced people to get space to stay from people with places to share, while Google set up a people finder application http://google.org/personfinder/2013-boston-explosions
The Aftermath
For the day, social TV mentions peaked at the 4:00-4:14 p.m. period with 184,712 tweets and again, with lesser peaks of 82,000 and 80,000 mentions during the 8-9 p.m. time frame, SocialGuide posted this morning (chart at left).
This terrible and tragic event, and people’s response to it, continues to show the shifting paradigm of modern news media.
“We know from crisis communication research that people typically search for corroborating information before they take a corrective action—their TV tells them there’s a tornado brewing and they talk to relatives and neighbors. And now they look at Twitter.” Bill Braniff, Executive Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism, told National Geographic.
And, news media, particularly TV news, is just learning how to serve the information needs of the public and to integrate it into a viable business, the heartbeat of what we call “social TV.”
Measuring Mentions of Boston, #BostonMarathon and #PrayforBoston on Twitter, via Topsy.com on Tuesday afternoon.
