Lily Lieberman is a Junior at Arizona State. She is currently interning with Olytico as part of the CAPA study abroad programme.
With the same-sex marriage referendum vote fast approaching on May 22nd, LGBTQ issues are a hot topic in Ireland. On April 11, Irish street artist Joe Caslin erected a giant mural on the side of a building on South Great George’s Street, supporting a ‘yes’ vote in the equality referendum. The mural has caused a significant reaction in Ireland and around the world, with top publications including Buzzfeed covering the story.
Dublin's fair city never looked so beautiful. #YesEquality Stunning mural by @joecaslin pic.twitter.com/fVSYpYjrK9
— Debbie Hickey (@DebStudioTen) April 11, 2015
Last week in the U.S., another major LGBT campaign was launched. Day of Silence is a student-led event that brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. On April 17th, students across the globe took a vow of silence in an effort to illustrate the silencing effect of bullying and harassment on LGBT students. Olytico monitored and analysed social conversations surrounding Day of Silence 2015 from April 14th – 20th. Here’s what we found:
Key Words
We tracked the hashtag #dayofsilence and the Twitter handle @dayofsilence.
Key Numbers
Almost 19,000 tweets in total
Over 14,200 tweets on April 17
Over 11,100 unique Twitter accounts contributed
Over 59,400,000 potential impressions
An estimated reach of over 18,700,000 accounts
Top 100 Words
Of the 18,972 tweets mentioning Day of Silence, ‘bullying’ was mentioned 3,038 times with high profile LGBTQ activists like Laverne Cox, Perez Hilton and Aubrey O’Day advocating an end to bullying.
The word ‘awareness’ was mentioned 773 times highlighting the main goal of the activist organizations: to end harassment and abuse of LGBT youth.
#DayofSilence raises awareness on bullying of #LGBT youth. See @HRC report on growing up LGBT: http://t.co/ikkMiAGQMW pic.twitter.com/8Zo71uFjVt
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) April 17, 2015
Day By Day
It was little surprise that April 17th, the Day of Silence, led to the highest spike in conversation: 14,270 tweets.
Laverne Cox had the highest retweeted tweet on April 17th with 467 retweets expressing solidarity with all students. The word ‘solidarity’ was mentioned 698 times over the course of the week. Cox, an actress on “Orange is the New Black” and an LGBTQ activist, is the first transgender person to be on the cover of Time magazine.
I stand in solidarity with all students observing #DayOfSilence to end anti lgbtq bullying @GLSEN
— Laverne Cox (@Lavernecox) April 17, 2015
ElloSteph, a Tumblr and Youtube personality and the Monday correspondent for LGBTV, had the second highest retweeted tweet at 341 times.
Today we remember the LGBTQ+ lives who have gone through any form of harassment. All experiences and individuals matter. #DayofSilence
— Steph Frosch (@ElloSteph) April 17, 2015
Top Tweets
Here are the top 5 most retweeted tweets (excluding the above tweets from Laverne Cox and ElloSteph):
Today is the #DayofSilence! Wherever you are, however you're participating: we're with you. pic.twitter.com/rnQhgntXAg
— GLSEN Day of Silence (@dayofsilence) April 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/feministculture/statuses/588732404472356864
Proud to support all students participating in @GLSEN's #DayOfSilence to combat #LGBT bullying. BE HEARD! #NOH8 pic.twitter.com/YDznRTErMc
— NOH8 Campaign (@NOH8Campaign) April 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/SaraRamirez/statuses/589130117126828032
SILENCE! Today is @GLSEN's @dayofsilence, children. RT to tell anti-LGBT bullying to sashay away! #DayofSilence http://t.co/rbruc5chNy
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) April 17, 2015
#Hashtags
Hashtags were an important part of the Day of Silence campaign. The hashtag #DayofSilence was mentioned in 18,080 tweets. We’ve identified the top 10 hashtags:
#SelfieForSilence, a campaign to snap a selfie to end the silence around anti-LGBT bullying and harassment, had 221 tweets mentioning the hashtag.
#selfieforsilence for @GLSEN's #DayofSilence. Learn more: http://t.co/WjAATNgcAr pic.twitter.com/c3ZDjAoXP9
— Kirsten Vangsness (@Vangsness) April 17, 2015
#KidsMatterOk is a campaign started by Bossy Kids, whose mission is to spread love, compassion and empowerment. The hashtag was mentioned 95 times.
#DayofSilence #GLSEN @dayofsilence
Never hurt someone with your voice.#KidsMatterOK pic.twitter.com/0mQL6o3QM8— Julie Anne Addicott (@heavenlysins66) April 18, 2015
Most Retweeted Contributors
Below are the top 10 Contributors based on the volume of retweets of their Day of Silence content.
Conclusion
The importance of using social media to promote a cause or event has long been known. Measuring how that promotion is received and learning from social media analysis is also key. Listening to online conversations gives great insight into the success of a campaign and can also help improve future campaigns.
If you’re interested in learning about your event or campaign through social listening, contact us to find out more.