2013 Grammys: A Twitter Takeover

During this past Sunday, social media influence was quite possibly more evident than ever before during the 2013 Grammy broadcast on CBS. Twitter, the main social media platform chosen by the network and viewers alike, was thriving with the response to different events of the night. These are a few of the more obvious trends:

1. Twitter trending from #theGrammys to #Grammys

At the beginning of the evening, #theGrammys was a trending topic. Unfortunately, CBS and the Grammys were not covering this hashtag, making it harder to track progress. Quickly, host LL Cool J stated for everyone to use #Grammys instead and continued to remind everyone of this throughout the first part of the show. Although the first trending hashtag was only three letters off from the desired use for the network, it created two channels of communication instead of one. It was not until roughly an hour into the show when #Grammys started trending. 

2. Technical difficulties in musical performances

To anyone watching the Grammys, this was a very obvious issue, particularly in the Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley performance. The instruments were much louder than the singers' voices, making it difficult to hear lyrics. Immediately, people started to tweet on this issue and demanded a solution. Thankfully, the sound technicians were able to fix the issue, but it was not until the last 30 seconds of the performance. 

3. Celebrities participating in Twitter feed

Once the issue between #theGrammys and #Grammys was sorted out, celebrities in attendance started taking up the hashtag and posting their experiences at the event. One of the more popular Tweeters for the night was Ellen DeGeneres and her humorous comments:

 

  

These comments from well known people encouraged tweeters to engage with their favorite stars and gave them a behind the scenes look at the show.

The days of just watching television and talking about it with friends the next day are clearly over. At a moment’s notice, the world can be aware of new information. Real time data is here to stay and public relations practitioners, as people who try to manage messages, need to keep track of these trends. With everything being so fast paced at this year’s Grammys, one can only guess what the 2014 Grammys will hold.