Responses to the 2014 State of the Union

The first State of the Union took place in New York City. It then moved to the provisional capital in Philadelphia, and for over a century it was delivered in writing. Since Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, the State of the Union has taken place annually at the US Capitol. Tonight, it also unfolded in real-time on Twitter and Vine.

From the start of the State of the Union through the conclusion of the official Republican response, there were 1.7 million Tweets. During the course of the State of the Union address (9:10pm-10:20pm EST), members of Congress sent 750 Tweets.

These were the moments that spurred the most conversation, measured in Tweets per minute:

1. Mad Men joke about equal pay - 33,555 TPM
2. Call to increase minimum wage - 29,859 TPM
3. Discussion of the Affordable Care Act - 25,990 TPM
4. Discussion of climate change - 22,768 TPM
5. “Son of a barkeeper” reference to @SpeakerBoehner - 20,425 TPM

For a detailed analysis of how the US television broadcasts on Twitter, the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will be available at 1pm ET tomorrow here. This report includes data on the number of unique Twitter accounts that tweeted about the show (in the U.S.) and the live reach of the program (impressions). The data in this post reflects global conversation.

Throughout President Obama’s address, the @WhiteHouse shared quotes from the speech, as well as images and graphs to illustrate the key points. These were the most re-tweeted quotes shared by @WhiteHouse, suggesting what resonated with citizens:

While it’s customary for the First Lady and members of Congress to invite distinguished guests to the #SOTU, Twitter and Vine allowed citizens access to the halls of the Capitol right alongside their elected officials:

While waiting for the official Republican response, delivered by @CathyMcmorris, other Republican members of Congress used Twitter and Vine to give their immediate perspective on the president’s remarks:

Throughout the night, Twitter served as both a spin room and a focus group, showing how elected officials, attendees, and citizens at home responded to the 2014 State of the Union:

#SOTU 2014