#DNC2012 Night 3: Obama’s speech sets records

Today’s highly-anticipated event in Charlotte was the single biggest day of both conventions. President Barack Obama’s (@BarackObama) acceptance speech at #DNC2012 set a new record for political moments on Twitter, with 52,756 Tweets per minute coming just after its conclusion.

The Democratic National Convention has driven an incredible amount of Twitter conversation since the very first day— through the close of the official proceedings, we have seen more than 9.5 million Tweets sent about the events in Charlotte. Just the final day of the convention delivered roughly 4 million Tweets— approximately equal to the total number from the entire Republican National Convention.

Many of today’s 4 million Tweets were sent during the President’s acceptance speech. @barackobama delivered a great collection of tweetable lines this evening, and Twitter responded accordingly. His five top peaks in Tweets per minute were actually all higher than any other moment for a speaker in either convention. The moments in his speech that elicited the biggest Twitter reactions were:

• 43,646: “I’m no longer just the candidate, I’m the President”
• 39,002: “I will never turn medicare into a voucher”
• 38,597: Discussing Medicare
• 37,694: “We don’t think government can solve all our problems…”
• 34,572: Quips about the Olympics and “Cold War mind warp”

Vice President Biden’s (@JoeBiden) speech also inspired a fair share of Tweets, peaking at 17,932 TPM. Another notable moment was former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (@GabbyGiffords) moving delivery of the Pledge of Allegiance, with 3,278 TPM— higher than any of the next three speakers who followed her.

In addition to the commentary from political pundits, the stars were out on Twitter tonight sharing their own views of the President’s performance:

Today alone, there were more than 4 million Tweets written specifically about the convention. For context, there were only 1.8 million total Tweets sent globally, about all topics on Election Day in 2008.

With the general election season officially begun, we’re looking forward to seeing how the conversation develops around the Presidential debates and the tireless stumping on the trail. We’ll be tracking it closely, noting the big moments and watching the candidates’ respective Twitter Political Index scores. With the conversation about the 2012 election happening on Twitter, the road to Election Day 2012 will be paved in Tweets.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS) 
Head of Government, News and Social Innovation