Social Media's Twitter Makes History on Election Day
Election Day on Twitter became the most tweeted about event in U.S. political history with 20 million tweets. By late Tuesday evening, Twitter announced that there was a spike of 327,453 tweets per minute when TV news networks declared that President Barack Obama had been re-elected shortly after 11 p.m. EST.
Even though Twitter traffic was expected to be high, no one really knew how the popular social media bird would handle the volume that was double the previous high water mark of 10 million tweets during the first of three presidential debates.
In the early evening, when election results first started to roll in, Jay Kranda, pastor of Saddleback Church's online campus, tweeted from somewhere in Southern California: "States are already being called. Its going to get interesting. I hope Twitter breaks. #election2012."
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Mashable, online community's go-to site for social media news, reported that Barack Obama's celebratory messages on Twitter and Facebook quickly went viral, "garnering hundreds of thousands of likes, shares and retweets in short order."
Twitter's account (@gov) that monitored the election season stated that one of Obama's three tweets immediately following his victory promptly became his most retweeted ever. The tweet which included a link to a photo of the president embracing Michelle Obama reached 267,410 re-tweets and counting simply stated, "Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom."
Mashable stated that by comparison, Justin Bieber's retweet record was 200,000 and took several days.
The same photo on Facebook had more than 857,000 likes and 120,000 shares in a little more than 30 minutes since it was posted, according to Mashable.
Christian leaders who are active on Twitter took the opportunity to voice their opinions as well.
"Obama reelected. For those shocked this wasn't a Romney landslide, I'd broaden your news viewing beyond @foxnews." – Ed Stetzer, expert in missiology and vice president of Research and Ministry Development for LifeWay Christian Resources
Stetzer also tweeted a link to his blog post, "The People Have Spoken – What Should Christians Do Now? link"
One of the Baldwin brothers, Stephen, pointed to Scripture and tweeted: "2nite Gods Spirit lifted within me&joy came over me, I will serve the Lord, my hope is in Jesus not Obama, Gods wrath is upon US. 2Thes2:11."
Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, who has 775,155 followers on Twitter, chimed in early on Election Day with his tweets: "Our hope is not in the man we put in the White House but in the Man we put on the Cross." And "Regardless of who wins the election, keep your focus on Jesus: 'My kingdom is not of this world' John 18:36."
