Is Snapchat the New Political Platform?

Every year during election season, we see new trends creeping in that link political campaigns with social media.  We are already getting a sense of what those trends are going to be for the 2016 Presidential election.  So far, all signs point to Snapchat.

Snapchat!?  If you are like me, this is kinda shocking news. Snapchat was originally labeled as a teen and tween sexting app.  Definitely not something that political hopefuls would use to promote themselves.  

But times are a-changin'.  And so is Snapchat.  Earlier this year, Snapchat unveiled "Discover", its news functionality.  Ever since, it has been establishing increased credibility.  So much so that Republican Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush used Snapchat to announce his intentions to run for President!

That's right!  He ANNOUNCED this on Snapchat!  And others are jumping on this bandwagon, most likely to connect with the younger demographic, age 18-34, who make up the majority of Snapchat users.  Governor Rick Perry has made announcements through Snapchat and many others including Senator Rand Paul, Senator Marco Rubio, and Governor Perry have active Snapchat accounts.  In case you are curious, their account names are SenatorRandPaul, MarcoRubio2016 and GovernorPerry, respectively.  

Do you think the Snapchat strategy is wise for political hopefuls?  

It Was A Super Social Super Bowl!

The Patriots might have been named champions last night, but the Super Bowl itself also won a prize.  Namely, the "most tweeted Superbowl ever".  

With 28.4 million tweets, almost 20% more than last year's game, Super Bowl XLIX was a huge social media success.  

The game's three most tweeted moments were stacked toward the second half: 

3) The end of Katy Perry's halftime show (284,000 tweets per minute)

2) The moment the Patriots finally won the game (379,000 tweets per minute)

1) Malcolm Butler's interception, 20 seconds before the game ended (395 tweets per minute)

But, as we know, the Twittersphere doesn't end at the game itself.  Super Bowl commercials are a huge deal in the social media world.  In fact, almost half of the 66 TV advertisements that aired during the game incorporated a specific hashtag for viewers to tweet promoting the spot or the brand.  Facebook and Snapchat took home a piece of that action too, both being mentioned in commercials including the "Pitch Perfect 2" movie spot, which was Snapchat's Super Bowl debut.  

How do you think the brands did?  What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?