Over the past year, we’ve provided extensive coverage of the controversy surrounding the death of Michael Brown, the grand jury’s decision to not indict Darren Wilson, and the ensuing fallout, riots, and protests that wracked cities all across America. What started out as a local controversy turned into a national discussion, which subsequently morphed into a national protest and social media movement that endures even as 2014 comes to a close.
It’s official: “#Ferguson” was the most tweeted news story of 2014.
Via Mediaite:
Digital research firm Echelon Insights has put together an infographic that charts the year in news as seen through 185 million Twitter mentions. And between the initial protests that followed Brown’s death and the grand jury decision months later that cleared Officer Wilson of any charges, #Ferguson was far and away the most talked-about event of the year:
Midterm Election Day created the second-biggest spike, followed by the State of the Union and the Donald Sterling L.A. Clippers controversy.The firm also broke down Twitter mention by political leaning and found that while conservatives had more to say about Benghazi, guns, Iraq and Ebola, liberals were more likely to talk about Chris Christie, Obamacare, Ferguson/Eric Garner and the midterm elections. But regardless of political persuasion, the most-talked about politician for both sides, by far, was President Barack Obama.
The Ferguson Grand Jury decision didn’t just win—it won by a mile, and I think that’s a testament to how race-obsessed Americans were forced to become this year. I say “forced to become” because I don’t believe that “#Ferguson” rose organically as a movement on its own merits. We already know that the professional race hustlers did everything they could to encourage and incite an “us vs. them” mentality within the black community, Occupy got involved on nearly every level of organization, and that the Palestinian BDS movement glommed on to the Ferguson and anti-police protests across the country; I’m confident that more will be revealed regarding the who and what behind the movement that captivated my Twitter timeline for almost 5 months.
A manufactured movement it may be, but it is a movement nonetheless.
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