The response on Twitter to George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin was almost equally divided between sharing news about the verdict and weighing in on it. And among those offering opinions about the outcome, their conclusion was very different from the jurors’.
According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of nearly 5 million tweets about the case in the first 26 hours after the verdict, 39% of the statements on Twitter shared news without any opinion. That demonstrates the degree to which the social media platform functions as a vehicle for disseminating breaking news by both citizens and news organizations.
But of the 38% of the statements offering clear views about the result, those expressing anger or opposition to the verdict (31%) outnumbered those in support of the acquittal (7%) by more than 4:1.
For determining the tone of the conversation on Twitter, Pew Research employed methods that combine Pew’s content analysis rules with computer coding software developed by Crimson Hexagon. Crimson Hexagon identifies statistical patterns in words used on Twitter and includes all public Twitter posts.
The sentiments decrying the verdict were often emotional and frequently evoked a racial subtext, according to an analysis of the Twitter response to the trial outcome from 10 p.m. July 13 to midnight on July 14. Among that group, the largest component (15% of the Twitter reaction ) was criticism of the criminal justice system, including charges that it is biased against African Americans. Another 14% accused Zimmerman of wrong-doing, such as deliberately profiling Martin. And 2% spoke of Trayvon Martin as an innocent victim.
The next highest level of attention (11%) was devoted to the media’s role in the case—an issue highlighted by Zimmerman attorney Mark O’Mara’s public condemnation of the press after the verdict. The level of Twitter engagement in the case spiked dramatically after the verdict. The nearly 5 million tweets (4.9 million) in the first 26 hours after the verdict virtually equaled the total volume of tweets (5.1 million) about the case posted during the entirety of the 33-day trial. By way of comparison, there were 4.7 million tweets alone on July 14 in contrast with an average of about 151,000 tweets each day during the trial.
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