The most awarded female artist in history, Whitney Houston was a larger than life legend whose death shook fans to the core as news of the tragedy spread like wildfire, clogging the Twitterverse and flooding Facebook with memories, tributes and prayers. It’s no surprise that social media channels streamed with these sentiments, but the sheer numbers are still staggering. What is notable is that it wasn’t until Sunday, the day after her death, that sharing across Facebook, Twitter and email spiked, with Facebook predictably leading the way. The likely explanation is that her death wasn’t until late in the afternoon – 4 p.m. PST Feb. 11 – and, despite several tweets alluding to her passing, the rumors weren’t confirmed until closer to 5 p.m. PST by the Associated Press.
Interestingly, Facebook saw more than three times as much sharing activity as Twitter, possibly because what was most likely being shared was videos of the iconic singer’s greatest hits. Oddly, sharing on Facebook and Twitter dropped to less than half peak levels by Monday but declined much more gradually on email. Perhaps that trend resulted from the start of the work week and people not having access to social media channels from their work computers, or trying to disguise their Whitney-related sharing as work.
Sharing around the late singer’s death also far outpaced the Grammy Awards, which took place Sunday, the evening after Houston’s death. As expected, sharing activity related to the awards show ramped up the day of the ceremony and spiked on Monday as viewers traded articles and video recaps. But still, this paled in comparison to the shares of stories and videos about Houston. Again, Facebook saw the most sharing activity, followed by Twitter and then email. Surprisingly, the Grammys only garnered a fraction of the attention of Houston, who was a fixture at the event in past years, often performing onstage herself or accepting one of the countless awards in her collection. Without a doubt, the overlap of content related to both Houston and the Grammys – Jennifer Hudson’s heart-rending performance of “I Will Always Love You” and various on-stage tributes – fueled sharing activity around both topics, but the explosion of Whitney-inspired sharing over the past few days is a true testament to the indelible mark she left on the world.
Whitney, we will always love you.
by, Tom Spano, Social Media Manager, ShareThis, Inc.
Andi Matthews, New York based Account Executive, is gearing up for the Boston Marathon this monday. While this isn’t Andi’s first marathon, she puts forth a great deal of compassion to support local charities. To find out more about Andi’s team and to make a donation, visit the Team Brigham page. Please join us in wishing her luck on monday! We are so proud of you Andi!
