The 88th Academy Awards and Social Media

Social media was a huge part of last night’s 88th Academy Awards.  The advocacy, humor, and of course, a few gaffes, made the night a unique success. Race and inclusion were virtually co-hosts of the night as
comedian Chris Rock challenged Hollywood for claiming to be progressive but failing to make movies more representative of an increasingly diverse America.  Many of the jokes during the night focused on the #OscarsSoWhite issue. Awkwardly though, Chris Rock shocked everyone by bringing out actress Stacey Dash as the “director of diversity outreach.” Dash had recently criticized the #OscarsSoWhite movement as well as Black History Month, and her appearance drew few laughs from the audience.

Commenting on celebrity red carpet looks, the company Total Beauty, confused comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg, with media mogul Oprah Winfrey. Total Beauty tweeted a picture of Goldberg on the red carpet with her tattooed shoulder on display, along with the caption: “We had no idea @Oprah was #tatted, and we love it…”  Total Beauty’s response was not as swift as their social media backlash: the tweet stayed up for nearly an hour before someone removed it.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s winning moment was the most-talked-about on Facebook and Twitter, while Lady Gaga had two of the most-liked Instagram photos of the night.

After being nominated six times, Leonardo DiCaprio won for his work in The Revenant, resulting in 440,000 tweets a minute: the most tweeted moment in Academy Award history.  According to Facebook, DiCaprio winning a golden statuette was the most-talked about Academy Award moment on its platform.  DiCaprio also called attention to an environmental theme in reminding viewers of the dangers of climate change.

Vice-President Joe Biden’s moving speech pleaded with viewers to “change the culture” regarding sexual assault and Lady Gaga’s performance—featuring a stage full of sexual assault victims—was one of the night’s most talked-about moments on social media.

As MtoM Consulting’s CEO Christine Wilson notes, “The activism demonstrated in the 2016 Academy Awards, reflects how social media is no longer a forum reacting to television or other conventional media; rather, it is now steering the conversation.”  Find out more about social media trends here: https://mtomconsulting.com/social-trends-download.