The 2012 Presidential election was the first one where social media played a large role in the media. From Twitter to Facebook to Instagram and Tumblr, voting and political beliefs were all over.
According to NBCnews.com, there were 31 million election related tweets on Tuesday night. That made it the most tweeted about event in US political history, passing the previous record held by the first Presidential debate on October 3, which had 10 million. Twitter was lit up with students’ opinions on anything from the presidential election to the Missouri Senate race to gay marriage and ballot measures in other states. All the major news stations had coverage and many people were attached to their TV to witness the election madness.
Glued to the tv tonight#cnn #election 2012 -Alyssa Guller, @bigGULLp
The school seemed pretty divided about who they wanted for President, whether they ocuyld vot or not.
Looks like the economy and women’s rights will survive for a few more years #Obama2012 -Zach Heiman, @BustaHEIMS
Not everyone was so happy Obama won though.
I don’t want to live in america anymore. #werealldead #youcanthavemymoneyobama -Erin Roepke, @EROE10
The Senate race in Missouri also brought on controversy and drama, but McCaskill ended up winning the hotly contested election.
McCaskill WINS!!! Missouri you have proven you have a somewhat of a brain -Jacob Kanter, @JacobKanter95
Even if Mitt Romney lost the election, Twitter seemed to respect how much work he had done throughout the election.
Just because Romney doesn’t agree w/ everything people believe in doesn’t make him a bad person, it’s hard to run for president #ShowRespect -Zach Prelutsky, @exZACHly_right1
Lets be honest, Romney didn’t win cause he’s a Mormon. Never let race OR religion get in the way of who you want to run your country -Tyler Musgrove, @tMUSTang
Outside of Missouri, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington had same sex marriage measures on their ballots, with Maine, Maryland, and Washington voting to allow same sex marriage and Minnesota voting whether to ban it or not.
As impartial as I’m trying to be, i want to say that gay marriage just took a tremendous step forward #EQUALMARRIAGE #loveislove -Joe Goldberg, @joldbergthe3rd
Can’t wait for the day my favorite cousin gets married!! #gaymarriage #obama #screwromney -Amanda Sherman, @AMANDAplease05
The famed Glen Coco, of the movie Mean Girls, was even parodied during election night.
2 terms for you obama, you go obama. and none for romney bye -Taylore Burke, @kittTAYcat
This election will now forever be remembered as the first election to embrace social media and its power to change the political landscape.
