Posted by James Zhang. On November 26, 2018 at 2:52:59 p.m. (ET), NASA spacecraft Insight successfully landed on Mars. As a significant technological as well as scientific success, the public in the United States are passionate about this safe landing. Their curiosity into NASA’s new scientific exploratory journey on Mars is well-reflected through social media.…

Posted by Brandon Boatwright Wednesday was a big day on campus. Vols from all across the country and around the world came together to donate more than $2 million as part of the Big Orange Give. Every investment in the University of Tennessee, no matter the size, goes directly to helping improve the lives of…

Posted by Brandon Boatwright Last week was homecoming at UT Knoxville, and we had a blast celebrating with all current, former and future Vols on campus. A win over Charlotte didn’t hurt, either. We covered the anticipation for homecoming last week, and ran the final analysis on the Twitter conversation today showcasing all that you…

Posted by James Zhang November 6 was Election Day. People in the state of Tennessee came out and voted for their desired governmental officials and representatives. Republican Marsha Blackburn won Tennessee’s US Senate race, and Republican Bill Lee was elected as governor of the state. The following section provides an analysis of what the public…

Posted by Brandon Boatwright Homecoming 2018 is only a few days away, and we’re already seeing Vols from all over the country tweeting about the big day. Over the last seven days alone, we’ve seen nearly 500 posts about the upcoming weekend. Don’t forget to check out all of the festivities that will be happening…

Posted by James Zhang One week before the midterm election,  the immigration issue has been one of the hot-debated topics circulated on mainstream media, as a caravan of Central American migrants continues its journey north. This migrant crisis triggered a large volume of online discussion across different social media platforms within the U.S. Overall, over…

Posted by Leah Cannon Election Day in the US is November 6, but why wait that long? Some states offer early voting; here in Tennessee early voting started October 17 and goes through November 1. Early voting 🗳 already voted o pic.twitter.com/YunQQ3LJ2E — Jacqueline M Martin (@JacquiYoungL) October 25, 2018 Midterm elections are a pivotal…

Posted by Ying Xiong.  Over the past weekend, many people participated in Halloween-related activities, such as pumpkin carving, Halloween costume dressing, candy give-out, and other activities. A close examination of tweets from October 26 to October 28, 2018, found that 1.2 million tweets posted during the three-day period focusing on Halloween celebration and we found…

Posted by Ying Xiong. Robert Bowers, armed with multiple weapons, attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018, in the morning and resulted in 11 people dead. Over 1.3 million tweets discussed the shooting from October 27 to October 28. Among the top 20 frequently mentioned words, some tweets focused on…

Posted by Brandon Boatwright After several bombs were mailed to prominent politicians and public figures on Wednesday and Thursday, there have been multiple calls to soften the political discourse. Unfortunately, it appears some of those calls have gone unheralded on social media. A deeper dive into our analysis found tweets and other social media posts…