Go ahead, take my day: Clint Eastwood takes over the narrative

Before the Republican National Convention, many media reports considered the likelihood of Twitter taking the convention “off script.” I wrote that it would take a high profile or influential person [on Twitter] or a rush of lower profile, less influential people [on Twitter] to have a noticeable impact.

I was right and wrong. It actually took a combination of factors: a high profile/influential person on stage and a rush of all levels of status and influence on Twitter. In the end, the volume of chatter about Clint Eastwood challenged that of the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

Where Mitt Romney really lost out was in the day after the convention. He and his big speech should have been the topic of conversation. Instead, Clint Eastwood’s performance took over the narrative.

The graph that follows includes mentions on news media sites, blogs, forums and Twitter. When considering the volume of traffic on August 30, remember Clint Eastwood only became part of the conversation during the final two hours of August 30 while Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the RNC were part of the discourse for the entire day.