If you were one of the 16.2 million viewers that tuned into this week’s Monday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, or just someone who’s checked out your Twitter or Facebook account in the last day and a half, you’re probably well aware that something major happened. And rightfully so – the Seahawks were given the victory on what seemed to be an blatantly obvious bad call. Replays, photos, and videos all looked to show a Packers interception in the endzone, but Seattle was given the touchdown and, more importantly, the win. During a season when the permanent referees are on strike, the replacement referees are showing their inexperience as wrong calls are becoming an all too regular occurrence.
It’s no surprise that Twitter and Facebook blew up after the game as social media has become the preferred outlet of communication and frustration this NFL season for fans and players. Now dubbed “the most bizarre” finish to any NFL game, social media is still feeling the effects of the Monday Night Football debacle.
While Twitter and Facebook streams were bombarded with tweets and posts about the game, we knew we needed to take a look at just how many mentions were happening around these teams. With Viralheat’s social media monitoring and analytics functions, we looked at keywords surrounding the Packers and Seahawks.
Both teams saw a jump in mentions on Twitter and the real time web. After Monday night’s game, the Green Bay Packers mentions on the real-time web jumped an astounding 70% while both teams jumped 20% on Twitter.
