The first week of 2021 can best be described as a roller coaster ride. Many of us had high hopes for the New Year, especially after the craziness we experienced in 2020. But, just six days into 2021 political and social unrest was at its highest. On Jan 6, 2021, Congress gathered at the United States Capitol to count the electoral votes, confirming Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. But as the official proceedings were starting, Trump supporters marched to the Capitol in an attempt to stop the confirmation. The violence that unfolded soon after was disturbing and shook the nation. BrandGraph, IZEA’s social intelligence platform, recorded a spike in social media content and engagement for Donald Trump as people across the world reacted to the chaos committed in support of Trump’s claims of a stolen election.
Also trending this week on BrandGraph were brands like Alibaba and SpaceX. BrandGraph tacks and records the performance of these brands across social media platforms. See what got these brands trending by taking a closer look at the Top Trending Brands for this week:
Trending Brands for the Week of January 4, 2021
- Donald Trump
- Alibaba
- GRAMMY Awards
- SpaceX
- US Republican Party
On Jan 6, 2021, President Donald Trump spoke to an audience of his supporters at the “Save America March” in D.C. At the event, he and his supporters continued to make false claims against the 2020 Elections. The “Save America March” was the last effort to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden as President of the United States. Trump encouraged the audience to “fight like hell” to “take back our country”. Following his orders, the MAGA mob stormed the United States Capitol. The rioters vandalized and ransacked the Capitol; some of the participants were even wearing anti-Semitic apparel. Over 50 people were seriously injured and 5 people died as a result of the riot. Trump trends on social media as people around the world urge the government to remove him from office for inciting the violence.
Top Content for Donald Trump
Tech and e-commerce company Alibaba is trending on social media with claims that their founder is allegedly missing. Ja Ma, the Chinese Billionaire, is Alibaba’s founder and former CEO. Many are concerned for Ma since he hasn’t made a public appearance for two months. Social media users speculated that Ma’s disappearance has something to do with his statements criticizing the Communist Party government. Ma’s outspokenness resulted in an anti-monopoly probe on Alibaba in Nov 2020. Some believe that Ma is not in danger or missing but just laying-low.
Top Content for Alibaba
The Recording Academy’s GRAMMY Awards, which are hosted in Los Angeles, California, is trending on social media and BrandGraph. The GRAMMY’s, dubbed the biggest night in music, was scheduled for Jan 31, 2021. However, the award ceremony was pushed to Mar 14, 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Los Angeles is a corona-hot-spot. The number of COVID cases is raising and hospitals are reaching capacity. The Recording Academy thought it best to postpone the ceremony rather than contribute to the ongoing COVID situation. Social media users and music lovers are praising the Academy for their choice.
Top Content for the GRAMMY Awards
Elon Musk, CEO and founder of SpaceX, was named the richest person in the world on Jan 6, 2021. SpaceX trends on social media as people react to the achievement of the company’s founder. The announcement was met with mixed reviews. Some argue this is a major accomplishment and congratulated Musk on his wealth. While others feel it’s inappropriate for one person to be so wealthy when millions are impoverished. Musk is approximately worth just under $200B, his net worth fluctuates depending on how the stock market is performing.
Top Content for SpaceX
The United States Republican Party trends on social media and BrandGraph after losing control of the Senate. On Jan 5, 2021, Georgia held special run-off elections for two Senate seats. The GOP hoped to keep both seats to maintain their majority. However, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeated their Republican opponents. Since the Senate is split, the Vice-President (Kamala Harris) will make the tie-breaking vote giving Democrats control of the Senate. Many credit Stacey Abrams for helping the Democrats win in Georgia since she facilitated voter turnout and fought against voter suppression.
Top Content for the US Republican Party
BrandGraph Trends is designed to help marketers identify, compare, and contrast momentum among brands, topics, and concepts in social media. Powered by IZEA’s proprietary content classification engine, BrandGraph Trends allows marketers to benchmark any keyword against a brand or groups of brands in a general industry or specific category.
Those interested in learning more about BrandGraph Trends can request a product demonstration at izea.com/brandgraph/get-a-demo
