The first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was definitely one for the books. Not only was it the most watched in the history of US presidential debates (well over 80 million tuned in), it was also the most entertaining. It was hard not to notice your social media streams filling up with posts, feedback and comments from celebrities, the media and many of your friends and family regarding the 90-minute session. Because of this information overload, it was hard not be to be swayed in one way or the other.
Here are some pointers for watching the next presidential debate on October 9th at 9 p.m. ET.
- Follow the action on Twitter. To-date, live tweeting is one of the best social media resources we have to connect a community participating or watching something simultaneously and it was definitely used to it’s full potential during the tense debate on Monday. The trending hashtag #debatenight popped up more than 5.7 million times in 24 hours (via CNN) with memes, GIFS and quick wit from celebrities and brands jumping in on the fun. Merriam-Webster found a way to get involved by reporting what words were trending in their search bar.
Both Hillary and Donald’s communication teams were live tweeting throughout the entire night and with everyone involved, it became one giant Twitter party.
- Follow along with NPR’s Fact Checker.“NPR’s politics team, with help from reporters and editors who cover national security, immigration, business, foreign policy and more, live annotated the debate.” (via NPR) I discovered this existed on Twitter and found it to be a great resource to stay informed on the facts while the two candidates went head to head.
- Avoid participating on politically skewed Facebook posts, it’s better to sit back and observe. You can get yourself into a deep, dark hole if you start reading and commenting with people, not to mention have hundreds of Facebook notifications pop up as a result of your engagement.
- Take advantage of Snapchat’s filters and use them on the candidates. This one is just for fun, but very entertaining. CBS reports one viewer tweeting: “If you didn’t watch the debate and put a Snapchat filter on either of the candidates, are you even an American?” Me: agreed 😉
