The Twitter feeds of conservative and liberal activists looked pretty different this year—often because they were busy complaining about each other.
Echelon Insights has a fantastic breakdown of what news dominated Twitter in 2014. They feature a week by week list of the top topic for all Twitter, then separate that into the top topics for “political insiders,” conservative activists, and liberal activists.
As you might expect, the political activists spent a good deal of their time pointing out “scandals” from the other side. In January, for example, conservatives were mostly talking about Benghazi. Over the same period of time, liberals focused on Chris Christie and “bridge-gate.” In July, conservatives talked immigration while liberals fretted over Hobby Lobby.
In March and April, guns dominated the conservative sphere, while liberals talked up Obamacare. In October, conservatives—and Twitter overall—zeroed in on the Ebola scare, while liberals spent more time tweeting about the midterms.
There were some points of agreement. In September, everyone’s eyes fell on Iraq. In July, both sides tweeted a lot about Israel. And in May, liberals got in on the Benghazi action too.
When it comes to most talked-about stories for the whole year, for conservatives, guns and Iraq top the list. For liberals–and all Twitter–it’s Ferguson/Eric Garner and the midterms. Obamacare came in third for both, but fourth place was occupied by Benghazi and Iraq, respectively.
Although marijuana was in the top ten topics for both Twitter overall and liberal Twitter, it didn’t crack top ten for conservatives. Benghazi was conservatives’ fourth-most-popular story, while it appears on no other group’s top ten.
The most-talked-about politicians were also telling: for conservatives it was Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but for liberals Barack Obama and Jeb Bush. Keep your friends close and your enemies more tweeted about–or something.
Check out the full “Year in News” here.
