could represent superiority or strength. However, in the case of Eric Adams, shushing opposition during debates with his infant grandson amplified in the background powered a widespread and swift social media reaction.
Adams, borough president of Brooklyn and Democratic nominee for mayor, shushed the baby and then continued to speak during a debate with Andrew Yang at the end of January, urban media reported. This sent numerous social media users jumping to criticism, providing online memes, articles, and videos encouraging voters to vote for his competitor Yang.
The shushing video clip from television went viral across Twitter, TikTok, eight national news outlets including NBC and CBS, as well as in publications over New York City. Adams later told The New York Times that he was shushing his grandson because of the baby’s colic, which led the grandfather to explain its “disrespectful behavior” that was disturbing the televised debate. However, Loretta Lynch, who formerly served as U.S. attorney general, reminded Adams that his “personification” of virility by “shushing the opposition” signified an embarrassing nationwide and international image of masculinity.
While the incident may be considered slight when compared to major scandals that occurred abroad such as impeachment hearings in the United Kingdom and violations of civic rights in Hong Kong, social media attributed critical and admiring public attention to Yang on the day of the incident which gave him a surge in Twitter mentions. Following the moment that Adams shushed his grandson with junior Yang also playing in the background, the public received a record “memewave” with the event viewed 418 million times on Facebook, more than 200,000 times on Twitter, and shared on Reddit and TikTok as well as in New York City and New Jersey.
In terms of impressions, the event generated up to 325 million—a political “monsoon,” according to CBS News Insight. In comparison for public attention, the debate moment of shushing significantly surpassed traditional centralized media, such as The New York Times, which currently receives 165 million impressions.
According to analysis by the New York Times’s CrowdTangle tool, which monitors online activity, not only did the event surpass most of the campaigns of front-runners including Mayor Bill de Blasio and Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, but Yang’s “digital tactics have slowed their growing campaign’s gains online,” the article reports.
As social media impact metrics demonstrate proven social media advantages for one candidate in the race, The New York Times analysis of political science research reveals Andrew Yang “shattering expectations” in fundraising and political coverage. This momentum, which was initiated following his alien convention speech at last year’s Comic Con, is currently a trend expected to continue as Yang quickly becomes the five boroughs’ top contender for the upcoming mayorship election set for Tuesday, June 22.
Correction: May 11, 2019, 8:29 a.m.
An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the adviser and former suddenly conservative mainstay Austin Shafran.
Adams, who will eventually likely join the roster of mayoral candidates following Andrew Yang’s lead for the use of social media and progressive policies, access to his grandson shows his close relationships with younger generations within the burrow and throughout the city of New York, reaching a world around 80 million media impressions from the current second-most competitive mayoral contest in the nation.
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