I decided to dig into the UniteTheRight hashtag associated with the Charlottesville white nationalist rally. #TrumpRussia #MAGA #AltWankers
I downloaded all of the tweets containing the hashtag as of 11:35 EST 8/12 (Saturday). 143925 tweets going back to 8/3.
I looked at the spread of the hashtag by plotting the network of replies and RTs containing the UniteTheRight hashtag each day.
Here's the first day (8/3). Bigger bubble=more RTs/replies containing the hashtag. AmRenaissance seems to be # UniteTheRight's birthplace.
8/4 - Volume roughly doubles. Event organizer Jason Kessler (TheMadDimension) appears. Some minor alt-right accounts show up. #AltWankers
8/5 - Kessler (TheMadDimension) is more prominent. Baked Alaska and Richard Spencer appear for the first time.
8/6 - Not much activity from Kessler. LagBeachAntifa appears for the first time and is present going forward in # UniteTheRight discussion.
8/7 - Volume roughly triples. Kessler (TheMadDimension) is main influence; other known alt-right accounts like CassandraRules show up.
8/8 - First mainstream media account to pick up on the UniteTheRight hashtag appears here - MattTalhelm, an NBC reporter.
8/9 - Opponents of the white nationalist # UniteTheRight rally start noticing and tweeting - ADL_National is a large node here.
8/10 - Volume doubles (at least), largely due to the sudden appearance of polNewsForever, which expands the # UniteTheRight audience.
8/11 - Nighttime torch rally. Drastic volume increase. RealAlexRubi (Alex Rubenstein - reporter for RT/Russia Today) is the largest node.
Two things about Rubenstein's language: 1:, he avoids "white nationalist"/"white supremacist" (uses on his TL are all retweets).
Second, he frequently describes the counterprotestors as "antifa". I'm used to seeing that label from the alt-right, but not from reporters.
8/12 - Day of attack. Drastic increase in volume. #TheResistance discussion registers strongly - @AynRandPaulRyan and @RVAWonk appear.
8/12 (continued) - Note that once again that Russia Today reporter Alex Rubenstein (RealAlexRubi) is one of the major originators.
That's all on the topic for now - I believe there's some food for thought here, particularly at the end. #TrumpRussia #MAGA
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