Behind The Awards: The 88th Academy Awards

Behind The Awards: The 88th Academy Awards
At a glance A deep dive into the social media buzz surrounding the 88th Academy Awards. Discover trends, top conversations, and how stars like Leo and Jennifer Lawrence dominated the chat.
Surrounding the Oscars this year, over 16M tweets were garnered, as well as 312k photos. Naturally, the conversation peaked at 11-12pm EST with 2.8M tweets as the final awards were presented. And those final awards followed an interesting trend. Since we set up the topic 88% of all Best Actor chat was about Leo. Was the destination of the statuette ever in doubt? But before the big night, 86% of Best Actress chat was about Jennifer Lawrence. So if social media is anything to go by, it could easily have gone wrong for Leo again! America's sweetheart keeps capturing attention. Before the big night The Big Short was leading the social media pack with Spotlight in second till award night! Overall, Spotlight ended with 46&, The Revenant with 20% and the Room with 15% of the conversation. On the director front, Mad Max's George Miller garnered 39% of the conversation and Spotlight's Tom McCarthy at 30%. Even after the awards, Jennifer Lawrence continued to dominate the conversation at 51%. But Best Actress winner Brie Larson came in close second with 23%. Cate Blanchett (17%) and Saoirse Ronan (6%) were other major winners. On the actor front, Leo was all anyone talked about. Garnering 85% of the conversation, the question of whether this was finally his year was on everyone's mind. Eddie Redmayne (10%) and Matt Damon (3%) were also popular.

A photo posted by Amber Rose (@amberrose) on

Outside the awards, Lady Gaga was a big hit, bringing an emotional performance from The Hunting Ground. Joe Biden also trended (who seemed to confuse everyone as to why he was there) with his intro and advocacy for ending rape culture. And while Chris Rock addressed the elephant in the room, #OscarsSoWhite kept trending. The Academy was hit hard socially for the lack of diversity -- and the online dialogue showed it. But will it be enough to push the Academy to address the issue over the next year?

Nicky Yates Published on March 1, 2016 3:31 pm

Frequently Asked QuestionsFAQs

How many tweets were posted about the 88th Academy Awards?

Over 16 million tweets were posted about the 88th Academy Awards. The conversation peaked between 11-12pm EST with 2.8 million tweets as the final awards were presented.

Did Leonardo DiCaprio dominate social media conversation before winning his Oscar?

Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio dominated the Best Actor conversation with 88% of all social media chat since the topic was set up. He continued to garner 85% of actor-related conversation even after the awards ceremony.

What was the #OscarsSoWhite controversy about at the 2016 Oscars?

#OscarsSoWhite was a trending hashtag criticizing the Academy Awards for lack of diversity in nominations. Chris Rock addressed this issue during the ceremony, but the online dialogue showed the Academy was hit hard socially for the diversity problem.

Which movie led social media conversation for Best Picture before the 2016 Oscars?

The Big Short was leading social media conversation before the ceremony, with Spotlight in second place. However, by the end of the night, Spotlight dominated with 46% of the conversation, followed by The Revenant at 20%.

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