May Portal Trend Snapshot
Here’s the latest buzz.
Sky high
This month saw an event that united the globe, and – for once – it wasn’t sports-related. The sky lit up, filling with gorgeous greens, pinks, purples, and reds. That’s because the Northern Lights were visible around the world, thanks to historic levels of solar flares, which caused (very pretty) geomagnetic storm activity in many of our skies.
If you didn’t see it, you’ve probably seen the pictures on social media – and you’ve almost definitely discussed it, because the portal reflected incredible conversation growth around the subject.
The term ‘Aurora’ was up by an astonishing 3510%, with ‘solar flare’ up 1813%. Other terms also made an impact, with ‘light pollution’ up by 716%, ‘magnetic field’ up by 632%, and ‘night sky’ up by 260%. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also got a big bump – rising 874%.
Return of the Ring
If the night sky looked like something out of a fantasy movie this month, it felt appropriate – as we also saw some significant news for Lord of the Rings fans.
It was announced that a spin-off movie, centered around Gollum, is in the works – news that saw conversation around the franchise rise by 378.71%. Andy Serkis, who played the character in the original films, is attached to direct, and discussions around the actor/director rose by 328%.
But perhaps Peter Jackson could still be convinced to return to the series in some form – discussion around the original director was slightly higher, rising by 395%.
Rap battle
Speaking of getting in the ring, one of the biggest pop culture moments of the last few weeks came in the form of an epic rap battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, with the general consensus being Kendrick won by a knockout. But, in the world of online chatter, it’s a different story.
Our custom model comparing the two artists showed that, while talk around Drake is mostly neutral, discussion of Kendrick was surprisingly negative, a trend that probably comes from the fact Drake has a larger fanbase.
However, Kendrick definitely experienced more growth from the battle (with conversation around the artist rising 57%, compared to Drake’s 18%) – so maybe we can call this one a score draw.
