The Galway Advertiser’s online coverage of the twists and turns of both Galway constituencies this week was viewed more than a million times in three days, according to data published last evening by Facebook.
With The Advertiser covering the counts from their commencement last Saturday morning to their conclusion yesterday morning, it has been confirmed that the number of times that people viewed a news feed story posted by the Advertiser team on Facebook exceeded 1,076,314 over the course of the counts.
The Advertiser’s Declan Varley, Kernan Andrews and Martina Nee posted more than 1,200 updates over five days to the vast audience, with the content comprising election updates, election gossip, humorous videos and chat forums which proved a major hit with followers.
While the traditional print and broadcast media were prominent in the coverage of the election, it was the arrival of Twitter, Facebook and bloggers which spread the news of the counts across the globe, with keen followers using the service to ask questions of the journalists, politicians and officials with unprecedented accessibility.
Videos were posted to keep viewers amused ranging from the “You can’t handle the truth” scene from A Few Good Men when Sen Healy Eames was considering a recount, to various videos from The Count of Sesame Street fame who made several appearances online over the marathon count. Other features included Lipstick Cam — a mythical device used to determine when the Returning Officer would make an announcement.
Results and speculation were updated within seconds from the two count centres and followers of the coverage even set up their own Facebook page to discuss the content.the coverage. www.facebook.com/galwayadvertiser is the largest media Facebook site constantly being updated with news and video in the city and county. To join in the conversation, log in and press the Like button.
