Once again, we analyzed millions of data points from real-time conversations across leading social platforms and thousands of websites to discover what was trending over the course of the past week. Last week rolled in with more March Madness and sped out with the car of the future. Hotels, hijacks, iPhones and even zombies were also hot trends throughout the week of March 28th to April 1st.
 
 

 
 

Final Four (peaked on 3/28) Last Monday, the Internet was buzzing over the Final Four teams including Syracuse and Richardson who won their games the day before. This trending topic was most popular with men in all age groups. We did, however, see the highest affinity among 35 to 44 year-olds and sentiment for all demographics was overwhelmingly positive.

 

The Walking Dead (peaked on 3/28) Fans of AMC’s The Walking Dead anxiously await the show’s season 6 finale episode, which will air on April 3rd. After news that one of the show’s popular characters could get killed off, fans said “If Daryl dies, we riot.” This trending topic was most popular among females.

 

FBI Unlocks San Bernardino iPhone (peaked on 3/29) The FBI dropped its court case against Apple after figuring out how to break into the San Bernardino gunman’s iPhone. 65% of the people interested in this topic were males and the 55+ age group had the highest affinity for this trend. Sentiment skewed negative across all demographics.

 

Marriott’s Starwood Bid (peaked on 3/29) On Monday morning, Starwood said Anbang trumped a proposed cash and stock takeover by Marriott for a second time, once again opening up the hotel giant’s sale process. People of all ages were interested in this trending topic, although there was a female skew among those talking about this trend online. Sentiment around this trend was controversial, likely due to the lingering uncertainty for Starwood customers, especially members of its popular loyalty program.

 

Egyptair Hijacking (peaked on 3/30) A hijacking of an EgyptAir Airbus A320 heading to Cairo diverted the plane to Cyprus. The incident has been trending since it was first reported on March 29th but there was a spike in interest when EgyptAir issued a statement on the 30th. The incident ended with the hijacker’s surrender and no injuries to the passengers or crew. Level of interest was evenly distributed across all age groups with 65% of the audience being male.

 

Tesla Unveils the Model 3 (Peaked on 4/1) On March 31st, Tesla introduced the world to its new, more affordable take on the electric car and we saw buzz for this trend peak the following day. This topic was of most interest to people over the age of 35, with 63% of the audience being male. Sentiment surrounding this latest announcement was positive for all demographics.