While "Jets" was number one, all of the other topics concerned the Golden Globes, with the number topic two being "golden," and number three "goldenglobes." And that was for starters.
(In terms of meaning, "top topics" refers to how long a topic stayed on the Top Twitter Trends board. For example, "Jets" was up for 18 hours and Golden was up for 34 hours.)
The dominate topics related to The Golden Globes and a specific TV or movie were for The Social Network, and for Glee, which were the only award winners to show up among the top Twitter topics in various combinations.
What all of this means is The Golden Globes was watched by an audience that was engaged enough to go to Twitter and tweet.
It also means that the Twitter Demographic fits with the same one that is drawn to the shows The Golden Globes is featuring for awards. The median age of the Twitter user is 31 years old. The dominate demographic that watches Glee is between 18 and 34 years old. That means Glee fans are more likely to tweet, and to watch the Golden Globes to see if their favorite shows won.
But does this mean the Golden Globes was a TV ratings draw? It's hard to find a definitive study, but my own anecdotal evidence reveals that when a TV show dominates Twitter topics in multiple categories for a day, that does translate into good ratings for that TV show. Remember, the rule is "multiple topic categories" and not just one topic name.
According to Mashable's Jolie O'Dell, great TV ratings don't equal great online / Twitter exchanges, but what the article's data reveals, but O'Dell does not, is that reality-based TV shows, where the audience renders an opinion on how contestants did, have a much better rate of online / Twitter exchanges. The Golden Globes falls into that category.
With that, it's fair to say this Golden Globes show's going to score well over 20 million viewers. My prediction is that the 2011 version will set a record for TV viewers. That's based on the observation that the Golden Globes all but took over Twitter for all of the evening. When that happens, you've got a ratings hit.
But what about the Twitter Tweets? When they were good, they were classic. Here's a sample:
EsqWearsPrada: Angelina Jolie carrying on the green dress trend. I really think no one does long sleeves like she does #goldenglobes
laurhilary: #carsondaly asks why #justinbieber is at #goldenglobes. well actually, carson, the same could be asked of you. #gg
HyunJoongie: Golden Globe Awards now!! - SO I’M EXPECTING INCEPTION TO WIN A LOT. lolol THAT MOVIE IS JUST GENIUS. I’m... http://tumblr.com/xmz1a2rsl7
RRice27927: RT @USATODAY: Christian Bale grabs Golden Globe for 'The Fighter' http://usat.ly/fJr1bl
emanuelflores: RT @goldenglobes: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical - Paul Giamatti - Barney's Version #GoldenGlobes
andyandyfleming: You guys, this bit where Matt Damon is pretending to not know who Robert Deniro is is KILLING! #goldenglobes
Touwe: RT @100WordsorLess: Robert DeNiro was forced to start his own applause. #po#pooraudienceparticipation #GoldenGlobes #GG