Tweets of the Week: Sharks Take Over Twitter

This week, the Twittersphere buzzed with Ramadan blessings and shark-mania.

More than 8.4 billion impressions around #Ramadan were generated on Twitter as the 30-day festival came to a close on July 17. This heat map shows Twitter engagement for the topic over the Ramadan period.

Twitter was a favored channel for brands and celebrities alike to send best wishes during Ramadan, with U.S. president Barack Obama gaining thousands of retweets with this message:

“From my family to yours, Eid Mubarak!” —President Obama

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 17, 2015

Brands in Indonesia, one of world’s largest Muslim countries, celebrated the month by sharing Ramadan-related content, much of it around forgiveness and togetherness such as this Coca-Cola Tweet.

Semarakan momen bermaafan dengan COCA-COLA. #MeriahBersama pic.twitter.com/9W3Q7qtTVP

— Coca-Cola Indonesia (@CocaCola_ID) July 17, 2015

Korean-Japanese messaging app Line – which is aggressively pursuing markets in Southeast Asia – sent this Tweet from its Line Indonesia account, showing popular sticker characters Cony and Brown, who often fight, in an act of reconciliation.

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1436 H :) pic.twitter.com/ZqTakGiFtg

— LINE Indonesia (@indo_line) July 17, 2015

Manchester United didn’t miss a chance to wish Muslims a Happy Eid, attracting more than 25,000 retweets and 10,000 favorites for this post:

Happy Eid! May every year find you in good health. #EidMubarak pic.twitter.com/YilqANLwcG

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 16, 2015

While KFC Indonesia kept it all about family.

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1436 H, Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Batin pic.twitter.com/l31pHuFBFJ

— KFC Jagonya Ayam! (@KFCINDONESIA) July 16, 2015

Surfer Mick Fanning’s close call with death started the week rolling with Twitter’s obsession with sharks.

#MickFanning and #Sharkattack started trending within minutes of live video showing the surfer fending off a shark during a surfing competition in South Africa.

But brands were slow and wary about how to capitalize on an event that could have ended disastrously for the surfer.

National Geographic offered up an educational Tweet, capitalizing off peak audience interest in shark attacks.

How to thwart a shark attacks? This surfer did “everything right:” http://t.co/mYymGqr30S

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) July 21, 2015

Red Bull, Fanning’s official sponsor, and a big endorser of surfing in general, posted a number of Tweets around the attack but came under fire by the Australian press for being opportunistic after promoting Red Bull cans and logos during a media conference.

“I punched it a couple of times” – @Mick_Fanning , Shark Fighter.http://t.co/NVhROf0i3E pic.twitter.com/5W463GqOQs

— Red Bull (@redbull) July 20, 2015

Online fashion and beauty retailer Asos hoped to appeal to its female fans with a Tweet celebrating fellow surfer Julian Wilson’s heroic rush to Fanning’s side.

He tried to help his mate #MickFanning during the shark attack and, for that, @julian_wilson is our hero #MCMpic.twitter.com/wGlh7sYRmQ

— ASOS (@ASOS) July 20, 2015

Pro surfer @Mick_Fanning is the luckiest man alive today after surviving a #sharkattack: http://t.co/ue6Uq98bWg pic.twitter.com/tDolH1aKCi

— AAMI Insurance (@AAMI) July 20, 2015

Backed by engaging content from the Sharknado Twitter account, combined with enthusiastic Tweets from the movie’s stars, #sharknado3 topped the twittersphere during its movie premier on July 22.

No words were needed, as gifs and short videos lent themselves perfectly to the stream of ridiculous shark related visuals being generated by the movie.

Stand beside the ‘Nado, and guide her.