UT tracks social media posts and engagement [Video]

UT’s Adam Brown Social Media Command Center shared the technology it uses to track what people are posting on social media during the debate.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tuesday marked the first presidential debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

The University of Tennessee’s Adam Brown Social Media Command Center shared the technology it uses to track what people are posting on social media before, during and after the debate. It tracks the amount of engagement people have with the debate online, their sentiment toward it and key terms during it.

“It just went up from 978 to 979 billion. That means, ‘Dude, okay, that’s kind of trippy,'” said Matthew Pittman, Assistant Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at UT.

In the digital age, social media plays a vital role during election season.

“It gives incredible insight into who is posting what on what platform, where they …