Tweeters Gearing Up for Big Day

Sandhya Kambhampati
sjkambhampati@gmail.com
@sandhya__k


As we near the big day that every one has been waiting for, tweeters are remembering past elections and flooding in with critique and their predictions on who will be the next president.
Journalists, as @vhern_ mentions in his tweet are getting prepped for a long night and a long race.

@vhern_

The race begins for the news outlet that gets the results out in the most effective way.  Right now, everyone is thinking of all the different ways that the candidates could win. In fact, @nytimes made an interactive map of the 512 different ways that President Barack Obama or Governor Romney can get voted into office. It's interesting to note how each candidate must win in each different swing state.

With all these preparations, news outlets, such as the AP are encouraging their staff from tweeting, retweeting others calls.  In my mind, this is a smart thing for the AP to note and mention on Twitter because of the way Twitter is, people may hear one thing, when the truth is actually something else.

@romenesko

With that said, it's important for not just journalists, but any tweeter to keep in mind how huge this election is and how re-tweeting the wrong information can lead to false understandings. Some journalists such as @jimacostacnn are using Twitter to reminisce on the past elections.

@jimacostacnn

Others, like @BuzzFeedAndrew are using Twitter to show exactly how much time is left in each of the polls. 

Now that the countdown is down to less than 100 hours, others like @stefanjbecket  are bracing themselves for Tuesday night.  It's going to be a long night for journalists as many are expecting this race to be a close call. It might even be another election like in 2000.

No matter what the outcome, I'm expecting my Twitter feed to be overflowing with tweets. Hopefully Twitter will not experience difficulties, as this election has been the most tweeted about election and I'm sure people will have a lot to say about the results as they start pouring in.
This tweet from  AP's @kasie got me thinking.

It's been a long journey and now there's only ONE day left till the big night. All things considered, this election will truly be one for the books. I just can't wait to see what's in store.
Like many other journalists, campaign volunteers, and the general public which has been getting bombarded with political texts, emails, and mail--- all I have left to say, as @Ari_Shapiro said: ONE! MORE! DAY!!!!

Follow me @sandhya__k on election night & let me know your thoughts!