Why Facebook Could Be Bernie Sanders' Secret Weapon in Battling Hillary Clinton

Can social buzz keep a campaign afloat or even send it to victory? In 2016, it's an interesting question to ponder, especially with new data from Facebook IQ. For weeks, pundits have speculated that Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) outperforms rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in terms of having a passionate following. This idea seems more obvious than before if you look at each candidate's ability to inspire text-based chatter in the charts below in which circles of various sizes represent how much a subject grew during the month. For instance, on Facebook in February, Sen Sanders topped even the phrase "Super Bowl" and was second only to "Valentine's Day" in terms of how much the topics blew up since January. Clinton didn't generate a growth rate worth even a blip on the radar, per Facebook IQ. So maybe March 8's results in Michigan shouldn't have been such a shocker, as Sen Sanders' chatter swelled leading into March. Clinton has roughly 2.8 million Facebook fans, moderately trailing Sen Sanders' 3.2 million. Therefore, the difference in buzz seems to center on Sen Sanders' fans out-advocating Clinton's, keeping his hopes alive one post at a time.