With each global event, we at The Practice love to follow the action on social media, and see which moments spark conversation. This year’s 88th Academy Awards was no exception- read on for our recap of the night’s buzz and trending topics. 

Where online conversation was concerned, Leonardo DiCaprio’s win for best actor dominated, and subsequently became the most talked-about moment on Facebook. His win was also the most-tweeted about Oscars moment ever, overtaking Ellen DeGeneres’ record-breaking selfie. Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s fantastic performance of “Til It Happens to You” and its moving message of sexual assault resonated with online users, resulting in one of the biggest reactions of the night, and the second most searched for topic. And off the back of host, Chris Rock’s commentary about the lack of diversity at the Oscars, the hashtag, #OscarsSoWhite became a trending topic throughout the night. One of the funniest moments relating to this hashtag came from brand Total Beauty, who managed to confuse two of the Industry’s most iconic black female figures. The company took to Twitter expressing their love for Oprah’s apparent tattoos, accompanied by an image- however, the person in question was actually Whoopi Goldberg!

But perhaps the biggest “Oops” moment of the night undoubtedly came following Sam Smith’s Oscar win for best original song. During his acceptance speech, he dedicated his accolade to the LGBT community around the world, stating his pride at being the first openly gay man to win an Oscar. However, it was later revealed that openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, had previously won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the 2009 film, Milk. To make matters worse, Lance Black took this opportunity to call out Smith, who had allegedly been texting his fiancé, British diver Tom Daley. The Twitter backlash against Smith continued, so much so that the singer decided to announce a break from social media.

Where big brand TV advertisers were concerned, Samsung took the top spot for social media user penetration during the event. The tech company was also the largest spender of TV advertising on ABC during that time, with $18.8 million spent. Social media engagement was also high for Netflix, Android, AT&T and Kohl’s, who were also some of the biggest TV spenders during the Oscars.

And in a social media first this year, Snapchat gave Oscars fans a new way to view the event’s Live Story. Instead of using the app to access footage, Snapchat enabled users to tune in via their site’s web player. During the event, site visitors were shown live updates including actors’ arrivals, behind the scenes coverage, and reports from the Snapchat team on Red Carpet fashion. This marked the first time that users were able to view snaps away from the app, something that could potentially shape the platform’s future. We will be interested to see how Snapchat’s web player is used this year- perhaps to showcase other major events, or even by brands wishing to reach their desktop audiences.

Did you follow The Oscars’ buzz on social media? Which moments were highlights for you? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.