INDEPENDENCE DAY 2015

The 4^th of July of this year marked 239 years of American independence. Also known as Independence Day, this anniversary is probably the most important day for the United States of America.

If you happened to find yourself at midday, on the 4^th of July, in a random outskirt of the United States of America, you would probably hear thirteen shots, immediately followed by the national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. Each shout represents one of the thirteen countries that, in 1776, signed the most important document for American identity, the one that would change the history of the New World: the Declaration of Independence.

From the biggest metropolis to the smallest village, each American city hosted events such as processions, fireworks and commemorations, while the stars and stripes of the American flag waved from every building.

Sales and business offices were closed and, for one day, the only and true commitments were the BBQs that gathered families and friends together to celebrate Independence Day, but also the very first day of summer.

New York hosted the usual hundred-year-old hot-dog competition at Coney Island, and the beautiful tradition of fireworks shot from the East River, while the National Museum of American History in Chicago held a commemoration, and Washington DC was, again, home of the free concert that each year gathers together more than half a million of people.

But the 4^th of July was a very intense day also for Social Networks, and Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Periscope, Tumblr and Pinterest were hit by a massive wave of American nationalism, with the hashtag #IndependenceDay.

SocialMeter Analysis followed the event on Twitter and monitored what users said and posted about #IndependenceDay. 45.593 tweets and 9.745 pictures were posted by 33.989 users in just a couple of days, from the 3^rd to the 5^th of July.

The accounts that twitted the most were @UdemyStartups, @itsRaynniere, @TrendTopicsUSA, and @Daniiprettygal, while the top mentioned accounts were @RDXsports, @bcwilliams92, @Pieter_Gericke, and @peddoc63. These were most occurring hashtags: #IndependenceDay, #HappyBirthdayAmerica, #GoodBlessAmerica, #StarsAndStripes, #BBQ, #Patriotism, #BabyYoureAFirework.

Thus, it seems like Social Networks are the perfect and most appropriate setting for the marriage between history and modernity, which should not be necessarily considered as opposite. The tools that modernity provides us are the perfect devices to keep trace, remember and celebrate the most important moments of our history.