May the Fourth Be With You
As Star Wars fans across the world know, May 4th is the day on which their beloved franchise is celebrated.
The date was chosen as a pun on the film’s catchphrase, “May the Force be with you.” Even though “May the Fourth be with you” is not recognized as a holiday by LucasFilm, observance of May 4th still explodes each year across the Internet and social media.
Throughout this past Wednesday, “May the Fourth be with you” dominated social media, with mention volume reaching its highest peak around 3:15 PM PST:
Who was responsible for this rise in “the Fourth” mentions? Young Padawan/ex-One Directioner, Zayn Malik.
The boy bander turned solo artist made his mark on Star Wars Day by simply tweeting out “May the Fourth be with you.” This resulted in tens of thousands of retweets, with Zayn’s tweet being the most popular of all shared on Wednesday:
On a broader scale, what was at the center of May the Fourth conversation? Star Wars, of course:
Not only was the franchise title found front and center among May 4th-related headlines, but it also dominated the top hashtags used across social media:
Overall, May the Fourth proved to assemble fans into a fun and playful Star Wars social cocktail party . And the noise was multiplied even further once Zayn chimed in, prompting his fans to drive May 4th buzz to another level.
Revenge of the Fifth
With the popularity of Star Wars Day only growing over the past year, fans have taken to the following day to keep the party going.
May 5, or “Revenge of the Fifth” is a play on Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. And on Thursday, fans joined the “Dark Side” by celebrating the Sith Lords from the popular film series.
Still, Revenge of the Fifth has not quite gained the same mention traction as the prior day. As seen below, May the Fourth mentions are exponentially greater than Revenge of the Fifth, even 24 hours later:
Perhaps this could be due to the day on which Revenge of the Fifth falls. May 5th is also Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Along with celebrating Mexican heritage, the day is also synonymous with drinking and parties, as illustrated in the Emoji Cloud below:
?, or Smiling Face with Horns, makes an appearance, as it is representative of revenge and evil (aka Sith Lords). However, ? and ? are the emojis used the most within Revenge of the Fifth conversation, perhaps showing a close association between May 5th and Cinco De Mayo festivities.
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