We’re heading into the weekend at the 2018 American Academy of Advertising conference at the Marriott Downtown in Manhattan, the greatest island in the greatest city of the world. As attendees from across academia dig in to the meat of what AAA has to offer, the SEE Suite is here to dig into the insights social media provide us.

So, to sum it all up in one word? Joy.

Algorithms to measure emotional tones indicate 87% of posts have been joyful since March 21.

In the days leading up to the conference, there had been a lot of concern over the ability of attendees to safely make it to New York given forecasted weather conditions. While weather conditions over the conference site were partly cloudy and chilly as of 8:30 p.m. EDT March 23, conditions have cleared up and attendees have been arriving quite safe and sound to join their colleagues. In fact, attendees have been taking to social media to express their happiness at making it to the conference site.

That feeling when @JetBlue and @Marriott allow you to change your reservation for free so you can get to the @AdScholar conference in NY safely. Yay! pic.twitter.com/P7NP5TIH8z

— Cathy Hessick (@ProfHessick) March 20, 2018

While many attendees have been making their way to AAA, many who have arrived have been getting down to business. Michigan State University’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences have been making a splash, taking to Twitter to tell the world about researcher’s Saleem Alhabash work delving into the insights Facebook has to offer.

Is your latest #Facebook "Like" affecting the decisions you make in your daily life? #ComArtSci's Saleem Alhabash discusses his research on the topic in our latest #ComArtSciTalks @MSUAdPR #MSU @Adweek @adage @TheOneClub @AdScholar #AAANYC18 pic.twitter.com/NwsgQNfHI9

— MSU Communication Arts and Sciences Research (@ComArtSciO4R) March 22, 2018

Deeper analysis of the social media messaging coming out of the conference by the See Suite have shown that the weather and MSU have stolen the show when it comes to what attendees at AAA are talking about.

A topic wheel generated covering the social media conversation from the start of the conference indicates topics related to the weather and MSU are what attendees are talking about.

The AAA conference continues through the weekend until Sunday, March 25. The SEE Suite will continue to provide insights and analysis of the social conversation surrounding this annual celebration of advertising research and advancement.

Post contributed by SEE Suite Graduate Associate Bryan Trude.