The envelopes for the 84th annual Academy Awards won’t be opened until Sunday, but many Facebook users appear to have already made their Oscar picks.
Swaylo, a Facebook application that measures the strength of an individual user’s influence on his/her network, gleaned some interesting information on the makeup of users who like the films nominated for Best Picture.
Notably, 94 percent of Facebook users who liked The Help were female. Adopted from Kathryn Stockett’s novel of the same name, the film is about a young white woman and her relationship with two black maids and takes place during the early 1960s Civil Rights era.
That film, along with the 9/11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, was particularly popular in Texas. Those who liked the films are primarily based in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin among other major metropolitan users around the country.
Midnight in Paris, The Descendants, and Tree of Life tapped into the hipster side of Facebook, as users also have a tendency to like musical acts such Fleet Foxes, Bjork, Arcade Fire, and Tom Waits. That finding probably has to do with appeal of the films’ directors: Woody Allen, Alexander Payne, and Terrence Malick, respectively.
The epic War Horse, directed by Steven Spielberg, captured the youngest crowd, with those liking the film ranging mainly between 14 to 19 years old. But the film proved equally popular with adults over the age of 36.
The young male demographic was particular enamoured by Rooney Mara, the star of the thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, who is nominated for Best Actress. Fifty-seven percent of users who liked her were male and were mainly under the age of 24, compared to the 48 percent of males that make up the general Facebook population.
On Sunday, Facebook users will be able to see how their picks turn out.
Photo by Dave_B_
