Wow, did the water protectors ever make a difference in Standing Rock! We mapped out the geo-locations for #NoDAPL on Instagram to show where the posts were coming from across North America, as well as when the largest spikes of interest occurred.
As you can see from our gif above, there were major spikes on November 15th, November 24th, and December 5th. From that, we can glean that the #noDAPL Day of Action made a huge impact on social media. The week of November 24th saw a surge due to the increased violence against the protesters by police, as well as Thanksgiving. December 5th was when we found out the news that DAPL would not be going forward, at least not in that location.
It is fascinating to see how the world engaged with the Standing Rock community. The incredible hard work and sacrifice of people on the ground engaged the world on social media. This made the protests impossible to ignore.
#NoDAPL’s Most Exciting Moments
Although sometimes posting on social media can make you feel like you are speaking to an empty room, this time it really made a difference, and this data proves it.