It’s rare that the Republican National Convention can claim to be the social media event of the season, but thanks to the candidacy of one Mr. Donald Trump, this year’s event in Cleveland promises to be yuge. And don’t fret if you can’t make it out to the Midwest next week — Twitter will be live-streaming the entire thing. And of course, in the interest of fairness, it’ll also be live-streaming the Democratic National Convention the following week in Philadelphia.
As politics and politicians turn increasingly toward social media, Twitter has become a crucial platform in disseminating bite-sized nuggets of information. So if you don’t necessarily possess the attention span to follow all the happenings of the two conventions, don’t worry — Twitter has you covered.
Both streams will be made available on both mobile and on the web through Twitter’s Live product, which was first tested during Wimbledon. And while all the content will be shot by CBS and CBSN, Twitter’s platform will be key in pushing much of this content into the public.
“Twitter is the fastest way to find out what’s happening in politics and to have a discussion about it,” Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer, said in a statement. He added that the live-stream’s goal is to give “people around the world the best way to experience democracy in action.”
It’s unclear as of yet how you’ll find the Twitter Live stream at the current juncture, but as Wired notes, it seems sensible for CBS to tweet out a link to the Live page once everything is up and running. Regardless, a Twitter spokesman assures audiences, “It won’t be hard to find.”
And that’ll be the case even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Regardless of your user status, you’ll be able to access the live-stream, and Twitter will also be pushing relevant tweets to the forefront, utilizing both hashtags and a special algorithm for the event.
So if you’re looking to join the conversation in either Cleveland or Philadelphia, here’s your chance.