Sometimes they are generated for fun, such as when the 2016 release of the movie Captain America: Civil War spurred fans to turn the hashtag #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend into a Twitterstorm, hoping to generate enough attention that Marvel Studios would put the hero in a relationship with his childhood friend, Bucky Barnes. Twitterstorms are not always centered on controversies, however. The Twitterstorm soon exploded into a national trend, with the slogan placed on merchandise, including mugs, t-shirts, and pillows. Other female politicians, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, seized on this comment, reversing the meaning of Nasty Woman from a misogynistic comment into an anti-Trump feminist slogan. For example, during a 2016 debate when then-presidential candidate Donald Trump referred to fellow candidate Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman,” it sparked a rebellious outcry from Twitter users who perceived his comment to be sexist. While the outrage fueling many Twitterstorms is short-lived, some have shown much more staying power. Similarly, a furious Twitterstorm broke in response to DiGiorno Pizza after the company accidentally coopted the hashtag #WhyIStayed, a hashtag intended to highlight domestic violence and abuse, for marketing purposes. This Twitterstorm reached such massive levels that a line of taco trucks protested Trump outside his Las Vegas hotel ahead of a presidential debate and the Arizona Democratic Party put the “taco truck on every corner” phrase up on the marquee of its Phoenix building. For example, during the 2016 US presidential campaign, when a Trump supporter stated on TV that if Trump didn’t win, there “will be taco trucks on every corner,” it erupted into a flurry of tweets sharing the hashtag #tacotrucksoneverycorner, with most Twitter users mocking the quote by saying that they’d be happy to eat more tacos. At this point, a Twitterstorm may have generated its own hashtag and be considered trending on the site, which can further strengthen the storm. The response mushrooms into broader outrage on the site as the message gets retweeted and quoted, often catching the attention of media outlets and users with larger numbers of following. Twitterstorms often begin when one user tweets in anger about a subject, often as triggered by a controversial or insensitive comment by a brand or politician. The term emerged on the site by 2007 and was in regular use by the media by 2009. The word storm also suggests the spontaneous, unpredictable flurry of activity and interest around a topic, which can feel chaotic and be damaging to persons or brands at the center of the metaphorical storm. As its name suggests, a Twitterstorm erupts like a storm on the social media network Twitter.
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