Balloon Boy quickly faded into history once the story was discovered to be a hoax. But, the tall tale of a boy set adrift in a balloon provided much fodder for the twitter world. Let’s go on a Balloon Boy journey ourselves, but this time through the eyes of tweetfeel/biz.

We begin our journey on October 15, 2009. The news broke and Twitter was immediately alight with Balloon Boy tweets. Based on the two week period from October 15 to October 29, the blue line shows that 31% of tweets occurred on Day 1, dropped to half that amount by Day 2, and almost disappeared ten days after that. Day 1 tweets hovered at the 50/50 positive negative line (green line) as some people immediately felt it was a hoax while other people expressed concern for the safety of the phantom boy. But, the tide shifted just a few days later as it became widely known that Balloon Boy was a hoax. At this point, the sentiment, among those few people still tweeting, became overwhelmingly positive.

But what were people really thinking? Why did emotions become so positive for a situation that caused dire panic among emergency rescue personnel? A bit of digging into some tweetfeel/biz themes helps to build this story. It turns out that people weren’t expressing their positive sentiments in the sense of being happy about the situation, but rather they were expressing happiness by way of humor. In fact, about 65% of tweets focused on the humour of the situation! People were particularly interested in the fact that the media picked up on the tale even though it was a hoax.

• LOL I love how Balloon Boy is a trending topic.
• Haha, #balloonboy was in the house the whole time. American news just got pranked.
• LMAO balloon boy. Nicely done.

Not everyone thought it was so funny though. Another 21% of people were angry about the situation for several reasons. They were upset that they had been deceived themselves, that people’s time had been wasted worrying and attempting to save a child, and that the parents had simply behaved in a disrespectful manner towards everyone including their own children. Another 13% of tweets expressed sadness, particularly in the early days, about the situation assuming it was real, and then the sadness subsequently turned to disappointment.

• BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I hate you Balloon Boy. Way to let me down. You trickster.
• i hate #balloonboy as much as I hated #eliangonzales
• Eff you balloon boy!
• Awww the 911 call made me cry balloonboy
• The Colorado Balloon Boy family is pathetic !
• It landed, and nobody was inside. This is very sad. #balloonboy

If you’re still curious about the incident, Wikipedia has an article that will answer all your questions. If you’re curious about tweetfeel/biz, give it a free testdrive yourself over at tweetfeel.com/biz.