CNN Worldwide picked up two Shorty Awards at last night's 4th Annual Shorty Awards in New York City. The network won awards for the following:

Best Use of Social Media for News: CNN Worldwide

Best Use of Video for a Social Media Campaign: The Royal Wedding of William & Kate

A video message from CNN's Piers Morgan kicked off the show. Susan Grant, executive vice president, CNN News Services accepted the award on behalf of CNN.

South by Southwest 2012 is right around the corner. Here is a look back at the CNN Grill during the 2011 South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals in Austin, Texas.

Follow @CNNSXSW on Twitter. Additional details coming soon.

If you won’t be near a television tonight, you can still catch CNN’s Florida primary coverage streaming online tonight beginning at 7pm on CNN.com. Users will also be able to watch live coverage and live video of candidate speeches on the CNN apps for iPhone, iPad, Android phone and Android tablet. Online and across CNN’s mobile platforms, results and the new "Election Center" section will also be available.

CNNPolitics.com will also cover the event, with analysis of the primary results, along with a live-blog on the Political Ticker and video submissions from CNN iReport. Leading up to tonight’s coverage, check out CNN’s bench of Opinion contributors including a piece from John Avlon about the diversity of Florida voters as well as Ruben Navarette’s article about Romney’s immigration stance throughout the election. Additionally, keep up with the results throughout the Republican primary with the CNN GOP Delegate Calculator.

Users may follow CNN Politics on Facebook and @CNNPolitics on Twitter for breaking developments and join the conversation by using hashtag #CNNElections.

DRAWS 5.4 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS AND 1.7 MILLION IN KEY DEMO 25-54 

ALSO DRAWS AN ADDITIONAL 1.2 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS AND 562K IN THE DEMO DURING WEST COAST PRIMETIME

ANDERSON COOPER 360 TOPS THE COMPETITION AT 10P

CNN.com total day video highest of last five CNN debates

According to Nielsen Fast National data, CNN's Florida debate (8-10p, ET), moderated by Wolf Blitzer delivered 5.4 million total viewers and 1.7 million in the key target demographic 25-54 last night, Thursday, January 26.  This represents CNN's best debate yet this election cycle in the key demo and second best among total viewers (behind the Las Vegas GOP debate on 10/18).  Last night's debate ranked fourth among all primary debates so far this cycle in the key demo (including broadcast) and second among cable-only debates (behind only FNC's 12/15 debate).

CNN was, by far, top rated during the 8-10p, ET time period last night among the cable news networks in both total viewers and the key demo. CNN topped FNC among total viewers by 160% (5.4m vs. 2.1m) and MSNBC by 444% (5.4m vs. 985k).  In the target demo CNN topped FNC by 330% (1.7m vs. 405k) and MSNBC by 702% (1.7m vs. 217k).

During the west coast primetime airing (8-10p, PT/11p-1a, ET replay), CNN had an additional 1.2 million total viewers and 562k in the key demographic 25-54. 

With post-debate analysis, Anderson Cooper 360 easily outperformed its cable news competition at 10p.  AC360 topped FNC’s On the Record among total viewers by 30% (2.5m vs. 1.9m) and MSNBC’s Last Word by 130% (2.5m vs. 1.1m).  In the target demo AC360 topped FNC by 88% (895k vs. 477k) and MSNBC by 261% (895k vs. 248k). 

CNN Digital:

During last night’s CNN debate, CNN Digital’s stats include:

• CNN.com page views were up 37% over the previous 4-Thursdays and up 5% over the average of the prior five CNN debates with 3.7 million page views.   CNN.com page views for the day hit 46.8 million, up 6% over the average of the past five CNN debates.
• Video starts on CNN.com were also up 71% over the prior 4 Thursdays and 45% over the prior debates with 4.9 million.
• Mobile page views were up 6% during the debate.  In total, CNN Mobile had 6.1 million page views for the day.

(Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst Prior 4-Thursday average based on 12/22, 12/29, 1/5, 1/12. Prior debate dates include 6/13, 9/12, 10/18, 11/22, 1/19.)

(Source: Bango. Prior 4-Thursday average based on 12/22, 12/29, 1/5, 1/12. Prior debate dates include 6/13, 9/12, 10/18, 11/22, 1/19.  Note: International mobile site does not contain video.)

Users also interacted with CNN across social media.

 Facebook

• For last night’s Florida Republican debate there were 3 postings on the main CNN Facebook fanpage which generated 3,000 likes and comments.

Source: Facebook fan pages CNN 6/13/11, 9/12/11, 10/18/11, 11/22/11, 1/19/12 & 1/26/12; CNN Politics 9/12/11, 10/18/11, 11/22/11, 1/19/12 & 1/26/12

Twitter

• The CNNbrk account had 13 posts surrounding the debate which were retweeted 2,100 times.
• The hashtag #CNNDebate was a trending topic throughout the evening, ranking as high as #1 in the US and Worldwide throughout portions of the broadcast.
• Wolf Blitzer and Erin Burnett were also trending topics during last night’s debate coverage, with Wolf Blitzer ranking as high as #3 and Erin Burnett ranked #8 in US throughout the broadcast.

 Source: Twitter Analytics 6/13/11, 10/18/11, 11/22/11, 1/19/12 & 1/26/12

 GetGlue

• The CNN Florida Republican Debate had over 5,700 GetGlue check-ins and generated an estimated 1.3 million impressions across Facebook and Twitter.

Source: GetGlue 9/12, 10/18, 11/22, 1/19 & 1/26

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The CNN Southern Republican Presidential Debate drove the social conversation Thursday night for the CNN Debate.

CNN viewers posted on Facebook, engaged in the conversation on Twitter and 'checked-in' on GetGlue to share with their social followings what they were watching.

The following are the stats from last night's debate:

Facebook

·         For last night’s South Carolina Debate there were 5 postings on the main CNN Facebook fanpage which generated more than 6,000 likes and comments. The highest of which was:

·         Who came out on top in tonight's Southern Republican Presidential Debate? Live NOW on CNN.com: CNN's Jim Acosta hosts the post game discussion in the spin room with the candidates. -  with nearly 1,800 likes and comments.

·         Interactions (likes/comments) for the South Carolina Debate content were up 90% from the New Hampshire Primary and up 67% from the average of the four debates last year.

·         The CNN Politics Facebook fan page added 9,000 new followers since the New Hampshire primary on 1/11 for a total of 61,000 followers. Posts on the fan page have generated over 5,500 likes and comments.

·         Interactions (likes/comments) for this debates content were up 130% from New Hampshire Primary and up 12% from the average of the three debates last year. (CNN Politics Fan Page launched in early September)

Source: Facebook fan pages CNN 6/13/11, 9/12/11, 10/18/11, 11/22/11, 1/11/12 & 1/19/12;  CNN Politics 9/12/11, 10/18/11, 11/22/11, 1/11/12 & 1/19/12

Twitter

·         The CNNbrk account had 28 posts surrounding this debate which were retweeted 4,500 times. Retweets were up 406% compared to New Hampshire Primary and 258% from the average of the three debates last year.

·         The hashtag #CNNDebate was a trending topic throughout the evening, ranking as high as #1 Worldwide throughout portions of the broadcast. John King was also trending topic last night, ranking #2 in US and #4 Worldwide.

Source: Twitter analytics 6/13/11, 9/12/11, 10/18/11, 11/22/11, 1/11/12 & 1/19/12

Source: Business Objects 1/1/12-1/20/12

GetGlue

·         The CNN Southern Republican Presidential Debate had over 6,200 GetGlue check-ins and generated an estimated 1.2 million impressions across Facebook and Twitter.

Source: GetGlue 9/12, 10/18, 11/22 & 1/20

CNN and GetGlue are teaming up to offer custom stickers for Thursday's crucial CNN Southern Republican Presidential Debate live from the North Charleston Coliseum on Thursday, January 19 at 8pm ET.

GetGlue users can check in now for a coming soon sticker and again before the debate for the two limited-edition stickers.

Tune in to CNN on Thursday for CNN's special coverage with Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, John King and Soledad O’Brien. They will anchor their respective programs live and on-location in Charleston on Thursday. Then, on Saturday, Jan. 21, the anchors will be live beginning at 6 p.m. from the CNN Election Center for America’s Choice 2012: South Carolina Primary. A special edition of Anderson Cooper 360° will air at 11 p.m. followed by a special live midnight edition of Piers Morgan Tonight. Candy Crowley will report from South Carolina throughout Saturday evening and will anchor State of the Union on Sunday, Jan. 22.

The 2012 election year got off to a running start with the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday, January 3rd. CNN, the worldwide leader in news covered Tuesday's caucuses from start to finish. Twitter users engaged in the conversation during CNN's complete multi-platform coverage of America's Choice 2012.

Throughout the evening, there were several CNN and CNN related trending topics:

#CNNAfterDark – #2 US & Worldwide

#CNNElections – #2 Worldwide

Wolf Blitzer – #4 US

Anderson Cooper – #7 US & #8 Worldwide

John King – #6 US & Worldwide

Piers Morgan – #2 in the US & #5 Worldwide

Source: Twitter analytics 6/13, 9/12, 10/18, 11/22 & 1/3-1/4

CNN anchors break down the information from the first caucus of 2012 using visual technology. Seen here, Anderson Cooper utilizes a graph to track the trends of the rise and fall of the GOP candidates throughout the campaign thus far. Wolf Blitzer has dual screens to show preliminary caucus results, and John King uses an interactive map divided by county to explain the composition of the Iowa votes.

CNN and GetGlue are once again offering limited-edition stickers for  Sunday's broadcast of CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. CNN Heroes is an awards show unlike any other that honors everyday people who are changing the world.

CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute is hosted by Anderson Cooper and broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. GetGlue users can check in to unlock limited-edition CNN Heroes stickers beginning today and the day of the broadcast.

Supporters of the Top Ten 2011 CNN Heroes can donate to the Heroes non-profits through December 31, 2011 directly at CNNHeroes.com.

What do you get when you mix a cup of miracle berries, a glass of farm-to-table homemade apple cider and Roland’s Rules for Thanksgiving? A recipe for Eatocracy’s fifth CNN.com Secret Supper. CNN Contributors Roland Martin and LZ Granderson, Second City troupe member Tim Sniffen, Tio Hardiman from CeaseFire, and four local chefs all gathered around the table to talk about the food scene in Chicago and how it reflects the population.

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