Vice President Joe Biden's speech at the Democratic National Convention didn't blow up Twitter like First Lady Michelle Obama's and President Bill Clinton's did. But Biden did leave one word in his wake on Twitter -- literally.
Biden used "literally" often enough -- nine times during the 40 minutes, The Washington Post reports -- that it wasn't just the grammar geeks who took notice. The hashtag #literally quickly trended on Twitter, and people relentlessly began mocking the VP's faux-pas.
But Obama didn't take this joke sitting down; he got in on the Twitter fun.
The Obama team purchased an ad on the search term "literally," so when users went looking for tweets about the Vice President, they would now see a promoted tweet from @BarackObama.
Obama campaign buys twitter search term "literally" twitter.com/AlexSkatell/st…— Alex Skatell (@AlexSkatell) September 7, 2012
Biden's use of the word was entirely off the cuff; it wasn't written into his speech. His ad-libbing produced lines like this one: "In the first days, literally the first days that we took office, General Motors and Chrysler were literally on the verge of liquidation."
The VP has also been poked fun at in the past for his constant use of the term "folks" to address packed stadiums.
But no matter the election results in November, at least the Obama campaign has a sense of humor -- literally or figuratively.
Do you think buying words on Twitter is a useful way to connect with users? Share your thoughts in the comments below.