But did Twitter see it coming?
Yesterday, we shared the results of our Twitter sentiment analysis, conducted by Globalpoint. Their weighted metric combined candidate tweet volume with the sentiment surrounding each candidate.
Information from Twitter matched up with pre-Iowa polling data from NBC/Marist, with one glaring difference: On Twitter, Rick Santorum was on fire.
Here are the results of the Iowa Caucus:
No, Twitter could not have predicted that Iowa would been won by a minivan's worth of caucus-goers. But it did a much better job of anticipating Santorum's excellent performance than the national polls accomplished.
Michael Urban, President of Globalpoint, said that many polls showed Santorum moving to the top tier of candidates, but didn't have numbers even close to the 25% he gained in Iowa last night.
"Twitter is indeed a leading indicator of public opinion, but it leads polling data and elections by about two weeks," Urban said. "It's important to view our results through that lens. [NBC Chief White House Corespondent] Chuck Todd noted this morning that if the Iowa caucus was held next week, Santorum would likely have won by seven points. We agree."
Mashable will continue to examine Twitter's efficacy in predicting electoral results throughout 2012. Have you noticed any trends or patterns in how Twitter can predict election results? Let us know in the comments below.