'Binders Full Of Women' Dominates The Internet Day After Presidential Debate
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The first presidential debate had Big Bird, the second has binders full of women.
The newest web meme was born after former Gov. Mitt Romney commented on the subject of rectifying pay inequality during Tuesday's town hall-style debate at Hofstra University.
"We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet," Romney said. "I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women."
Twitter and Facebook immediately lit up with comments and some users posting photographs of themselves with binders on their heads in light of Romney's remarks.
Veronica De Souza, of Brooklyn, created a Tumblr page titled "Binders Full of Women" just minutes after the line.
"I didn't do anything with it right away," De Souza told 1010 WINS. "But in the next five, 10 minutes or so I started posting stuff that I had quickly Photoshopped. I opened it up for submissions and they just came pouring in."
The website has gained more than 11,000 followers and De Souza said she had received at least 2,000 submissions by noon Wednesday.
"I would love for this to continue to be a thing," De Souza said. "I don't think I'll be able to keep up with the submissions because then I would never leave my house but I'll try to kind of keep up."
Overall, Tuesday's presidential debate was a big hit on social media.
The 90-minute nationally televised exchange between President Barack Obama and Romney generated 12.24 million comments on Twitter and Facebook according to Bluefin Labs, an analytics firm that studies social media's reaction to televised events.
The debate was the top political event of all time in social media and placed third among the top social media events of any kind, bested only by this year's Grammy Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. The first presidential debate, on Oct. 3, placed fifth.
The end of a tense exchange over immigration Tuesday night produced the biggest social media spike.
Women dominated the social media conversation about the debate. Some 54 percent of comments came from women, 46 percent from men.
(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
