Here's the twist: A seemingly innocent Mother's Day picture sparked debate when viewers suspected heavy editing, raising questions about authenticity and the royals' approach to social media.
Here at Kubik Intelligence, we were intrigued (and maybe a little nosy, let's be honest), to understand the public's sentiment surrounding the issue. So, we did what any data-driven behavioural analyst would do: we dived into the comments section!
Reading Thousands of YouTube Comments (So You Don't Have To!)
Yes, you read that right. We used topic modeling, a type of statistical modeling that uses unsupervised Machine Learning to identify clusters or groups of similar words within a body of text. So, we were able to sift through a whopping 1,500 YouTube comments on the story.
What We Found: Three Dominant Themes
The analysis revealed three main areas where viewers' opinions converged: we found the Royalist, the Apathetic and the Detective. Here's the result of our fancy AI model:
The Royalist says: 'Leave the Family Alone' (48.1% of tokens)
This group, bless their hearts, just wanted the Princess to enjoy some peace and quiet. A significant portion of comments urged the media and public to respect Kate's privacy and allow her to handle the situation without further scrutiny. Here is the word cloud of their comments:
These were some of their comments:
‘Why can't they leave her alone. Love princess Catherine.'
‘Who cares? And I can’t believe they made her take the blame. Amateur photographers change the lighting, they don’t super impose their kids weirdly.’
‘I feel so bad for her. They said she is taking a break till after Easter. I wish people would leave them alone.’
The Apathetic says: 'Much Ado About Nothing' (26.7% of tokens)
These folks saw the whole thing as a giant social media yawn. Their mantra? "There are bigger fish to fry, people!" They felt the controversy was blown out of proportion, highlighting more pressing issues in the world. This is the word cloud of their comments:
These were comments like:
'How ridiculous, we have plenty of problems here. Does this affect anyone's life, or solve any issues personal to you?'
'Boy the world must be a real peaceful and wonderful place if this is what passes for news'
'How the feck is this news?!'
The Detective says: 'This photo is so fake because...' (26.7% of tokens)
These are the internet's resident mystery solvers. This camp went full CSI on the photo, dissecting every detail and weaving elaborate theories. Their word could looks like this (anyone mentioned that this photo is fake?):
This is what they would say:
‘I am more concerned for poor Louis. In the photo his right hand seems to be very contorted and he is gripping that chair very tightly as if he can't stand up without support. Is he ill?’
‘So if Kate is doing well, then why put up fake photo of her? Where is she really?’
‘She/They could end speculation just release the ORIGINAL. They won't because the original must portray such bad signs, which is why they edited it in the first place. Typical upper class thinking that the plebs will believe anything.’
So, where is Kate after all this?
The beauty of the internet is the endless possibilities for speculation, even if the truth is probably far less exciting. The majority of people think she’s just fine and we’d all be better off focusing on some other things - like Ryan Gosling’s Oscar performance!
What are your thoughts on the balance between public interest and personal privacy in the digital age? Let's discuss in the comments!