Microsoft's Three Mile Island renewal draws mixed reception

[View Online]( ) Microsoft's Three Mile Island renewal draws mixed reception Three Mile Island is back in the news, though fortunately it's for different reasons than in 1979 this time. The site of the US's most well-known nuclear accident is making headlines this week because of Microsoft's proposed partnership to reopen one of its reactors and power its artificial intelligence efforts. The move has drawn significant attention from the media, with more than 2.5k articles published so far. Much of the public's attention has gone to local news reporting in the area around the plant, with Pennsylvania's own WNEP having the [most engaged article overall]( so far. The majority of reporting was reasonably neutral, mostly reporting the facts of the plant's reopening. The reaction on social media has been more mixed, and has resulted in the tech giant being pulled into a number of different conversations. Is AI worth the potential environmental cost? Is nuclear energy properly categorized as clean energy? Why choose nuclear rather than solar power or other forms of clean energy instead? Should regulators allow such a deal to exist in the first place? Is Three Mile Island the right place to do this kind of deal? All of these now become potential topics for the company to engage with, and questions their comms team will no doubt face, as their association with the power plant is almost certain to cause people to associate Microsoft with these broader societal questions. There's more to life than pumpkin spice The autumnal equinox offically took place last Sunday, marking the first official day of fall. But for some of us (myself included) the fall aesthetic has been in full swing all month long. Food brands are no exception—many have already embraced the season, rolling out new fall-flavored items to their menus. We know that pumpkin is the obvious choice, but there are several other flavors that have been earning attention, with banana, apple, and chocolate stepping out of the shadow. The above timeline shows public interest in all web coverage of each flavor, with pumpkin naturally taking the top spot in the last month. Chocolate, a perennial favorite, has made a splash this fall thanks to [Blue Bell's release]( of a chocolate brownie truffle ice cream that hopes to satisfy the cravings of those tired of all things pumpkin spice. Apple and Banana received more attention from social posts spotlighting new menu items from brands. Liquid Death [announced a limited-edition "Psycho Cider"]( that tastes of apple and cinnamon, and [Krispy Kreme launched four new donut flavors](, including one with spiced apple filling. Both posts earned tens of thousands of engagements on Instagram. Banana may have earned less engagement in terms of web coverage, but the public did in fact go bananas for a few banana flavored items. The most notable of these was Chick-Fil-A's banana pudding milkshake, which made a [big splash on TikTok]( through a Georgia branch account, earning 1.8M views. Baskin Robbins and Crumbl Cookies also turned heads on social with their new [banana Oreo ice cream]( and [banana bread loaf](. As fall flavors go, pumpkin may reign supreme, but there's clearly plenty of room for new flavor indulgence. NEWSWHIP FOR CROWDTANGLE USERS Learn about how you can continue on the work you were doing in CrowdTangle [Read more]( FREE ELECTION DIGEST Receive a daily AI Digest of the biggest themes and topics in this year’s US elections [Sign up]( NEWSWHIP'S ROI CALCULATOR How our clients save almost $100,000 per year with our AI Digests, reports, and alerts [Read blog]( GOT A ZOMBIE CRISIS? HOW SOCIAL DATA CAN HELP In a recent SiLab roundtable, media insights leaders discussed how to manage recurring crises [Read article]( [Facebook (1).png]( [X (1).png]( [Linkedin (1).png]( Copyright (C) 2024 NewsWhip. All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you opted in for the NewsWhip blog newsletter and updates. Our mailing address is: NewsWhip 42 Pearse Street Dublin, D02 YX88 Ireland Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [unsubscribe]( )