LOS ANGELES - Michelle Obama wowed Americans with an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention that set the Twitterverse alight with gushing praise and boosted husband Barack Obama's social media standing as he makes his bid to stay in the White House.
TV viewing figures showed that the audience for the first lady's Tuesday night address in Charlotte, North Carolina, was about 22 million across the three main cable TV and three free-to-air US networks, according to Nielsen data.
The preliminary figure was about 1.5 million higher than the 20.5 million people who tuned into the 10 p.m. hour a week ago to hear Ann Romney speak about her husband, Mitt Romney, Obama's Republican challenger in the November 6 presidential election.
Audience figures for cable news networks will be available later on Wednesday.
But in social media, reaction to Michelle Obama's speech was off the charts, and Twitter was packed with messages wondering whether she would one day run for the highest office in the land herself.
Mrs Obama racked up 28,000 tweets per minute at the conclusion of her speech on the opening night of the convention, according to Twitter. That was double the 14,000 that Mitt Romney saw in his convention speech in Tampa, Florida, last week. Ann Romney's tweets per minute tally was just over 6,000.
She not only earned raves for her speech on social media, but also her custom-designed pink and copper Tracy Reese dress.
The sleeveless dress was accessorised perfectly by Mrs. Obama's famously toned arms, with the modest hemline just skimming her knees.
The dress, which is not yet available in stores and is being rushed into production, will retail for less than US$500 (S$619), the designer said on NBC's "Today" show.
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