It is fairly easy to say that social media’s use in politics has grown dramatically in the past couple of years. With the recent rise of microblogging and status updates, people are more connected than ever before in history – and most politicians haven’t been slow to notice. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the respective social media communities of the major California Gubernatorial Candidates and see who is in the lead and who is dragging behind.
Meg Whitman:
Tom Campbell:
Steve Poizner:
Gavin Newsom:
Jerry Brown:
First off, let me say that overall I am very disappointed with the candidates we have to choose from. Secondly, Gavin Newsom is clearly ahead in the social media following. He has been doing occasional updates for one of the top social media blogs www.mashable.com, which has accounted for a large increase in his twitter following, but one has to wonder the quality of those followers. A follower in Nova Scotia doesn’t do him or Jerry Brown much good in a California race. They may decide to donate, but it is doubtful.
Looking at a different California race, Chuck DeVore is running a very grassroots, guerilla style campaign very tied in to social media. He has nearly 5,000 facebook friends on his actual profile page, and I would venture to say he has met almost all of them over 110+ campaign events over the past few months. Newsom and Brown, on the other hand, opted out of actual profile pages and went only with a fan page.
Real connections are far more valuable whether in politics or business. Networking is powerful when it’s real, and hollow when it’s not.
Allan…
RT @DrunkonPolitics: "Daily Drink-6/15/2010" - http://bit.ly/9yHwJF #tcot #sgp #gop #teaparty
RT @DrunkonPolitics: "Daily Drink-6/15/2010" - http://bit.ly/9yHwJF #tcot #sgp #gop #teaparty
RT @DrunkonPolitics: "Daily Drink-6/15/2010" - http://bit.ly/9yHwJF #tcot #sgp #gop #teaparty
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