Comparing GOP Candidates On Social Media
Social media plays a part in every political hopeful’s strategy. As GOP candidates gear up for the 2012 elections, the web can be a real weapon in winning support.
These factors won’t necessarily have any bearing on how the candidates fare in the Iowa caucus, but here’s a snapshot of how the seven candidates measure up on different social media platforms:
Twitter: 1st: Newt Gingrich – about 1,400,000 million followers 2nd: Mitt Romney – about 219,000 followers 3rd: Ron Paul – about 150,000 followers Note: A former staffer told reporters in August that the Gingrich campaign hired an agency to inflate that number with phony accounts. Gingrich denies the accusation.
Facebook: 1st: Mitt Romney- about 1,300,000 fans 2nd: Ron Paul- about 676,000 fans 3rd: Michele Bachmann- about 460,000 fans
YouTube: 1st: Ron Paul- about 35,000,000 channel views 2nd: Rick Perry- about 13,000,000 channel views 3rd: Newt Gingrich- about 6,000,000 channel views
Klout is a website that measures someone’s influence based on their popularity on social media. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are tied for first here with a Klout score of 78. Ron Paul has the next highest Klout score of 75. Some consider this number irrelevant, but others online are beginning to take more notice of it.
It’s difficult to gauge a clear social media “winner.” Ron Paul technically reaches the most people. If we assign three points to each 1st place candidate from each category, two points to 2nd place, and one point to 3rd, Mitt Romney would be in the lead, with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul close behind.
Of course it’s not completely about how many people one candidate reaches. Each candidate tweets and uses Facebook with their own style.
Bachmann tends to tweet upbeat messages, pictures, and quotes. Gingrich’s Twitter feed is largely made up of routine posts like photos from campaign events, links to newspaper endorsements, and occasional personal responses to followers. Huntsman uses more personality in his updates and even fielded questions from followers live on Twitter. Paul’s Facebook page also has a dash of personality, including links to articles about him, photos of supporters, and family events. Perry tends to update with photos from his recent jogs. Perry also has one of the most “disliked” videos on YouTube– one of his campaign ads. Romney posts almost entirely about the campaign.
Based solely on these numbers, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum are significantly weaker on the social media front. This may or may not affect their campaign. Regardless, whoever survives to presumably face President Barack Obama in November will need to step up their digital strategies in future months.
