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Social Media and the Presidential Election

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Rick Perry’s YouTube Video “President Zero”

Can Presidential Candidates Tweet Their Way to the White house?

This presidential campaign may become known as the 140 character campaign because the candidates are furiously getting their message to the people using social media such as Twitter. Twitter comments must be 140 characters or less, but you can also include a link to articles of interest to your followers.

Candidates also rely on YouTube, Facebook, blogs, and Google ads.

Social media give candidates power to bypass traditional media and take their message directly to the people.

Candidates must say exciting or controversial things to create chatter on social media. Currently, Cain is stirring up the most buzz on social media according to Engage. For example, last week on Facebook over 560,000 posts were related to Cain. This is one reason why Cain with his 9-9-9 plan has increased by 12 % since the polls in September.

But getting the most social media followers does not always translate into winning an election. Many of Paul’s followers are young people who love social media. Paul has over 20,000 subscribers to his website and over 2.2 million video views; yet he is only 9%  in the polls just ahead of Newt Gingrich at 8% and behind the leaders Romney (26%), Cain (25%), and Perry (13%). According to Pew, Paul has received the most positive and consistent support from bloggers.

As impressive as Paul’s social media following sounds, Perry has surpassed Paul in the social media race. The governor from Texas boasts 2.4 million video views to his YouTube video which calls President Obama “President Zero” referring to the number of jobs that have been created in the Obama administration.

Back in September Perry led the polls at 32%. But his ratings in the polls fell after his poor performance in the first debate and continues to fall as he faces issues about immigration and race.

President Obama has spent millions of dollars investing in social media. But President Obama does not rely on social media alone.  His campaign manager, Jim Messina, has organized thousands of volunteers who have made millions of phone calls and visits to voters.

You may also be interested in reading these articles concerning the effects of social media on the presidential election: