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Twitter Use By Romney and Obama In 2012 Highlight the Speed of Social Media
HughPickens.com writes On 30 August 2012, Hollywood star Clint Eastwood took the stage to lambast President Obama. What ensued was an odd, 11-minute monologue where Eastwood conversed with an empty chair upon which an imaginary Barack Obama sat. The evening of Eastwood's speech the official campaign Twitter account @MittRomney did not mention the actor, while the Obama campaign deftly tweeted out from @BarackObama a picture of the president sitting in his chair with the words "This Seat's Taken". The picture was retweeted 59,663 times, favorited 23,887 times, and, as importantly, was featured in news articles across the country. According to Daniel Kress both campaigns sought to influence journalists in direct and indirect ways, and planned their strategic communication efforts around political events such as debates well in advance. Despite these similarities, staffers say that Obama's campaign had much greater ability to respond in real time to unfolding commentary around political events (PDF) given an organizational structure that provided digital staffers with a high degree of autonomy.
Romney's social media team did well when it practiced its strategy carefully before big events like the debates. But Obama's social media team was often quicker to respond to things and more creative. According to Kress, at extraordinary moments campaigns can exercise what Isaac Reed calls "performative power," influence over other actors' definitions of the situation and their consequent actions through well-timed, resonant, and rhetorically effective communicative action and interaction. During the Romney campaign as many as 22 staffers screened posts for Romney's social media accounts before they could go out. As Romney's digital director Zac Moffatt told Kreiss, the campaign had "the best tweets ever written by 17 people. ... It was the best they all could agree on every single time."
Romney's social media team did well when it practiced its strategy carefully before big events like the debates. But Obama's social media team was often quicker to respond to things and more creative. According to Kress, at extraordinary moments campaigns can exercise what Isaac Reed calls "performative power," influence over other actors' definitions of the situation and their consequent actions through well-timed, resonant, and rhetorically effective communicative action and interaction. During the Romney campaign as many as 22 staffers screened posts for Romney's social media accounts before they could go out. As Romney's digital director Zac Moffatt told Kreiss, the campaign had "the best tweets ever written by 17 people. ... It was the best they all could agree on every single time."
Obama's camp is not only deft at social media, their control over IRS computer are equally legendary
Until now nobody can convincingly explain why those IRS computers which contain vital information can turn belly up, almost all at the same time
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I sure am glad to have a tech-savvy Administration in Washington for once. Finally we have someone, who uses the same devices we do and appreciates their security. Someone, who "gets" of building web-sites, the importance of competition among ISPs, and other deeply technical issues.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Despite what hipsters think, Twitter is just a sideshow to what's really on display here, namely something that's been a staple of military leadership training for a loong time.
One of the first rules of war is: A plan of battle never survives first contact with the enemy unchanged.
The lesson in the above statement is that you can't just draw up a single grand plan, and stick to it no matter what. The reality is that any plan will always contain elements of estimates and guesswork. Therefore you make plans for different eventualities, and learn to adapt between different plans, and even drawing up new plans based on what you've learned.
In this case, the Republicans stuck to a single grand plan, with carefully scripted events. The democrats had a grand plan that outlined the goals needed, initial plans, and separate plans to adapt to unfolding events.
Twitter was just one tool in a large toolbox to achieve the above, and is in itself nothing special. Similar things have been spread via email, SMS, etc etc before, in other countries.
Democrats, Republicans... anyone who thinks there's actually a difference between them is a dumbass.
It does seem to matter when it comes to picking Supreme Court Justices. Nobody would claim that Alito and Scalia are interchangeable with Kagan and Sotomayor. Are you really saying it doesn't matter who chooses the next few justices?
And this has an impact on a lot of real world issues: http://www.newyorker.com/magaz...
There is also the five-finger speech. It generally comes when a new clerk asks, in dismay and outrage, how a majority of the Court has arrived at a decision he or she feels is flagrantly unjust. Justice Brennan holds up his hand, wriggles his five fingers, and says, “Five votes. Five votes can do anything around here.”
But Obama's social media team was often quicker to respond to things and more creative.
Or perhaps, Republicans are just slower and less creative about somethings, but certainly not everything. For example, take their plans for universal/affordable health care, immigration, the minimum wage, women's issues, the working poor, or ... oh wait.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
On 30 August 2012, Hollywood star Clint Eastwood took the stage to lambast President Obama. What ensued was an odd, 11-minute monologue where Eastwood conversed with an empty chair upon which an imaginary Barack Obama sat.
it wasn't odd. it was the perfect distilled essence of the conservative movement - an elderly white guy yelling at his own imagined version of a black person.
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Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!