It's been the trend for some time now but another recent news piece praises Republican domination on Twitter -- and social media in general. Though during his campaign, President Obama's team did an excellent job engaging voters, his Democrat counterparts have dropped the ball. From the piece:
In 2008, the Obama campaign built huge followings on social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, and accrued millions of views on YouTube. And that wasn’t all of it: Supporters flocked to the campaign’s own custom-built social network, my.barackobama.com, which allowed Obama enthusiasts to create profiles, access organizing tools, and connect with other Obama supporters and volunteers in their areas.
But nearly two years later, it has become apparent that Obama’s new media successes are not echoed by the Democratic Party in Congress. In the 111th Congress, it’s the Republicans who have truly figured out how to succeed in social media – and unless Democrats amplify their new media efforts, it’s hard to see how they keep their House majority in 2011.
According to Democratic officials, 108 House Democrats (of a total of 255) have Twitter accounts Facebook pages exist for 178 House Democrats, and 204 House Democrats have YouTube channels. On the Republican side, officials confirm that there are 130 House Republicans (out of a total 178) on Twitter, 166 on Facebook, and 178 on YouTube.
The raw numbers are deceiving; social media activity by the two parties is not as evenly matched as it appears. Republicans are dominating in the categories that matter: they have more followers, they’re more active, and they are more in sync with each other. According to TweetCongress, a Web site that tracks congressional activity on Twitter, the most active Twitter account in Congress is the Senate Republicans' Twitter handle, Senate_GOPs, which puts out an average of 7.85 tweets per day. Of the most active Twitter handles for members of Congress, the top 10 are all Republicans. And of the Congressional Twitter handles with the most followers, nine of the top 10 are Republicans -- the only exception is Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.
Great job GOPers!