In this day and age social networking has completely transformed the way we look at the world, including the race for President. Twitter, in particular has become popular amongst many candidates, but can the use of Twitter really benefit a campaign?
According to a New York Times article entitled “In Nonstop Whirlwind of Campaigns, Twitter Is a Critical Tool” written by Ashley Parker, Parker states that
“With 100 million active users, more than 10 times as many as in the 2008 election, Twitter has emerged as a critical tool for political campaigns, allowing them to reach voters, gather data and respond to charges immediately. But like most new media tools, it also carries danger for the campaigns. It can quickly define the political debate, whether candidates like it or not, and a single 140-character missive can turn into a nightmare.”
Mitt Romney’s campaign aides closely monitor Mr. Romney’s Twitter stream at all times. Simple Twitter posts can help Romney’s aides get an idea on a story before a news reporter can actually report it. Zac Moffatt, the digital director for the Romney campaign said
“Twitter is the ultimate real-time engagement mechanism, so it’s moved everything to a much faster speed, you have no choice but to be actively engaging it at all times.”
So far these things seem to be beneficial to a campaign. Social networking has opened up new possibilities for candidates and their political campaign, allowing them to reach out to old voters as well as first time voters.
New advances are being made everyday in the world of social networking, allowing voters to keep up with the race much easier. “Twitter Unveils the Twindex, a New Political Index” a New York Times article written by Nick Bilton states that
“This year’s election might look a little different. The TV may be blaring results, but the presidential candidates’ staffs may also be following the Twitter Political Index, a new feature that monitors political sentiment on Twitter.”
“The new site, housed at election.twitter.com, will be updated each day at 8 p.m., Eastern time, to reflect the latest daily views about the candidates.”
This new website is going to offer a “real-time view”’ of the each candidate and how they are viewed by the voters and will track their race for the 2012 Presidential election.