Posted on 04/27/2011 3:02:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Can anyone or anything stop the social media juggernaut that is Sarah Palin?
An analysis by OhMyGov of social media activity during the early stages of the 2012 campaign reveals that Palin can do no wrong when it comes to Facebook and Twitter. Palin's social media fan growth so far in 2011 outshines that of any other GOP contender, declared or rumored, in many cases by a factor of 10. And she doesn't need to be part of the day's big story to experience continued rapid growth.
The former Alaska governor has gained momentum in a number of unexpected situations. Palin attracted more news coverage than both Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty in the days following their announcements of presidential exploratory committees, as OhMyGov reported yesterday, even as her own presidential intentions remain unclear. Palin also drew more new social media followers than Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the aftermath of the assassination attempt in Tucson that left Giffords critically wounded. And Palin saw her biggest spike in new Facebook fans --- or "Likes" of her page --- around the time of President Obama's State of the Union speech, which she provocatively criticized as being full of "WTF moments."
Anytime Palin becomes part of a news story, whether deliberately or unwittingly, our analysis shows, she benefits handsomely on social media. With a commanding advantage in Facebook fans over all her potential GOP primary opponents --- and a strong showing on Twitter as well --- Palin wields a lot of influence in the campaign whether she enters the race or not.
From Giffords tragedy, new Palin followers?
On January 9, the day after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot by a would-be assassin in Tucson, Palin saw a greater than average rise in her Facebook and Twitter followers: 4,164 new fans and 4,814 new followers respectively. Palin, like many other political figures, had issued a short public statement on Jan. 8 offering condolences to the victims and their families; she did so with a note on her Facebook page, also tweeting a link. She had no other connection to the Giffords story at this point other than mentions by some media outlets and activists of the "gun sight map" used on her website during the 2010 midterm elections, a potentially negative development.
Giffords, of course, saw her own social media numbers rise as her constituents and people across the country expressed support and watched to see how she would recover. In the first four days following the attack, Jan. 9 to Jan. 12, Rep. Giffords added plenty of new social media supporters: 12,401 new fans on Facebook and 18,816 new followers on Twitter, a total of 31,217.
Palin, by comparison, added 19,352 new fans on Facebook and 12,224 new followers on Twitter over that same period. Her total: 31,576, several hundred more than Giffords.
While Giffords' gains were larger on a percentage basis because she was starting from much smaller fan bases (on Jan. 8, Giffords had roughly 1/1000th the Facebook fans that Palin did, for example), the fact that Palin matched Giffords on a person-by-person count is remarkable, and especially noteworthy given that Palin's first major statement on Tucson occurred on Jan. 12 --- meaning its impact was not seen until OhMyGov's Jan. 13 data.
After Tucson, Palin gets more social media traction than Giffords.
(CHART AT LINK)
The story of Palin's star power only grows more interesting from there. After keeping a respectful silence in the first days following the Tucson attacks, Palin made her first public statement via a video message released on January 12, resulting in a slew of traditional media coverage and social media activity.
In the 24 hours after accusing the mainstream media of "blood libel" in her video statement, Palin picked up another 3,021 Twitter followers and a staggering 15,068 new Facebook fans. Within a week of her remarks Palin netted roughly 9,000 new Twitter followers, proving once again that in politics there is no such thing as bad publicity.
WTF!
In late January, Palin seized on the pomp and punditry surrounding the presidential State of the Union address to increase her Facebook flock once again. With a casual critique of Obama's speech, she attracted a burst of media attention that drove her biggest social media gains of the year so far: 75,000 new Facebook fans over a several day span. The biggest spike came on Jan. 28, the day after Palin appeared on the Greta Van Susteren show, when Palin added nearly 25,000 new fans.
Two months later, in mid-March, Palin traveled to India for her first trip abroad as a potential GOP Presidential candidate. During her time on the subcontinent, Palin made comments criticizing President Obama's handling of the Libya situation and the role of China in U.S. affairs. And what did her comments get her? Another roughly 72,000 Facebook fans and 10,000 new Twitter followers during the week of March 16-23. Not bad for working vacation.
To put this in context, the 150,000 Facebook fans that Palin picked up during just the weeks of the State of the Union and her India trip are more than most politicians, government agencies and many in the GOP presidential field can claim in total fans. Only Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and ... well, Donald Trump ... currently boast more than 150,000 fans.
Sarah Palin's daily Facebook fan growth in 2011
(CHART AT LINK)
No peers in the GOP Field, not yet anyway
To get a full appreciation of Palin's run of social media dominance, one must look at her success relative to other major political players. So far in 2011, Palin has picked up roughly 329,000 new Facebook fans and 130,000 new Twitter followers. All of this without so much as even filing papers to form a Presidential exploratory committee.
Compare that to the GOP candidates who have actually made their intentions clear, former Governors Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Gary Johnson, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Romney is the second most popular GOP hopeful on Facebook, with about 860,000 fans, about a third of Palin's total. So far this year, Romney has picked around 110,000 new Facebook fans, while his 37,000+ Twitter followers are a fraction of Palin's audience of 480,000 strong. Ron Paul has just over 330,000 Facebook fans at present, while Johnson has about 111,000 and Pawlenty just 85,000. The former Minnesota governor has made modest strides this year, adding 13,000 new Facebook fans and 7,500 new Twitter followers so far.
Palin's potential big name rivals* --- Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee --- have picked up about 29,000 and 39,000 Facebook fans respectively since January 1, roughly one-tenth the number Palin added. Gingrich, the one GOP superstar who is actually more popular on Twitter than Palin, has netted about 11,000 new Twitter followers this year, while Huckabee has gained around 19,000. Neither has made a formal announcement about running. (*We are still resisting the notion that Donald Trump is a serious rival for the GOP nomination, however we have begun tracking his data and will add it to future reports.)
Palin has even outpaced the White House in some social media gains this year. The official Facebook page of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has scooped up about 38,000 new fans since the first of the year, while the Twitter feed has acquired around 154,000 new followers. The Twitter gains, while greater than Palin's, are of more narrow margin than one would expect when considering you are dealing with an official White House Twitter account, as opposed to that of a former running mate from a losing Presidential campaign. The Facebook growth advantage for Palin is, again, roughly tenfold.
One big question remains: Will she run? We don't know, and we doubt that even Palin herself knows at this point. But regardless of whether Sarah Barracuda enters the ring herself or sits back and endorses another GOP entrant, this much is clear: her large and ever-growing social media fan base will be a big boon to someone challenging Barack Obama in 2012. In the meantime, those millions of fans and followers remain a major boon to exactly one person out there: the one woman press machine from Wasilla, Alaska.
And appreciate your mindless obsession to make a stop on virtually every Palin thread to make a snarky remark!
Yep, all of the PDSers get marching orders from Pissant or at least the spirit of Pissant
>> “or at least the spirit of Pissant” <<
.
Cheap Voska?
>> “or at least the spirit of Pissant” <<
.
Cheap Vodka?
;-\
Ya Nawlins phlegm-snack.
;-\
PTL!
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Oh, but you're wrong....FB and twitter have taken the place of serious thought, research and politics...at least in Middle School playgrounds and at the mall.
Now that was truly pathetic!
You two fools are so hopelessly behind the times that it's beyond laughable...
How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power
How Obama used social networking tools to win
Obama, Social Media, and Presidential Advances in Communication Technology
Barack Obama The First Social Media President?
Obama's social networking was the real revolution
How Obama Won Using Digital and Social Media
Yeah, social media is so unimportant that Obama flew out to California last week just for some sunshine...
Two registered trolls would definitely know all about Facebook, right?
And I seriously wonder how many people on FB have not ‘liked’ her page because they’re too cowardly, but in secret really do admire her. I have a couple friends on FB whom I KNOW think she’s great, but have not ‘liked’ her. I don’t care, I repost her stuff all the time.
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No it stands for World Trade Center where I lost twelve friends, almost lost my only son and spent two days digging. But feel free to use your incredible wit to insult it.
After your really creepy gay posts a few weeks ago I could expect nothing better from you.
You go find a nice leftist site and leave FR alone and the piss won't stink up this site anymore, troll.
She posts a large comment there and it is picked up by twitter, the www, (including FR), Fox news and eventually the MSM.
She posted her comment about death panels on facebook and it went viral in the news cycle.
And the Obamacare people said, paraphrased:
There is nothing in the Obama care bill about death panels, but we will remove it anyway
LOL, typical liberalspeak!
On and btw johnny-come-lately facebook helped get Obama elected.
It's a Alinsky tactic to downplay facebook. Good job.
lol
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Really? I thought so too but I see so many palinites using LOL in their posts that I thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad to see that my original assessment of it is shared by at least one of you.
you forgot the biggest “she doesn’t grow her base” ROFL....
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