Twitter & Election 2012

By Katherine Johnson

Romney vs. Obama

Followers: 1,186,658

Tweets: 1,184

Retweets: 3,628

Followers:20,192,254

Tweets: 6,343

Retweets: 30,467

@2012Twit does a daily break down for each presidential candidate. This includes the number of followers gained, retweets and mentions.

•Campaign donations, quotes from speeches, getting out the vote, comparisons with Romney on issues and how Romney would affect groups that are likely to vote for Obama•Retweets from: Students for Obama, Latinos for Obama, TruthTeam2012, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden•Tweets/day varies, but usually between 15-20•Tweets increase when Obama is speaking at a campaign stop (quotes) or if something big happens (47% comment) •Majority of tweets link to videos, voter registration, donation page etc. All content is through Obama’s website/social media channels

Obama’s top Twitter moments

• Acceptance speech at DNC 2012 ranked as the “biggest political moment ever” on Twitter

• Record setting 52,756 tweets/minute after speech, 4 million tweets on the last day of the DNC (almost equal to tweets of entire RNC)

• Most retweeted tweet of the RNC, in response to Clint Eastwood’s “Invisible Obama”

•Tweets are sometimes irregular. At most 5 tweets per day.•Major difference: tags Obama in his tweets when talking about him, no retweets•Tweets are about 50/50. Half state what Romney will do, half discuss what Obama didn’t do•Didn’t address released video on Twitter•Majority of tweets link to Romney’s website: lots of videos, donation links, interactive questions

Romney’s top tweets

• Announcement of VP candidate, Paul Ryan• RNC end of the week tweet• Peak number of tweets: 14,289/min at end of

RNC speech

Running Mates

Candidate Comparisons

These numbers are based on campaigning done this summer.

Candidate Comparisons

USA Today’s Twitter Election Meter“Twindex”

• Scale of 0-100, with 100 being the most positive• Provides a daily snapshot of voter sentiment • Calculated by Twitter in partnership with Topsy Labs,

The Mellman Group, and North Star Opinion Research

• “Unlike traditional polling, in which participants are scientifically selected, contacted and asked a series of questions, the Twitter Political Index is based on gathering the volunteered opinions of people logging on to Twitter.”

Major Differences

• The Obama campaign out tweets Romney’s campaign 3-4x

• Obama puts more emphasize on voter registration/voting

• Romney may not rely on social media, as his supporters are typically older and aren’t on Twitter

• Half of twitter users are under 35, 2/3 under 45• Obama’s younger supporters are active on multiple

social media platforms.• Why did DNC get more tweets than RNC?

Conclusion• Obama usesTwitter more successfully than Romney• Demographics must be taken into consideration (age

and gender)• Obama supporters more likely to be on Twitter• More followers= more retweets, favorites, and

exposure. Also, more incentive to tweet.• Twitter success represents success with only one or

two demographics, meaning that it can’t be used to predict an election

• Casting a ballot is most important. Don’t rely on estimates and then not vote.

Sources• http://twitter.com/2012twit• http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-speech-stirs-record-response-twitter-202915979--finance.ht

ml• http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2012/09/02/obama-chair-tweet-gets-most-rnc-ret

weets/• http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/twitter-election-meter• http://140elect.com/twitter-political-press/usa-today/• http://live.wsj.com/video/why-did-dnc-get-more-tweets-than-rnc/6ACFAD13-3C98-4FE1-839

C-362B8D15459D.html#!6ACFAD13-3C98-4FE1-839C-362B8D15459D• http://www.inc.com/maeghan-ouimet/social-meda-campaigns-election-2012-obama-romney

.html• http://www.businessinsider.com/winner-of-the-obamaromney-social-media-campaign-2012-

9?op=1#ixzz27OJHExuD

• http://2012twit.com/