Jul 0815
Barack Obama is Following Me on Twitter
July 15th, 2008
A friend of mine boasted that she is following Barack Obama on Twitter and he is following her back. Curious, I logged on to my Twitter account and started following Barack Obama. Lo and behold, within a few minutes, I got an e-mail from Twitter saying that Barack Obama was following me back on Twitter.
Why on earth would a presidential candidate follow every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to follow him on Twitter? And is some poor soul on his staff really assigned to monitor the Twitter posts?
And then it hit me. Looking at Obama’s Twitter page, you’ll note that as of midnight on July 14, 2008, there are 46,535 people following him. It’s not about the Twitter posts, it’s about showing how many people care about what Obama is doing, about showing the huge diversity of his supporters, and allowing his supporters to get connected.
All this aside, Obama’s team does a masterful job with the Twitter posts. While most of us post mildly amusing notes about our daily lives, in 140 characters, Obama’s posts tell you about the candidate’s campaign stops, his latest videos, how you can get involved, his family events, etc. Recent posts include:
“Announced we are opening the DNC acceptance speech to the public. Learn how you could be chosen to go…”
“Hosting a 4th of July family picnic in Butte, MT and celebrating Malia’s 10th Birthday! Watch it live…”
BTW, I have searched in vain for John McCain in Twitter. I wanted to compare strategies and styles, but no luck. If he’s out there, would someone please send me a link.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I bet come election day, Twitter will be sending out 46,535+ text messages asking people to “Vote for Obama”. Or better yet, they’ll ask you to Twitter that you voted for Obama, so all your friends will get updated.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Diane Tucker of the Huffington Post linked to this post on my blog.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-tucker/help-my-bff-obama-isnt-fo_b_120839.html
Her point is that unless she makes a move, the candidates don’t reach out to her. She says she’s not on Twitter, so I guess Obama is not following her on Twitter.