The Critical Role of Social Media in

Politics

Lawrence G. Miller

JFK ClubNovember 11, 2013

“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic”

John F. Kennedy

“Social media creates that intimate window & gives voters a chance to really see your humanity & the substance of your spirit.”Corey Booker

Senator-elect (DEM NJ)

Advances that offer tactical advantages in campaigning, marketing and communication, have unintentionally birthed the digital divide. This cyber-chasm encourages us to segment and label groups to receive uniform messages, never deviating from the theme identified as “liked.”

Robin SmithRepublican

Facebook: 2.46 million posts in 1 minute

Twitter: 278,000 Tweets per minute

Flickr: 20 million photos & videos uploaded

YouTube: 72 hours of video uploaded per minute

What is Social Media really

about?

It’s about relationships

Today: 3 Social Media Channels

• Facebook – the biggest of the bunch• Twitter – quirky but powerful,

especially with key demographics• Flickr – photo and image

repository

Facebook• Facebook is the second most accessed

website in the US – after Google• United States has 168.8 million

members• 1.11 billion monthly active users,

globally• Create and share content with

“friends”• The LIKE button allows users to

express appreciation of content of “pages”

Obama on Facebook 2008• Created an interconnection between Obama's official

website and Facebook so a user could send postings from one to another

• Spent 4% of $16 million Internet budget to promote on Facebook

• Main Facebook page had over a million likes• 10 more Facebook accounts for "specific

demographics, such as Veterans for Obama, Women for Obama, and African Americans for Obama

• Michelle Obama and Joe Biden also had pages• Collected $ directly on Facebook

Twitter• 140 character limit• At least 7% of Americans are

using it, - Twitter population is 17 million people

• Twitter users interact with brands - a huge potential source for Influencers

• Twitter users “FOLLOW” other users and have FOLLOWERS who see their content

Obama on Twitter• @BarackObama is the official

Twitter account for Obama political efforts – @WhiteHouse for presidential

activities• Used to drive people to main

Website - Barackobama.com• June, 2012, Obama's account

had 16,505,044 followers– 3rd account to reach 10M

followers

Twitter – TN Democratic Party

Twitter is Heavily Used by Minorities

ReTweet (RT), Favorite, & Mention

@lawrencegmiller

Obama 2012

Obama had 5000 times as much social media influence as Romney – PBS Newshour

Flickr

• 2013 Flickr had 87 million registered members and more than 3.5 million new images uploaded daily

• Repository of images and videos – often used in Blogs & other social media

• Flickr lets users share their photos, create groups and have “contacts”

My Flickr

• Started in 2006 – now over 23,000 images• Created 100,000 Photographs of Chattanooga

Group in 2009– Almost 400 members– Over 20,000 photos

• Images have been used in books, WSJ, Chronicle of Higher Education, Blogs, etc.

• Sets devoted to politics

My Flickr

My Campaign Blog

Today

Promoted with Social Media

• Used Facebook to call attention to article–On my own Timeline– Sent as Private Message to targeted FB

Friends– Shared with TN Dems, HCDP

• Tweeted link to the article• Sent Emails with the link to The

Chattanoogan

Call to Action On Facebook

• LIKE pages of Democrats

• COMMENT and SHARE• Create events and

invite friends• If a candidate –

consider advertising on Facebook

• Fundraising

Call to Action On Twitter

• Follow Twitter accounts of Democrats

• FAVORITE & RETWEET• Use Twitter to promote

events & activities• If a candidate –

consider advertising on Twitter

• Fundraising

Get Involved!Thanks for the Opportunity

drmillerlg@gmail.com@lawrencegmiller