The Pitch

TWITTER, AUDIENCES AND THE #ELECTION

By McKay Perry As the presidential race ratchets down for a high-speed finish, we continue to see technologys role in the way we view politics. Specifically, social media has transformed the landscape of the presidential race. It used to be that word-of-mouth, television, radio and newspapers transmitted political news. Social media is like word-of-mouth on steroids. We know that Obama used social media effectively in his last election, but let us take a look at the role of social media in the lives of voters. How do they respond to policy, candidates, and news through this emerging medium In a democracy, voter turnout rises and falls. Voter engagement in the election is key to getting voters to the polls. In 2008, 64 percent of voting-age citizens voted in the presidential election, according to a census report. This is statistically a significantly higher rate than the 1996 and 2000 elections. Twitter, for example, is providing opportunities for people to become engaged. With the two-way communication on Twitter, it is more important than ever that the candidates are sharp, on their game, and gaffe-free. Many Twitter users have taken to Twitter as a way to share the gaffes that happen along the campaign trail. Some notable mistakes that Twitter users have not let go unnoticed are Mitt Romneys 47% comment and Al Gores excuse of the altitude affecting President Obamas performance in the first presidential debate in Denver. In that first Presidential debate, Romney and Obama battled over political interpretations of policy. It really was mostly policy. That came as a pleasant surprise to many viewers. The debate provided genuine insight into the candidates campaign platforms. The absence of mudslinging and personal attacks were absentsomething that was in contrast to the debates that we saw a year ago in the Republican race with Newt and the gang. One of the only topics from the debate that provided somewhat of a gaffe was the Big Bird comment. Twitter users began commenting on the topic in a humorous manner. This leads to another question, do Twitter users take the debates seriously? Are they thinking critically about politics or are they merely paying attention for entertainment purposes? According to the uses and gratification theory, people use media to meet their needs. Social media is no exception. People engage in the conversation as a way to socialize, to be entertained and to learn new information. The uses of Twitter in politics is a model for examining this theory. During the debates, via Twitter, people responded to policy and the candidates with criticism and humorous comments. Users definitely expressed their amusement and their views of the debate surrounding the PBS subsidy. According to the Daily Beast, here are some of the best Big Bird Tweets:

@rickklein per Sesame Street, Big Bird has no comment b/c he is 6 and does not understand why he's in the news. I'm actually not making this up. @TracyinSuburbia

If Big Bird is looking for a job, I heard there is a new opening for a social media director at Kitchen Aid. Some tweets actually commented on the candidates policy behavior and the fact that people were talking about the debate topics. @DavidShuster Romney: "I like big bird," about five seconds after saying he will cut PBS. Romney v. Romney is the best debate so far. #current2012 TwitterGovernment @gov 17,000 Tweets per minute for "Big Bird" and 10,000 Tweets per minute for "PBS". #debates
(Also, in the spirit of enriching our public relations education experience, if you are managing a Twitter handle for a corporation, do not do anything dumbin reference to Kitchen Aid.) According to Twitter,, the previous debate was the highest tweeted event in United States political history.

The topic of twitter usage and the effectiveness can be debated. Looking at the graphic, we see that people are actually talking about the more meaty issues in the election, like Medicare and health care. Depending on which television station you watched the debate, tweets from viewers were visible on the bottom of the screen or on the screen after the debate concluded. Many of the tweets continued on about Big Bird or other unimportant things like the color of the ties. The power that Twitter has to actually influence someones view is debatable, but it does provide an environment to preach to the choir so-to-speak. Many users go to social media to talk with their friends who have relatively the same

political viewpoints. Social media becomes a polarizing mechanism that allows people to reinforce their own beliefs and ideas. Twitter is a public forum. It allows people the opportunity to discuss their viewpoints with their like-minded followers and friends. This crystallizes their opinion and results in the right thinking more right-like and the left thinking more left-like. The forum of discussion is where people form and shap their own political views. While watching the first televised debate with Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy, the public noticed something and discussed it with each other.

The total effect that social media can have on politics is not known. Ultimately, we will just have to sit back and watch what the audiences do on election day.