The 3 biggest social media takeaways from Election 2012
We just experienced the first election in which Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and other sites played an enormous role. Here’s what PR and social media folks can take from it.
RELATED: Election night 2012 makes history on Twitter
This election has plenty to teach us about the state of social media. Here are three of the biggest lessons:
1. Tumblr is a viable platform to activate a younger demographic.
Obama’s team was active on the microblogging platform, taking advantage of memes and celebrity endorsements—highly shareable social elements. A look at his Tumblr (barackobama.tumblr.com/) shows gifs, a Lady Gaga tweet, and a kitty cat graphic. Was Tumblr the reason Obama won and Romney, whose Tumblr wasn’t nearly as interesting, lost? Probably not. But it certainly leads us to our next point …
2. Strong, shareable content may be becoming as effective as advertising.
Just as with companies, politicians have to fight through a ton of noise to be heard in social. Battleground states were inundated by TV ads, and they became white noise, blending together and inspiring people only to resent the election.
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