Analyst Sees Hillary Clinton Social Media Focus As Tiny Part of a Bigger Strategy
By social media editor Melony Roy
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Although social media had long been anticipating the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign announcement, the candidate herself wasn't on two of the largest social networks -- until yesterday.
Now, all that has changed.
Clinton announced her plans to run for the presidency on several social media sites. Local political consultant Mark Nevins says a social media strategy is both critically important and totally irrelevant at the same time.
"People will judge you based on your social media presence," he says. "It's a barometer (for) the kind of response you're getting from voters."
But he notes that "likes" don't equal votes.
"You have to run a campaign and get your supporters out to vote for you," he points out.
Eight years ago, Clinton didn't have a real social media strategy, but this time around she's hired former Google director Stephanie Hannon as her campaign's chief technology officer.
"Social media gives the candidates a way to have a conversation with both their supporters and voters who haven't yet made up their mind, who may be interested in checking out the different candidates," Nevins tells KYW Newsradio.
Within four hours of joining Facebook, Clinton's page boasted over 500,000 "likes." Her Twitter feed grabbed more than 3.3 million followers, and as of this morning her campaign kickoff video had more than 2.2 million views on YouTube.
The timeline on her Facebook page includes important biographical highlights. Among them: joining the Rose Law Firm, in 1977, delivering her address on women's rights in China in 1995, and the birth of her granddaughter.
