Election 2012 – The Unsung Heros of Twitter
The power of Social Media is perhaps the most understated factor in this year’s General Election. Who will be our next President and Senators and Congressmen are largely dependent on the social media wars and information and opinions that are generated on Facebook and Twitter. While there are other Social Media outlets, Facebook and Twitter are by far the most active and influential and when you get right down to it…it all comes back to Twitter.
This is why you see the candidates themselves tweeting and gathering followers. This is something money simply can’t buy. No amount of dollars spent on TV advertising can equal the power of tweets and retweets and blogs created and tweeted and the exchange of ideas by so called: twittermates. The hashtags spread like wildfire and what or who is trending is dominated in the Twitter Universe.
#WhatsTrending
Twitter can make you and Twitter can break you. Remember Anthony Weiner? (Who could forget!)!
#OMG-IthinkI’mGoingViral #OMG-OMG-OMG
The very second something (anything) in the world happens it is immediately tweeted and picked up and retweeted all over the world. The announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed was announced first by a tweet on Twitter, even before President Obama announced it to the world on TV.
Keith Urbahn @keithurbahnis
So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.(This was tweeted over an hour before President Obama’s announcement on May 1, 2011. Keith Urbahn, an aide to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld)
Some think Rumsfeld may have been the reputable person who told Keith. But we all know that isn’t possible!
A SINGLE TWEET CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!
This is the power of Twitter. And todays Candidates know it. And they use it as a campaign tool and very, highly effectively. Candidates themselves rarely tweet. When they do it is to the delight of their followers and each tweet is retweeted thousands or hundreds of thousands of times. Campaigns know how powerful and influential Twitter is and they routinely and effectively set up accounts that are created to generate enthusiasm and activity and get results..These accounts mingle among other Twitterers as ‘friends’ without anyone knowing they are indeed ‘plants’.
Their job is to make friends with other active and influential Twittermates to ‘get out the word’, or whatever the campaign’s motive is, to spread throughout Twitterville. When they want to leak information about the opposition they take to Twitter and can accomplish their goal in a matter of minutes. Information about events, issues, gaffes, etc. are immediately picked up and tweeted out by Twitter.
THERE IS NO ESCAPE!
Every word a Politician or political candidate utters is going to be captured and reported these days and the highlights and especially the gaffes will be tweeted and retweeted until the cows come home. So goes it in Twitterville.
And thus, there are many bloggers who have chosen Twitter as a means to campaign for their chosen candidates and the really, really smart ones have found this to be a highly effective way to unleash their creativity and ideas as well as help their candidates to get national and even worldwide attention. Never underestimate the power of a Twitter blogger. Never!
And that is what this blog is really all about today – my very favorite political ‘unsung hero’ on Twitter. My favorite blogger – @GottaLaff
@GottaLaff is the creator of The Political Carnival along with her (highly important) though less visible partner @paddyK. Their blog, my favorite political blog, can be found at thepoliticalcarnival.net Well, the fact is I don’t know Paddy very well. In fact I don’t know her at all. But Laffy (@GottaLaff) first caught my attention back in 2010. Gosh it seems like it has been longer than that! ( Hey! @paddyK #FF @jazziette 🙂
@GottaLaff I swear it has been longer than two years!!!! #LOL #GirlTweets #xoxox
At that time I was busy campaigning for (among other people) MN State Senator Tarryl Clark in her race for Congress against Michele Bachmann. Unfortunately Clark lost that race, but in the process I met and made Twitter friends with some very cool people, one of whom was Laffy. Looking back I recall how I had to turn flips and cartwheels to get her to follow me. But eventually I did and I became addicted to The Political Carnival and each blog that Laffy (and paddy) put up (which were many) each and every day of the week. They were important and they were factual and they always included that famous Laffy sense of humour that made the reading even more fun.
Her tweets about her blogs would often begin with “Miss this?” And then a link to her latest #TPC entry, which was usually the very latest and hottest of news about the election translated into the Laffy version with a smattering of smart ass remarks to go along with it.
I was hooked! I was hooked not just on The Political Carnival. I was hooked on @GottaLaff and I joined the other 25K followers, or so, who are also hooked on this delightful, warm and funny girl from California that no one can get enough of.
What?!? You may be thinking. If she only has 25K followers (that’s really a LOT) how can she be that influential? Remember this….Twitter is like an enormous Pyramid Scheme. When you tweet something it is picked up by each of your followers who retweet to each of their followers who retweet to each of theirs and on and on and on. The number of people you can reach through ‘just one tweet’ is staggering!
Laffy aka @GottaLaff truly is one of the most popular and influential Tweeters on Twitter and her blog has caught the attention of the most important of political candidates, radio talk show hosts and even television anchors. She has become a frequent guest on mostly radio shows and her opinion is widely sought and respected. Laffy is one of those rare and charismatic people who exude love! She is loved and she loves back. She never misses a chance to show a follower her gratitude for a retweet or a mention on Twitter. She is truly one in a kazillion.
But….as with any other site, organization, club, group, etc….along with fame comes jealousy!
Laffy is a Democrat! She works hard to get Democrats, especially the President, elected and re-elected. And she is fresh! She is credible! She could run for office herself and get elected if she had a mind to. But she doesn’t! She is happy blogging and interacting with her followers. She is honest and patriotic and she believes in her cause! Those who she supports are very appreciative but quite sadly this brings me to the unfortunate fact that not everyone admires those who have talent and spirit. There are some who are jealous and this is where I find the need to point out the dark side of Twitter. That side that most don’t really see and don’t really understand. It’s what goes on behind the scenes and one of the reasons that Twitter has a ‘block feature’. Of course all of us who are site savvy know how to get around that. How? By just creating a new account, a new ID. It’s easy! A 12 year old can teach you how to do that!
JEALOUSY HAS SUCH A NASTY FACE!
And it creeps up just when you least expect it! Kind of like when you were in the first grade and suddenly someone you liked and you thought was your friend comes up to you and says “I don’t like you! You’re not my friend anymore!” And we are hurt and we are shocked and sometimes we cry. Growing up and becoming an adult may help us understand this kind of behavior (not really) but it doesn’t take away the hurt or the sorrow that comes with it.
But wait! We are not dealing with ordinary people anymore. We are in the Social Media. The wonderful world of the internet where people can hide behind their internet masks and say and do things they would never do ‘in real life’. This isn’t real life? Well…yes…there is always someone real behind each tweet, each post, each word that one reads on the web. And that is why our wonderful world of Twitter has been infiltrated, like every other great site on the web, with Trolls and Clones who do all they can to hurt and discredit those they consider competition or who they feel they have too much influence or maybe they are just someone who is jealous of the attention someone else is getting. There are many reasons that Trolls surface.
It was actually rumoured that Facebook employees, in the beginning, were directed to set up Troll accounts on popular social websites and troll users to the point where they eventually fled the sites to Facebook for relief. Is this true? I honestly can’t imagine Mark Zuckerberg doing this. Why would someone do something like that when seeking to build a ‘multi-billion dollar’ social media site? Anyone see the movie? I doubt it is true and actually Facebook has implemented very strong rules against trolling.
“Your account has been de-activated!”
It still amazes me how much certain folks on Twitter can get away with. And honestly, the constant bickering gets so old! #StopIt The fact is, one cannot be too careful what one writes these days. Thanks to the googlebots our words are etched into eternity.
But still…. the sad truth is that this type of troll activity just seems to be getting worse and worse! And when it does it causes the one under attack to suffer feelings of helplessness and despair that are difficult to describe. Just absolutely horrible is the description that comes to mind!
Example: My good friend, @GottaLaff (Laffy) has come under this type of attack! Right now! And she is the last person on this planet who deserves to be treated this way!
And that leaves us to wonder why. Is it just jealousy or is there something deeper and darker behind it all. Is someone or someones from the GOP side working to discredit her and hoping to ruin her fabulous reputation?
Or is it just some sick, pathetic, weird, psycho who, for reasons unknown, has launched an attack on her that has not gone unnoticed. It has not gone unnoticed by Laffy and it has not gone unnoticed by her adoring followers!
But never fear @GottaLaff (Laffy) !!! We are here! And we’ve got your BACK!
We all know how to use the ignore and block features! Attacking back only exacerbates and accelerates the situation. There is nothing Trolls and Bullies fear more than being ignored!
But on the other hand…………
POW! BANG! BOOM! CRUNCH!!!!
BOOM! POW! BAM!!!!!!
CRUNCH!!!!!!! BANG!!!!!!!
HAHAHA!!! That felt SOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!
As for Election 2012 –
Hear! Hear! Twittermates! We shall PREVAIL!!!
With the help of unsung heros like YOU and @GottaLaff we WILL win it ALL in November!
Sincerely,
@Jazziette
*Thanks to @GottaLaff and @paddyK for permission to use (altercate) pics of Laffy and The Political Carnival!
PS……AND……..God Bless the Trolls….. *WINK*
© Copyright 2012 Jazziette, Inc.
Political Bedlam 