Health Care Summit Tweets
The Twittersphere was a buzz during yesterday’s healthcare summit. Amelia Hassani put together some of the more memorable tweets.
Yesterday morning, my Tweetdeck was aflutter with those anticipating the Health Care Summit. On their way to the Blair House to meet with Congressmen from both chambers and the President himself for the eventual seven and a half hour-long debate, some asked their followers what they wanted to be brought up, and others, like John McCain, put their game faces on: : “on my way to the health care summit at the White House–let’s start over Mr. President.”
Many encouraged their constituents to follow the debate via C-SPAN in their uniquely Twitterific ways: Representative Joe Barton’s “At White House about to participate in Health Care Summit with President. It will be on C-SPAN & other networks possibly” definitely resonates differently than Senator Chuck Grassley’s imperative “On way to White House/Blair House health care summit. Watch on TV.”
Senators Harry Reid and Chris Dodd were among those who tweeted to inform their followers that their staff would be posting on their behalf during the Summit, respectable in their desires to keep communication going while not seeming rude or distracted during the summit. However, for those of us following on Twitter, the real moment we felt included in the discussion was when Judge Carter tweet-announced “Let the Health Care Summit begin…”
There was definitely a whole lot of tweeting going on during the Summit, and I’m guessing a fair portion of it was not done by staff. A Republican trend emerged that either @gopconference or @GOPleader (John Boehner) would post a “FACT CHECK:____” refuting something the President had just said, and a handful of Republican Congressmen (including Mike Pence, Phil Gingrey, Bob Latta, would retweet (RT) the blurb. Representatives Bill Shuster, John Shimkus, Vern Buchanan, Bob Latta posted polls for their followers who were watching the Summit to voice their opinion/give the Congressmen realtime stats on what his constituents wanted him to do.
Eventually it was time for a break, and Chuck Grassley was sure to keep us updated (& slightly confused): “Broke for lunch fr Summit not bc hungry House had vote”. Representatives Tom Price and John Shimkus used the break to tally up minutes of talk-time; as Representative Shimkus put it, “Time clock on first half of healthcare summit: Dems spoke for 108 min, GOP spoke for 56 minutes. Who’s doing the listening?”
Things really started to get juicy in both the latter half and aftermath of the Summit. More than anything, the tweets reflect continued Republican sentiment of being “left out”, in spite of the bipartisan circumstances of the Summit. Nonetheless, emotions were stirred, and the following are some highlights to that effect:
• The most retweeted post of the day was Jim DeMint’s “After a year pretending Republicans don’t have health care ideas, the President just admitted we do. #tcot #gop #hcr”
• Senator DeMint was also really diligent to add links to the end of his tweets yesterday. The post “President says he’s open to GOP ideas but he voted against them when he was in the Senate” was followed by a link to a laundry list on his website of past Republican health care reform initiatives that Senator Obama voted against. However, his most interesting linked post was ”Obama & Reid still open to reconciliation. If it they try to ram this through, I’ll use every tool to stop it” where he linked to a post on his blog entitled “Irreconcilable Differences”, implying that the Republicans and the Democrats/President/healthcare bills are getting divorced. What happened to staying together for the kids?
• Randy Neugebauer took the posted link one step further: he linked to a youtube video. “It’s time to stop politicizing health care and start an honest conversation with the American people” a link to a short film where he is sitting alone with a camera, really breaking that fourth wall and speaking directly to his constituent, telling them what they want through aptly linked talking points.
• David Vitter drove home a common theme: that the healthcare plan ignores what “the people” want (although the only answer to “what they want” that I’ve heard is lower cost which seems a bit reductive). “Healthcare Summit proves Obama & fellow liberals not listening to the people #LAsen #latcot #tcot #gop#teaparty” which (look at all those trending topics!) he followed with a link to his facebook page that had a longer version of the same rant.
• Chris Dodd posted a few resonating statistics, a breath of fresh air among the blood pressure-raising FACT CHECKS and calls to start over. “In the next ten years, without reform, every state will have a 10% increase in the number of uninsured. #hcr” and “Coverage is essential–14,000 people lose their health insurance every day.”
• Lamar Smith believes that healthcare is done: “#TCOT Obama is holding wrong summit. Health care summit today is too little, too late http://lamarsmith.house.gov/read.aspx?ID=1309“.
• Patrick McHenry, among his various invitations for people to watch the Summit and tweet-chat with him about it, also tried to make a few jokes. Some included “Nancy Pelosi just claimed a government takeover of health care will create jobs “immediately”… I’m having pre-stimulus vote flashbacks…”, and “Cutting Medicare to fund new entitlements won’t save Medicare or reduce the deficit. Double-entry accounting didn’t work for Madoff either.”
• Don Young thought he could be funny as well: “The president’s health care proposal is like giving a kid a bowl of brussel sprouts, stirring it around, and calling it ice cream. #hcsummit”
• Mike Honda’s supportive tweet seemed comical amid so many negative ones, but his positivity is definitely charming: “Health summit: glad focus is on the ppl and lowering costs, not politics. Effective bi-partisanship? I love our President! #HCR #summit”
It’s interesting that amongst claims that the Summit was a media circus or, as Patrick McHenry put it, “political theatre [that] continues to blur the line between DC and Broadway,” those who were denouncing the Summit as such were the ones tweeting in ways that mimicked peanut galleries at, well, circuses and plays. Nonetheless, the standout tweet of the day was a diamond in the rough, because one needed to follow Thad McCotter’s posted link to get the punchline: ”In a time of war and recession, this is how the duly elected leaders of the greatest nation on Earth spent their day,” followed by a link to a blog post entitled: Shamwow Summit.
Michigan’s Jocelyn Benson on social media & her campaign
Michigan’s Jocelyn Benson shared her social media experiences with Wayne State University’s student newspaper.
So what’s been successful for her? Here are some highlights.
Fundraising: combining social media efforts with action
Targeting: finding email addresses, likes, dislikes, political affiliation, etc
Feedback: knowing voters’ concerns and where they want appearances
Cost effectiveness: all that access for no fee
Awareness: spreading the word without relying on traditional media coverage or the stress of an email blast list
Jocelyn Benson began her campaign for Michigan Secretary of State a year ago with an exploratory committee and a single Facebook page.
The Wayne State assistant law professor is using the social networking site to its fullest potential by recruiting members and updating them with her latest campaign information.
Facebook, along with Twitter, is one of the newer and more popular media that political candidates use to reach out to potential voters.“It’s a great way to excite people and get people informed about our efforts,” said Benson, a Democrat. “I certainly don’t think we’d be as strong as we are without Facebook.”
The social networking site helped Benson raise some of her $227,000 in 2009 from more than 1,200 donors in 50 Michigan counties. She said it speaks volumes to the type of support the campaign has been generating.
Facebook gives easy access for political parties to users’ e-mail addresses, their likes and dislikes, and often with which political party they align. And it’s all free. But Facebook allows potential voters and constituents an outlet to be heard.
“Concerning comments, politicians are beginning to understand that someone who comments on their Facebook page with a concern should be looked at the same way as someone sending a letter to their district office,” wrote Vincent Harris, founder of Harris Media, an online communication firm specializing in political campaigns.
He ran Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s successful 2009 campaign. Harris wrote in his blog on techrepublican.com that McDonnell’s camp made the decision early on to make Facebook the primary social network of the campaign.
“Campaigns are slowly waking up to the fact that a Facebook supporter is an avid fan: someone to cultivate, communicate with and ask help from,” Harris wrote in his blog.
Benson sees that instant feedback with Facebook. She said it’s an incredible tool, not just to communicate outward, but for other people to communicate where they would like her to show up around the state.“That’s the type of availability and accessibility that we want to continue once we’re in that (secretary of state) office,” Benson said.
But accruing avid supporters is the first major step. Seventy-seven percent of Facebook fan pages have less than 1,000 fans, according to a 2009 study released by social media monitoring and analytics firm Sysomos.
As of Feb. 22, Benson is well above the norm with 1,831 members on her “Jocelyn Benson for Michigan Secretary of State” groups page. She also has 1,408 friends on her personal page, and more than 2,700 fans on another.
Benson said the number of members she has “is almost an informal poll on the type of support we’ve got.”
She said Facebook has been critical for her campaign to be able to get the word out beyond the press and directly to supporters. But those aren’t the only people watching.
“Our opponents, I imagine, are also keeping a close eye on our page,” Benson said.
Rep. Paul Scott (R-Mich.) and Calhoun County Clerk Anne Norlander, also a Republican, have Facebook pages for their campaigns. As of Feb. 22, Scott has 741 members.Norlander has 574 on her groups page and more than 1,700 on her personal one.
Norlander, who’s been in office for 26 years, said this campaign has been like none other. She also uses YouTube and Twitter.“This is a very techno-intense election,” she said. “It wasn’t this way eight years ago.”
Norlander said it’s interesting to see what people write on her “wall,” which is a way for friends, fans or members to post comments on Facebook. But there is one downside, she said.
“Facebook is addictive,” Norlander said. “I wasn’t the type of person to sit on the computer a lot, but I am now.”
It will be announced at a convention this summer whether Benson will be awarded the Democratic nomination. Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, a Democrat, announced Feb. 2 her candidacy for Michigan Secretary of State. Within two weeks, Winfrey had a Facebook page for her campaign and 231 fans.
Ashton Kutcher… in Russia
Actor and web savvy actist Ashton Kutcher is stirring things up in Russia. He says he will “crowd source” questions about The Kremlin’s push to develop a Russian Silicon Valley to his 4.5 Twitter fans. Kutcher has become a very active part of the US delegation of technology and social media team in recent months and is one of the leaders that arrived in Moscow as part of the White House efforts to improve Russia.
The actor has goals to “translate the Russian voice to an American audience” to help Russia build its own high tech center. The Kremlin is in agreement and would like to develop a Russia’s own Silicon Valley to help modernize their struggling economy that depends mainly on energy exports.
The US delegation strongly urged the Russian government, businessmen and students to use social media to tackle problems like human trafficking and corruption.
I remember when Ashton Kutcher’s show Punk’d came out and no one took him seriously, and now he is travelling to Russia with the Whitehouse to help a struggling government. We all have to grow up sometimes I guess. But in all seriousness, I love what Ashton Kutcher is doing, he is a man who understands the power of social media and technology and is using his knowledge, experience and popularity to really make a difference.
Wanna Skype Tonight?
The ongoing war in Iraq does not appear to be coming to an end anytime soon. Our troops have been out there risking their lives and fighting for our country and their loved ones. Many of the men and women stationed out there are away from their families, boyfriends girlfriends and friends for at least a year a time with maybe one or two weeks of leave to visit, definitely making it hard on the soldier and his or her loved ones. But our soldiers now are in a different league then the men from World War II, Vietnam and even the Gulf War, they have the internet at their disposal. Social media allows them to keep in constant contact with their family and friends.
It may seem insignificant to you and I- we see our friends and family all the time, and may take Facebook and Skype for granted, however, for our troops overseas, it keeps them in the loop. they can see their children grow, they can make Skype dates with their girlfriends and wives and have an instant chat on Facebook or AIM with their friends. The thought that social media was keeping our troops sane and happy never crossed my mind until last week when a friend of mine sent me an instant chat on Facebook. He is stationed in Iraq and will be there for another 10 months, yet we were able to chat and catch up as if he was just around the corner. He was telling me that he Skypes with his wife once a week and loves to see new pictures that she uploads; often times that is the best part of his day. To talk to my friend, and to hear him tell me how much he values social media really hit me hard. It reminded me to not take the information that is passed and the conversations had for granted. It also reminded me of the power that the internet has and how social media is breaking so many barriers that once existed.
From Jack and Diane to Senate Seat?
Change is Good…
Twitter Intrigues the White House
If You Can’t Say Something Nice…
Labour chairman David Wright Labour MP Party of Telford, allegedly used the words “Scum sucking pig” in a Tweet, to describle the Tories, (conservative party in the UK). Currently he is claiming that a third party tinkered with his account adding the words scum sucking- to what should have read “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.”
The White House is fact-checking on Twitter
Accuracy is more important than ever with social media. Mistakes are caught quickly and live on forever. Even the White House will call you out if you mess up some of the details. The following article explains.
The White House has started using a new weapon for correcting news reports, pushing back against a negative story or shaping the press corps narrative of the day: Twitter.
On Monday, deputy press secretary Bill Burton told his more than 4,000 followers — who include much of the White House press corps — that a Washington Post report that morning was wrong. The Obamas, he noted, went to Chicago for Valentine’s Day in 2009, not this past Sunday, as was reported in the Post’s Style section.
It was a small correction but indicative of how the White House press shop can now more actively engage with the press and public through the popular microblogging platform that allows users to post 140 characters at a time and follow any number of friends, celebrities, reporters and a variety of media outlets, large and small.
While there’s long been a White House Twitter feed, only in the past few weeks have members of the administration started using individual accounts in an official capacity. Burton, who’s had an account since August, just started posting regularly in January, gaining attention among reporters with a little pushback against a CNN report.
“Twitter has helped us to quickly get information out, keep up with what is on the minds of our press corps, circulate stories we think they will find of interest and knock down stories that may be counterfactual,” Burton told POLITICO.
Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media, started his own official account last week, and press secretary Robert Gibbs joined Saturday, to great fanfare in the Twitterverse.
“Wow — in a less than 30 hours almost 17K of you are following — amazing — watch out Kim Kardashian! Thanks to all for the smart tips!” he said in one of his first Tweets.
Gibbs told POLITICO that he was inspired to join after watching Burton’s account during President Barack Obama’s surprise visit to the White House briefing room last Tuesday.
Burton could see that reporters were having non-news-related side conversations over Twitter and chastised them for not focusing on the president. Gibbs said it was “fascinating to see what people are thinking, writing, doing in real time.”
Indeed, by following the White House press corps on Twitter, Gibbs — or anyone with an account, really — can get an immediate glimpse of how journalists are reacting to a news story or an issue batted around in the daily briefing. During major speeches, following the political Twitterati can be a way to get a sense of how they might play out in the press later on.
The addition of Gibbs and Burton certainly didn’t go unnoticed among several Twitter users in the press corps, who point out some advantages in having the White House press shop more heavily involved with the political conversations playing out in real time.
David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, said that “if somebody writes a story they want to take issue with, it’s a lot easier to send out a Twitter note with a correction or with a perspective than to make an official statement or a press release or say something during the press briefing.”
Such a correction or clarification can be effective without being heavy-handed, Corn noted, adding that Twitter offers the “aura of informality and tremendous immediacy.” Corn added that the press shop can also highlight a story beneficial to the administration with a tweet and accompanying link.
“Most Americans aren’t tuned in to Twitter, but the Washington and White House press corps definitely are,” said Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today. “So if a story breaks that the White House wants to instantly dispute — or spread — a tweet from Gibbs or Burton would be a quick way to reach a lot of reporters and probably spark some back and forth. I think it’s a faster way to reach that particular universe of people than giving something to the wires or sending out an e-mail. We’re all flooded with those.”
CBS News Radio’s Mark Knoller, who has over 18,000 followers, said that “Twitter can be a very demanding mistress, and it’ll be interesting to see if Gibbs uses it much.”
“He has so much else on his plate,” Knoller continued. “But now he’s got an outlet to comment or respond to queries or link to something on the White House website.”
Christina Bellantoni, who covers the White House for Talking Points Memo, said that since the “press shop has given every indication they like going around the reporters to talk directly to the nation, [she’d] expect lots more on that front from Gibbs and Burton.” She pointed out that Gibbs posted a Gallup Poll Monday showing global perceptions of U.S. leadership improving from 2008 to 2009, clearly a good story for the White House.
While Burton has been following reporters on Twitter for months — if not tweeting himself — Knoller said that he’s “surprised that it took Gibbs so long to log on to Twitter.” So is Bellantoni.
“They are a little late to the game,” she said, “as evidenced by Gibbs talking about Kim Kardashian in one of his first tweets, but I am still in the ‘Twitter is relevant’ camp.”
“I can’t resist noting how Chuck Todd was one of the biggest Twitter-bashers for months, but once he joined he seemed hooked and has really mastered the format,” Bellantoni said, referring to the NBC reporter. “And Obama somehow got away with having several million followers for years and only issuing his first tweet after the quake in Haiti, so I think Gibbs is safe.”
So what took so long?
Phillips pointed out that the official White House Twitter account had been used throughout the past year to push out news on a regular basis — such as the announcement in July that Obama would be holding a prime-time press conference. The official Barack Obama Twitter account is run by Organizing for America, not the White House.
Just recently, Phillips said that both Gibbs and Burton “expressed an interest in doing a little bit more with Twitter, and so we set them up.” Phillips said that he was in Gibbs’s office Monday morning talking about using Twitter, a conversation that he said made it abundantly clear “we’re in 2010” and “things are changing.”
“He’s able to communicate with the public now and ‘cc’ the press corps,” Phillips said, adding that communication is changing greatly, presenting an “exciting prospect for the press shop and the White House generally.”
While Gibbs and Burton are the first press secretary and deputy to officially use Twitter, the first White House press shop official to embrace the platform was Scott Stanzel, President George W. Bush’s deputy press secretary from just after the 2006 midterm elections until Obama’s Inauguration.
Stanzel said that even in 2007 and 2008 — before a number of White House reporters began using Twitter — he found it useful as a way of following what journalists were interested in and subsequently linking to. “The only time I think I used Twitter in a work-related fashion is when I live-tweeted President Bush’s final press conference” in January 2009.
“It’s a very efficient way to share information and nearly all White House reporters are active in some fashion on Twitter,” said Stanzel, who now runs his own public relations firm, Stanzel Communications.
Given that the Obama White House — like any administration — is concerned with message control, having just any press staffer providing his or her views on Twitter could be confusing if it’s unclear whether that account is speaking officially for the White House. With Gibbs and Burton, two officials who regularly provide on-the-record statements or answer questions in the daily briefing, it’s clear their response to a question on Twitter carries the same weight as if it came from behind the briefing room podium.
So with all this daily — hourly? — back and forth going on over Twitter between reporters and the White House, is Twitter becoming essential to covering the West Wing?
New York Times reporter Peter Baker, who has yet to join Twitter, said he’s “perfectly willing to concede that it may be and that [he may] need to get with the program.”
“Clearly it’s become an important new avenue of communication,” Baker added. “The question is whether it’s essential or distracting.”
Twitter & Politics in the UK
The BBC was mandated to use social media not long ago, and now the UK’s politicians are debating if they should jump aboard the social media bandwagon. Here’s an article on Twitter, Politicians, and the UK:
Somebody will put their foot in it.
Opinion may be divided about how much influence YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the social media phenomenon will have on this year’s general election.
Sites like YouTube have become huge since the 2005 electionBut there is one thing all the experts can agree on.
Some hapless candidate will say or do something which will make them an instant, if unwitting, internet star – bringing instant shame and embarrassment to their party.
“Candidates are going to have to be on their guard all the time,” says Tim Montgomerie of Tory-supporting blog ConservativeHome.
Social media was in its infancy at the 2005 general election – now it is everywhere and the consequences for politicians are only just beginning to sink in.
‘Too many tweets’
With so many camera and Twitter-enabled phones in circulation no political meeting can ever be considered private again, argues Mr Montgomerie.
“Everything you say could potentially be recorded. You are being watched all the time and you have to be careful what you say,” says Tim Montgomerie.
I think Cameron would be good at it. It’ll be a great medium for communicating in a warm, direct way
Tim Montgomerie, Conservative HomeEven when they are relaxing after a hard day’s campaigning, election candidates can not be sure that the person fiddling with their phone at the next pub table is not Tweeting their every word.
But the benefits of social media for politicians on the campaign trail far outweigh the risk of making a gaffe, argues Tim Montgomerie.
Twitter, in particular, offers them a chance to get their message across to voters in a more relaxed, intimate way than was previously possible.
Tim Montgomerie has been urging Conservative leader David Cameron to overcome his wariness about the micro-blogging site, which allows users to post updates on their day in 140 characters or less.
“I think Cameron would be good at it. It’ll be a great medium for communicating in a warm, direct way,” he wrote in a recent blog.
‘Great medium’
But his pleas seem destined to fall on deaf ears. Mr Cameron made his views on Twitter plain last year, when he told a startled radio presenter he believed “too many tweets make a twat”.
If nothing else, the incident proved that you don’t need to be on Twitter to put your foot in it.
But with the opinion polls narrowing the Conservatives cannot afford any slip-ups.
The party is encouraging candidates to use Twitter and other social media websites – but party managers have also been accused of attempting to vet their online utterances, after an e-mail to candidates was leaked to the press which said “electronic publications such as websites, blogs and Twitter have to be approved before they are posted”.
The Conservatives say it would not be practical to vet everything that their 650 general election candidates say online and they were merely seeking to remind them to stick to party policy.
What worries Tim Montgomerie and other Tory supporters is that many more Labour MPs than Conservatives are active on Twitter.
Recent research by Tweetminster found that of 111 MPs tweeting, 65 were Labour, 23 were Liberal Democrats and 16 were Conservatives.
Gordon Brown does not have a Twitter account but his wife Sarah is a something of a Twitter phenomenon, with more than a million followers.
‘Chaos’
Of the big three party leaders, only the Lib Dem’s Nick Clegg has used Twitter to hold debates with voters and announce policies. Mr Clegg also boasts of having the maximum number of friends on Facebook.
But does any of this matter to voters?
Labour MP Tom Harris, one of the most prolific and widely-read political bloggers and Tweeters, believes most of the electorate will not even notice social media and it will have little, if any, impact on voting intention.
Gordon Brown’s early forays on YouTube were not judged a successHe believes the main impact of Twitter will be as a source of stories for the mainstream media – something he has bitter experience of, when comments he made about an “‘army of teenage mothers living off the state” were picked up by the newspapers.
“Whatever I write on Twitter now I have to just assume the Daily Mail will read it,” he says.
The other effect of social media on the general election campaign – and this is something most of the pundits seem to agree on – is that it will speed everything up.
“It will add to the general sense of chaos,” says Tom Harris.
Instead of worrying about the main TV news bulletins, party managers will now have to keep across literally thousands of media sources.
But far from loosening their grip on the political agenda, Mr Harris believes the internet has given the parties more control.
“If the parties want to respond or attack, they can now do it instantly. A lot more of the power to move the agenda is back with the parties,” says the Glasgow South MP.
Cameron spoof
And he is scathing about the ability of the big political blogs, a handful of which probably wield as much influence as newspapers in shaping the political agenda, to keep the spin doctors in check.
“There will be a huge push by all the like-minded bloggers, both left and right, to promote their own party’s agenda. I think you are going to get quite a lot of discipline,” he says.
Perhaps. But Mr Harris may be underestimating the ability of the internet to subvert party messages and take them off in unexpected directions.
One of the biggest hits on Twitter in recent weeks has been the myDavidCameron site, which allows people to come up with their own, spoof versions of the Tory leader’s recent “airbrushed” election poster.
More than 70,000 have had a go. With money tight for Labour at this general election, this kind of “viral” effort could prove crucial to the party.
But the biggest impact of social media may be at a local level – and this is where much of the parties’ efforts are being concentrated.
‘Creativity’
It is thought Conservative candidates are being encouraged to record their own YouTube videos saying what is important to them – ready for when voters type their constituency name into Google.
Former Liberal Democrat web chief Mark Pack believes the internet will spell the end of indentikit candidates, all repeating the same election message crafted for them by party HQ.
David Cameron made clear his views of Twitter’s risk during a radio interview“It will encourage individuality and creativity,” he says.
He even argues that round-the-clock scrutiny by camera-phone wielding voters is a good thing for aspiring politicians: “In a less politically divided age, the personal attributes of a candidate are increasingly important.”
But Mr Pack, who co-edits the Liberal Democrat Voice blog and is an associate director of PR firm Mandate, says social media may not truly come into its own until after the final vote has been cast.
With a possible hung Parliament and one or more of the parties potentially facing leadership contest, politicians are going to need a fast, cheap and convenient way to rally support and raise money.
As Barack Obama found during his US presidential campaign, when it comes to generating a “bandwagon effect”, the internet is hard to beat.
Social Media Solutions prides itself on being a “hands on” social media agency. Our team has not only a strong educational background in business development, but also has a multitude of real-world experience in designing successful strategic initiatives for global corporations and small businesses alike. Our staff will partner with your company to ensure the development & implementation of the best social media strategy possible. 
