CNN Acknowledges Conservatives Are More Effective on Twitter, But Doesn’t Discuss the Reasons Why
ByCNN’s political ticker is carrying the following headline: “Liberal bloggers admit conservatives have upper hand on Twitter”
The article includes comments from both liberals and conservatives arguing that dominance from the Right on Twitter is due to the Leftward shift in national politics in general and the election of Barack Obama in particular. Here’s a snippit from the article:
“With Republicans in control of the largest bullhorn in the world – the White House – there was little impetus for conservative activists to exploit a platform to express their views.
“Conservatives have long had this inferiority complex in the online world,” said Matt Lewis, a conservative who writes for PoliticsDaily.com. “That is because Republicans have been in power when the blogosphere was invented.
Lewis added, “The ability to effectively utilize the Internet in the political realm works very well for the have-nots. It does not work so well for the establishment.”
To that end, Republicans are working overtime to establish a beachhead, online.”
We agree in part. There is no doubt that it is easier to nitpick and criticize than support. There’s also little doubt that the conservative movement online was somewhat demoralized by the practical realities and difficulties of governing during the last eight years and that the Lefty’s online today are learning quickly that the reality of the Age of Obama isn’t a euphoric as the campaign. But, that doesn’t really explain why conservatives have been so successful on Twitter as opposed to traditional blogging or other social media platforms. There are some other factors in the success worth considering.
First, the founders of Top Conservatives on Twitter, Rob Nepell and Michael Patrick Leahy did a tremendous job not only in making the effort fun, but taking the effort viral. For the most part, with a small slip or two, they also resisted their own corronation and allowed the movement they helped to create to grow free of excessive top-down control.
Second, Twitter, as a medium, has characteristics that made it a better — or at least more convenient — launching point for many conservative and libertarian activists than traditional blogging. Twitter’s 140 character limit means that individuals could fully participate while having a job. For awhile on Digg, the joke used to be that “conservatives come out at night” until someone pointed out that this may just be because conservatives tend to have jobs when the sun is up. The Twitter API generated an immediate following among professionals with Blackberry and other mobile communication devices that are regularly checked as part and parcel of being a young or mid-level professional.
Finally, we just wanted to note that the CNN article failed to point out the most obvious thing: The conservative and libertarian Twitter gang is effective because like talk radio heroes before them, they use the medium better than their liberal counterparts. The conservative and libertarians we follow on Twitter are consistently more humorous, fun, and playful.
[...] Obama’s opponents, who say his spending plans are too expensive in light of budget shortfalls. CNN Acknowledges Conservatives Are More Effective on Twitter, But Doesn’t Discuss the Reasons Why – dailyuprising.com 08/22/2009 CNN’s political ticker is carrying the following headline: “ [...]
You must be reading different tweets than me. I find most conservative tweets full of invectives, hate, and humorless commentary. They don't even get the irony of some of their comments and certainly satire goes over their heads. I've been block on quite a few of them, and I haven't reciprocated despite some personal attacks. I've never used foul language or ad hominem attacks. I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. Proud to call both intelligent Dems and GOPs friends. I love debate, passionate dialogue and a good fight. And I never bring my guns.Which I have a licence to carry.
@Guest
I could say the very same (if not worse) about many of the liberals I come across on Twitter. Either way, a handful of anecdotes != data.
How can you define yourself as a social liberal AND fiscal conservative when just about every social program in the US is unsustainable and driving us deeper and deeper into debt.
Jesse and Guest: I appreciate the comments. I might actually post on the "socially liberal" language tomorrow because in California I hear it all too frequently and it certainly means different things to different people.
Jesse: It may be that we just have a different sense of humor or that we follow different people. I rarely receive tweets that are "hateful" as opposed to spirited. One that comes to mind in paraphrased form from a day or two ago:
"Bill Clinton came out in favor of a #publicoption, yesterday. People were surprised at his enthusiasm until they realized he meant to come out in support of the #pubicoption."
Sure, that's hitting below the belt <g.>, but I thought it was worth at least a smirk!