A detailed examination of more than 20 million Tweets about the race for president finds that the political discussion on Twitter is measurably different than the one found in the blogosphere-more voluminous, more fluid and even less neutral.
But both forms of social media differ markedly from the political narrative that Americans receive from news coverage, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which examines campaign coverage and the online conversation from May 2-November 27.
And in that campaign discussion on Twitter, one candidate has fared better than anyone else. Congressman Ron Paul has enjoyed the most favorable tone on Twitter of all candidates examined. From May through November, fully 55% of the assertions about the Texas Republican on Twitter have been positive-the highest of any candidate-while 15% have been negative-the lowest percentage of any candidate. That is a differential for Paul of 40 points on the positive side.
Paul is also the most favorably discussed candidate in blogs. While he trails significantly in the polls, and has received less coverage than every Republican candidate except Rick Santorum from news outlets, Paul seems to have struck a chord with some cohort in social media.
This treatment of Paul stands in contrast to that of most of the GOP field, for whom Twitter has been a tough neighborhood. Five of Paul's seven GOP rivals have had negative opinions on Twitter outstrip positive ones by roughly 2-1 or more.
On the other side of the political spectrum, President Obama's negative evaluations on Twitter outweighed his positive ones by 3-1.
http://www.journalism.org/analysis_r...c=prc-headline
Republicans better face the fact (and soon) that if you really want to get rid of Obama, Ron Paul is your only chance. Nominating a deeply flawed candidate with massive baggage like Gingrich, or a flip-flopper like Romney who will get ZERO support from Independents will only get you 4 more years of Obummer. Count on it-
But both forms of social media differ markedly from the political narrative that Americans receive from news coverage, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which examines campaign coverage and the online conversation from May 2-November 27.
And in that campaign discussion on Twitter, one candidate has fared better than anyone else. Congressman Ron Paul has enjoyed the most favorable tone on Twitter of all candidates examined. From May through November, fully 55% of the assertions about the Texas Republican on Twitter have been positive-the highest of any candidate-while 15% have been negative-the lowest percentage of any candidate. That is a differential for Paul of 40 points on the positive side.
Paul is also the most favorably discussed candidate in blogs. While he trails significantly in the polls, and has received less coverage than every Republican candidate except Rick Santorum from news outlets, Paul seems to have struck a chord with some cohort in social media.
This treatment of Paul stands in contrast to that of most of the GOP field, for whom Twitter has been a tough neighborhood. Five of Paul's seven GOP rivals have had negative opinions on Twitter outstrip positive ones by roughly 2-1 or more.
On the other side of the political spectrum, President Obama's negative evaluations on Twitter outweighed his positive ones by 3-1.
http://www.journalism.org/analysis_r...c=prc-headline
Republicans better face the fact (and soon) that if you really want to get rid of Obama, Ron Paul is your only chance. Nominating a deeply flawed candidate with massive baggage like Gingrich, or a flip-flopper like Romney who will get ZERO support from Independents will only get you 4 more years of Obummer. Count on it-
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