Palin Growing 10 Times Faster Than Rivals on Social Media

Palin Growing 10 Times Faster Than Rivals on Social Media [Analysis]
From Tucson to State of Union speech, Palin capitalizes on news for big Facebook, Twitter gains
By Mark Malseed and Alex Salta Apr 27 2011, 06:01 AM

Can anyone or anything stop the social media juggernaut that is Sarah Palin?

An analysis by OhMyGov of social media activity during the early stages of the 2012 campaign reveals that Palin can do no wrong when it comes to Facebook and Twitter. Palin's social media fan growth so far in 2011 outshines that of any other GOP contender, declared or rumored, in many cases by a factor of 10. And she doesn't need to be part of the day's big story to experience continued rapid growth.

The former Alaska governor has gained momentum in a number of unexpected situations. Palin attracted more news coverage than both Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty in the days following their announcements of presidential exploratory committees, as OhMyGov reported yesterday, even as her own presidential intentions remain unclear. Palin also drew more new social media followers than Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the aftermath of the assassination attempt in Tucson that left Giffords critically wounded. And Palin saw her biggest spike in new Facebook fans --- or "Likes" of her page --- around the time of President Obama's State of the Union speech, which she provocatively criticized as being full of "WTF moments."

Anytime Palin becomes part of a news story, whether deliberately or unwittingly, our analysis shows, she benefits handsomely on social media. With a commanding advantage in Facebook fans over all her potential GOP primary opponents --- and a strong showing on Twitter as well --- Palin wields a lot of influence in the campaign whether she enters the race or not.



From Giffords tragedy, new Palin followers?

On January 9, the day after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot by a would-be assassin in Tucson, Palin saw a greater than average rise in her Facebook and Twitter followers: 4,164 new fans and 4,814 new followers respectively. Palin, like many other political figures, had issued a short public statement on Jan. 8 offering condolences to the victims and their families; she did so with a note on her Facebook page, also tweeting a link. She had no other connection to the Giffords story at this point other than mentions by some media outlets and activists of the "gun sight map" used on her website during the 2010 midterm elections, a potentially negative development.

Giffords, of course, saw her own social media numbers rise as her constituents and people across the country expressed support and watched to see how she would recover. In the first four days following the attack, Jan. 9 to Jan. 12, Rep. Giffords added plenty of new social media supporters: 12,401 new fans on Facebook and 18,816 new followers on Twitter, a total of 31,217.

Palin, by comparison, added 19,352 new fans on Facebook and 12,224 new followers on Twitter over that same period. Her total: 31,576, several hundred more than Giffords.

While Giffords' gains were larger on a percentage basis because she was starting from much smaller fan bases (on Jan. 8, Giffords had roughly 1/1000th the Facebook fans that Palin did, for example), the fact that Palin matched Giffords on a person-by-person count is remarkable, and especially noteworthy given that Palin's first major statement on Tucson occurred on Jan. 12 --- meaning its impact was not seen until OhMyGov's Jan. 13 data.



After Tucson, Palin gets more social media traction than Giffords: SEE CHART