Big Bird for President - Tech Bloggers, Twitter and a Presidential Debate
Twitter Steals the Show During First Presidential Debate
What happens when you mix technology bloggers, a Presidential debate and Twitter? Big Bird becomes a political figure (hilariously). How? Combine one mention of cutting PBS’ funding, a direct shout-out from Mitt Romney to our favorite oversized, avian childhood memory and 135,332 tweets per minute.
Last night’s Presidential debate between President Barack Obama (@barackobama) and Mitt Romney (@mittromney) was the most tweeted live political event in history, amassing 10.3 million tweets in 90 minutes. Check out this chart for a breakdown of Twitter volume by topic (notice Big Bird trending at 9:34 EST)
Twitter and Building Blogger Relationships
High-demand tech bloggers get hundreds, sometimes thousands of pitches a day - most of them not worth the time. Twitter is both personal and professional. Bloggers, startup founders, and VCs are free-wheeling when it comes to 140-character quips. As a PR person, your personal brand is your biggest asset, real relationships with journalists can be built on Twitter. Engage them, have some fun, show personality (within reason) and people will respond.
Here are some interesting interactions and observations with tech bloggers, VC’s and startup founders that caught my eye during last night’s debate:
Farhad Manjoo, Slate, Fast Company, New York Times
Obama's verbal tics weigh him down. "You know." "aaaaand." "thaaaat." The pauses. They wear on you after four years.
— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) October 4, 2012
Lauren Goode - AllThingsD
I feel like I just got pitched by a tech start-up that unleashed a string of buzzwords and never told me what the product was.
— Lauren Goode (@LaurenGoode) October 4, 2012
Nihal Mehta – Founder, Local Response and ENIAC Ventures what did this man do to mitt romney
Sam Biddle - Gizmodo
He's like a replacement #NFL refereeRT @samfbiddle: Jim you're a BAD MODERATOR
— Kevin Jordan (@KJ_SF) October 4, 2012
And of course
Fired Big Bird - PBS (Interesting that this account has since been suspended)
Summing it up
Public relations professionals, show some personality. Talk to bloggers on
Twitter and you may just be ready to make some new connections when Joe Biden
references Mr. Snuffleupagus during next week’s vice-presidential debate.
