Texas Governors Race Twitter Social Media Study Extravaganza

This article is a snapshot in Texas Political Social Media for the 2010 Texas Governors Race. Will it be irrelevant in 5 years? Will it serve as a nice reference of Social Media for Politicians? Is it just a bunch of Geeky Hoopla? Maybe, either way I hope you enjoy.

Being the best Twitterer is not the most important trait in becoming the Texas Governor but it is not the worst either.Social Media is the Internet’s latest trend, with Twitter being one of the widest known Social Media tools. Technology is obviously very important factor in Texas’s future in the world market, education, and advancing Health care. A Governor who can embrace the latest technology or simply prove they understand technology is important is ok in my book. A Texas Governor effectively using Social Media is not a deciding factor but a nice shiny bullet to have along with others in a campaign.

Texas Governor Twitter Analysis(sorry that sounds worky) will focus on four Twitter aspects. Each Texas Governor Candidates visual pleasantries of his Twitter environment, candidates tweet content, twitter followers make up, and how / if they respond to a random Texas Twitter guy (me). In the review I will be political neutral even naive and focus on pure Social Media aspects and honestly there are goals and accomplishments I love about each candidate and others I truly hate(even though I am not supposed to hate ). These reviews will come out in sections and as separate posts.

Twitter Background & Avatar:
Here are snapshots of the Texas Governors Twitter page a week before I released this article. Actually the snapshots were taken the day of early elections for the Democratic & Republican nomination to be exact.

Kay Baily Hutchinson C+ : Kay’s Twitter background is original with her logo. It consists of what appears to be a dark blue thunderstorm which appears turbulent, giving me an uneasy feeling. It is not very memorable but none the less original. Her twitter avatar is good, big smiles at the podium in front of the American Flag. Is Kay’s twitter picture personal, no and neither is her entire twitter page. Her page is political lacking personality which is fine but this does not fall in line with the media vein she is playing in, in my opinion of course. The content to the right of Kay’s twitter page is lacking. Name: TeamKay Bio = ‘KBHStaff’ & Location: Texas – Weak, blah, and unpersonal. Do you still live in Texas? What city?

Rick Perry A+ :Rick’s Twitter background is awesome and I am jealous. Rick who did it? I sure could use a fancy background like that. Hands down best background. It has a picture of him in a suit looking tough with big smiles. His background has campaign content, Texas colors and symbols. It is sharp and did not come cheap. Perry’s twitter picture is f’in cheesey but super smart and a winner. Puppies or babies, front facing, smiling, and looking like a normal guy. He took care of the political self picture in his background and nice likable guy in his twitter avatar. Nicely done, it looks like my toll money is being spent well…whoops. The Name section, standard Rick Perry, good.Bio is used pretty well with campaign content. Maybe a little more about yourself would be good. Oh, and the best part of Rick’s twitter page? I am on it, the top person that shows up no less(Look at the follower avatars). Update 2/22/2010 – Perry’s Camp contacted me on Friday with the following, “Nice post. We actually did the background in-house.” They also offered advice, as one of my links was not working properly. Very impressive Team Perry! I would also like to mention Rick Perry also sent a very personal Direct Message (DM) to me last week also.

Bill White A : Bill’s twitter background is also pretty good. It doesn’t have a picture of him, but it does have a picture of the wonderful state of Texas along with decent graphics, his website, and facebook page. Personally I do not like his twitter picture as I do not think it reminds me of the Spanish speaking Houston Hurricane hero I saw in past years. Put a picture up of you in your rain jacket during Hurricane season. Face your audience, looking away says thing subliminally about you. Either way you are in a suit and you look politically busy. In the name, Bill puts in ‘billwhitefortx’, ehh E for Effort if you put that in yourself personally. For location: Houston, TX, very nice but ‘Texas’ would give you more flair. In Bio, I love it! Best Bio of all three.

Farouk Shami A : Farouk’s twitter background is very well done. It has a picture of himself, his name in bold remember able letters, nice design, and a twitter bird. Remembering back to my first feeling when I looked at his page, I remember it as being dark and a little drab. So maybe a little color. However looking at it now, I am impressed. He puts in his name, the actual location where he lives, tells you he is a proud Texan, and gives you relevant campaign details. I like it, but not so fast there are other factors we will discuss about Farouk and Twitter and it relates to paying others.

Debra Medina C+ : Debra’s Twitter background is a generic Twitter background which everyone can choose from. Which is not memorable, but she probably did that herself and did not waste money paying someone to do it for her which is original in this particular campaign. Debra Medina’s avatar is good a nice smile Olan Mills style. In her twitter content to the right, she states her actual name which indicates she is representing herself on this account. Like Kay, she also put Texas as her location and Bio she puts in her campaign logo/ The content space could be used more effectively as with personal or campaign content.

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