It's a question increasingly asked, a sort of Internet Age social networking parlour game question: Who has the most friends or followers?
Could it be one of the candidates for U.S. Senate: Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio or Kendrick Meek? Or, perhaps a gubernatorial candidate: Alex Sink, Bill McCollum or Paula Dockery? One might even venture to guess it's former Gov. Jeb Bush.
A little bird told us the answer...
When it comes to followers of a feather more people on Twitter flock to Rubio than the others. The U.S. Senate candidate has 10,074 followers; Crist has 4,488; McCollum 2,953; Sink 2,784; Bush 2,590; Meek 2,489 and Dockery, 2,004.
The number of Rubio's Facebook friends is off the chart at 35,772 compared to the others. Meek has 12,434 friends. Sink and Crist have similiar numbers at 9,519 and 9,158, respectively. Dockery edges out McCollum at 3,946 to 3,622.
Who's following whom on Twitter doesn't predict real election outcomes, but it can be a barometer of sorts for how voters feel about candidates.
"Twitter is like sending a broadcast message to all," Sen. Paula Dockery said. "It helps you engage people, extend your reach and shape your message. It's fast. It's fun. And, it tests your vocabulary for short words."
Twitter started in 2006. Since then, it has seen explosive growth with Techcrunch, a Weblog dedicated to profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies, reporting 19 million subscribers worldwide in 2009.
It is an online communication service for sharing short 140-character communications, making tweets especially easy to send from a cell phone and ideal for a candidate on the run.
But, there's more to what drives people to follow a candidate. According to a Psychology Today article on the phenomenon, "The Twitter system acts to fill a deep psychological need in our society. The unfortunate reality is that we are a culture starved for real community. For hundreds of thousands of years, human beings have resided in tribes of about 30 to 70 people. Our brains are wired to operate within the social context of community -- programming both crucial and ancient for human survival."
Tweeting gives a sense of community.
But, what are politicians tweeting about?
A link to an article about a campaign speech he made in Jacksonville was one Rubio post. Read his tweets here. Other typical posts have been about an interview on Fox News or a speech in Lee County.
The signing of the Unemployment Compensation Tax bill was a quick hitter for Crist. He has also fired shots at his opponent, like an entry dedicated to what he calls Rubio's pork barrel spending. You can see the governor's postings here.
McCollum has chosen a bigger fish to fry, taking aim at President Barack Obama with a link to an article slamming the administration's economic policies. His thoughts can be read here.
Brevard County is on the mind of Alex Sink, as she's posts about a Democratic party county meeting and the aerospace policy forum meeting. See her tweets here.
Bush, a staunch advocate of elementary reading, tweets about an education law recently signed by the governor of Virginia and the Indiana General Assembly's actions considering raising reading levels among elementary students. Florida's 43rd governor can be found here.
John Hinds can be reached at JHinds1949@aol.com or (850) 727-0859
