Short Takes: Cain Tops Perry in Search, Social

Texas Governor Rick Perry still has yet to purchase any keyword ads on Google, including his name. But ascendant Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain sure has.

Cain, who soared to the top of last week’s Wall Street Journal/NBC poll last week, is also besting the struggling Perry in social media, despite not having the profile of being a state governor. As of late Friday, Cain had nearly 117,000 Twitter followers versus Perry’s 96,000 (both trailed frontrunner Mitt Romney’s 133,000 or so followers, though, to be fair, Romney’s been running for president for five years). Cain also has more Twitter support than Rep. Michelle Bachman and Rep. Ron Paul
Interestingly, a Twitter account purported to be Rick Perry’s hair had just 962 followers as of last week.
Similarly, on Facebook Cain has assumed comfortable control of the number-two spot with over 272,000 likes versus 167,000 or so for Perry and over 1.1 million for Romney.
Of course, whoever does end up claiming the Republican nomination has miles to go before catching up with the current most-powerful social-media man in the world. President Barack Obama has 10.6 million Twitter followers and 23.5 million Facebook fans. The only Republican who comes close? Gov. Sarah Palin, who boasts of more than 677,000 Twitter followers and 3.2 million Facebook fans.
https://digiday.com/?p=2212

More in Media

News publishers may be flocking to Bluesky, but many aren’t leaving X

The Guardian and NPR have left X, but don’t expect a wave of publishers to follow suit. Execs said the platform is still useful for some traffic and engaging with fandoms – despite its toxicity.

Media Briefing: Publishers’ Q4 programmatic ad businesses are in limbo

This week’s Media Briefing looks at how publishers in the U.S. and Europe have seen programmatic ad sales on the open market slow in the fourth quarter while they’ve picked up in the private marketplace.

How the European and U.S. publishing landscapes compare and contrast

Publishing executives compared and contrasted the European and U.S. media landscapes and the challenges facing publishers in both regions.