Ron Paul (R-TX), everyone. Everyone, Ron Paul.
FACT FILE: RON PAUL
ACCOUNT NAME: RonPaul2008dotcom
NUMBER OF VIDEOS: 52
NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS: 30,914
TOTAL CHANNEL VIEWS: 4,446,171
TOTAL VIDEO VIEWS: 4,453,824
In the time since politicians first began embracing the idea of the online campaign, few candidates have clicked with the Internet set as well as Ron Paul. With his mixture of small government common sense and noninterventionist foreign policy, Paul is certainly a different breed of Republican than most of his fellow candidates. He's also the most popular - at least online. When compared with even the most high-profile, big-money opponent, Paul's numbers still shine. According to TechPresident's numbers, he has the most active supporters on MySpace and Facebook of any Republican candidate. His success with YouTube is even greater; his stat of 4 million+ channel views bests that of his nearest competitor - the Democrat's Barack Obama - by almost a full million hits. Coupled with his recent eyebrow-raising fundraising efforts, these numbers may offer more than just nice-looking statistics after all.
Clearly, there's something about this seemingly mild-mannered congressman that has people talking. The question is: does the content of his videos reflect this popularity? How different is it from the content of his less successful rivals? What part is YouTube playing in the whole race, anyway?
Well, let's find out.
While Paul videos don't completely break the mold in terms of breathtakingly innovative content, he does take an interesting approach to getting his message out. While he does rely on the typical, position paper-style policy videos, he leans heavily on other people to get his message out. The results cast Paul in the light of common sense and reason in the face of political shiftiness.
Paul's folk hero mythos isn't just manufactured by his own staff, however. His campaign also makes it a point to cull media clips that refer favorably to Paul's grassroots effort.
That Paul has been able to capture the underdog appeal inherent in his run through the competitive atmosphere of campaign season speaks to both the appeal of his message and the effectiveness of his media strategy. Unlike many of the other candidates who seem to have a YouTube account simply because that's what their opponent is doing, Paul's online efforts have been well-coordinated, persuasively edited, and, ultimately, exposure-worthy.
Paul's less-is-more approach (the campaign's total video count is one of the lowest of contenders from either party) works because of the unified messages and imagery that underpins each video. Though his clips of interviews and rallys don't contain anything new, per se, they have the focus and unified voice lacking in many of the other candidate's offerings. Individually, each one is persuasive enough. Together, however, they form a cohesive, united picture of a true "people's candidate". Also, they have a music video.
That Paul's campaign avoids the temptation of tangential or unnecessary updates illustrates his commitment to online image management. With a YouTube channel that is both streamlined and popular, Paul is in as good a position as any of the middle-pack Republican candidates to make a late move towards the nomination. Whether or not his grassroots message, and its YouTube outlet, changes along the way remains to be seen.
Tomorrow's a toughie. I loved this guy so much in 2000, and I still do, in a way. Just... man...
It's the Straight-Talker himself. It's John McCain.
2 comments:
"Republicans I don't hate."
Nice tag.
In all seriousness, it is fairly representative of RP's campaign. Haha.
Due it his more concise or appealing YouTube/media approach, do you think Ron Paul will be able translate his online popularity to actual votes? I find it interesting that some candidates seem to become very popular online but few have been able to transform this type of popularity into actual votes come election time.
Good layout and interesting posts.
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