This morning’s Post tells me that the six people who want to be the head of the Republican National Committee (RNC) recently had public forum to trumpet their qualifications.
The proceedings were only really interesting for political junkies (not me) but this part, in which the candidates discussed their social networking savvy, caught my eye.
… he led them on a painful discussion about the Grand Old Party’s efforts to appeal to the young.
“We have to do it in the Facebook, with the Twittering, the different technology that young people are using today,” Duncan ventured.
“Let me just say that I have 4,000 friends on Facebook,” contributed Blackwell, putting his hand on Dawson’s and Anuzis’s knees. “That’s probably more than these two guys put together, but who’s counting, you know?” Acknowledged Saltsman: “I’m not sure all of us combined Twitter as much as Saul.”
Anuzis claimed he had “somewhere between 2- and 3,000” Facebook friends, which prompted Blackwell to remind the audience that he has 4,000 friends on the social networking site by waving four fingers behind Anuzis’s head.
The candidates were significantly more comfortable when asked how many guns they own.
No comment.
Update: If the RNC needs a good example of how to use the web to actually make government better (instead of just counting friends), they could ask the people in the new administration.
Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told GOP leaders about creating an online app in which every stimulus program would be searchable, with reports on whether the initiative goes over budget, whether it’s working, and whether it’s creating jobs.
We already had one scandal this year with fake Facebook profiles for ulterior motives (that company creating groups to try to secretly market their college guide books), do we really need another?