+ - Inside Obama's Twitter Blitz on the Payroll Tax
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Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Brandon Rittiman reports that White House officials launched a Twitter campaign Tuesday to put pressure on Congress to reach a deal extending the payroll-tax cut and using the Twitter hashtag #40dollars, the White House successfully got thousands of people to respond to explain what a $40 cut to each paycheck would mean to them personally. By Wednesday morning, the #40dollars hashtag started "trending," which is what happens when Twitter's algorithms see a topic suddenly surge. It's not easy to create that kind of surge, but the White House has 2.5 million Twitter followers to call upon and Macon Phillips, the President's Director of Digital Strategy, says his team has managed to get a few Twitter topics to rise to the level of "trending" before — most notably when they began tweeting about the death of Osama bin Laden. "What's very important about a social-media campaign like this is that regular people are making the point about how this would affect them. It's not us here in Washington trying to argue on their behalf." says Phillips. “The #40dollars campaign puts a face on that amount to demonstrate the payroll tax cut’s real-world impact on middle-class families.”"
Inside Obama's Twitter Blitz on the Payroll Tax More Login
Inside Obama's Twitter Blitz on the Payroll Tax