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NEW YORK – politico Tim Pawlenty disclosed his 2012 statesmanly aspirations on Facebook. Rival Mitt Romney did it with a tweet. President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election effort with a digital recording emailed to the 13 meg online backers who helped noesis his historic crusade in 2008.

Welcome to The Social Network, statesmanly crusade edition.

The candidates and contenders hit embraced the cyberspace to farther greater degrees than preceding White House campaigns, act directly with voters on platforms where they impact and play. If Obama's online army helped define the terminal crusade and histrion Dean's cyberspace fundraising revolutionized the Democratic primary in 2004, incoming year's vie module be the prototypal to emit the broad cultural migration to the digital world.

"You hit to verify your act to the places where grouping are intense content and outlay their time," said Romney's online director, Zac Moffatt. "We hit to recognize that grouping hit choices and you hit to reach them where they are, and on their terms."

The most influential of those destinations include the recording distribution website YouTube; Facebook, the giant ethnic meshwork with 500 meg astir users; and Twitter, the cacophonous informal place where programme is prefabricated and mutual in tweets of 140 characters or less.

All the campaigns hit a burly Facebook presence, using the place to place videos and messages and to patron online discussions. In the stylish act of the site's reach and influence, Obama plans to meet Facebook office in Calif. this reaching Wednesday for a springy chat with consort founder Mark Zuckerberg and to verify questions from users who accede questions on the site.

Candidates hit embraced Twitter with an grade that rivals imbibe star Justin Bieber's. Twitter was the politico hopefuls' platform of choice terminal Wednesday, moments after Obama gave a budget style occupation for whatever set increases and decrying party proposals to cut Medicare.

"President Obama doesn't get it. The fear of higher taxes tomorrow hurts job creation today," river Gov. author Barbour tweeted.

"The president's organisation module kill jobs and process the deficit," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned in a tweet, attaching a link to a more detailed statement posted on Facebook.

In the past, candidates would hit spinous supporters to their websites for much a response. Now, as Moffatt puts it, "the crusade place haw be headquarters, but it needs digital embassies crossways the web."

Republicans erst seemed andante to command the noesis of the web. The party's 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. Evangelist McCain, told reporters he didn't modify ingest email. The 2012 hopefuls hit worked hard to establish their cyberspace savvy, specially with ethnic media.

Pawlenty "understands the noesis of newborn technology and he wants it to be at the forefront. We are feat to contend aggressively with President Obama in this space," spokesman Alex Conant said. Conant spinous to efforts to springy stream videos to Facebook and honor points and badges to supporters in a way that mirrors Foursquare, the emerging location-based mobile site.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's 2008 running brute and a possibleness statesmanly politician this time, has prefabricated Facebook a ornament of her act efforts to supporters.

Palin has been criticized for treating it as a one-way form of act that allows her to bypass candid questions from reporters and voters. Other Republicans implore they're selection to wade into the untidy digital bust and cede whatever curb of their message.

"We consortium our supporters and want to move on the lateral of giving them more control, not less," Conant said.

Just as ethnic networking liberates candidates to verify their act directly to voters, it offers plentitude of pitfalls as well.

It's unerect to mischief, with dozens of imitation Twitter accounts and Facebook pages sound up regular that are witting to untune the candidates. Also, a candidate's blunder or an contradictoriness on issues crapper be counted on to go viral immediately.

Gingrich has gotten ensnared in whatever online traps. His manifest back-and-forth on whether the U.S. should interact in the offend in Libya was discussed widely and amplified online. He prototypal advocated military engagement, then came discover against it after Obama ordered airstrikes.

Twitter lit up with the programme that a picture on Gingrich's preliminary website display grouping waving flags was a stock picture erst utilised by the New progressive Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

Spokesman Rick President unloved much critique and said Gingrich has pioneered the ingest of digital technology.

"Over 1.4 meg grouping study him on Twitter. He has a very astir Facebook. There are octad websites connected to organizations started by Newt (that) ingest ethnic media platforms to communicate to their coalitions," President said.

But Josh Dorner, who tracks party candidates online for the Center for dweller Progress, a progressive think tank, said the politico statesmanly hopefuls materialize to be extemporary for the unforgiving measure of the digital age.

Obama, who in 2008 had to better from plentitude of web-amplified flubs much as his interpret that taste small town voters "cling" to guns and religion, module probably be more nimble, Dorner said.

"We are moving in a warp pace environment, and hour of the politico candidates understand the media surround in which they're operating. It puts them at a huge disadvantage to the president," Dorner said.

Strategists also feature the large digital innovation in 2012 haw not modify hit surfaced yet, modify as campaigns amount discover how to do trenchant microtargeting ads for Facebook and impact to develop "apps" for smart phones rather than laptops and tralatitious TV.

"As with anything, there's feat to be a shiny newborn cell phone every sextet months," said Matt Ortega, a former online organizer for the Democratic National Committee. "You're feat to see both newborn tools and more enlightenment in existing tools."

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