Do More Political Tweets Mean Bigger Donations?

According to research conducted after the first of three presidential debates between candidates Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) and Barack Obama (@BarackObama), Twitter users who get to read political tweets are more likely to help in political donations and visit donation pages. Online users of the micro-blogging site are constantly exposed to possible factors to making political decisions, especially now that the presidential election is drawing nearer. People getting political tweets are almost twice as likely to go to a donation page compared to the average individual on the website. The standard Twitter user is 68 percent times more likely to visit the political or donation page, compared to the regular person who uses the Internet. More political tweets are being churned out by Twitter on a daily basis by private users and government agencies to push their respective Democratic and Republican candidates. The study also indicated that constant exposure or repetition is also very effective in driving the individuals to the respective donation or political sites online. Peter Greenberger (@pgreenberger), director of political advertisement sales for Twitter, said that the longer Twitter users get to read political tweets, the higher the possibility of driving them to certain donation pages. People viewing a tweet for a span of 3 to 7 days are 31 percent more likely to visit the page compared to a person who only viewed the same tweet for 1 to 2 days. The tendencies grow more if the political tweet is viewed for 8 days or longer. After a week, the tendency increases by as much as 130 percent. Said Greenberger: ?The lifts in donation rates by Twitter users were found to be very similar across all candidates, groups, and parties. Republican handles accelerated donations to their candidates at virtually the same rate as Democratic handles did for theirs.? This is a very good sign that social media sites like Twitter, indeed, boost awareness and are very useful in getting support from different individuals. According to the marketing firm Compete, which aided in the research, the findings showed that exposure to the tweets actually made people more involved in political campaigns. The donation rates are actually the same over the respective candidates and political parties. The messages do a lot of good for political candidates. Some of the advantages include getting the attention that will boost their popularity and hopefully garner more votes in the upcoming elections, and keeping people informed about developments in the campaign and other types of help needed. Greenberger said: ?We have always known that Twitter users are politically engaged; now we know that exposure to political tweets drives political contributions.?