My business is "California Liberation Movement PAC", and the current main goal of the California Liberation movement is to try to recruit supporters of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign in California. As such, our "competitors" are the Bernie Sanders campaign, and the organizations that support him. So here is research about how five organizations that support Bernie Sanders use social media, focusing on their platforms and media formats, rather than specific content and messaging themes.
1. Bernie 2020 (The official Bernie Sanders presidential campaign)
Domain: BernieSanders.com
Type of Business: National presidential campaign.
Social Media feeds: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram
- links in footer of home page, and in “More” menu in header.
Most recent update as of February 11, 2020, 12:30 p.m.
- Facebook: 6 minutes ago (many times an hour during the day and night)
- Twitter: 1 hour ago (several times a day)
- YouTube: 5 hours ago (several times a day)
- Instagram: 3 hours ago (several times a day)
Followers
- Facebook: 5.3 million likes/followers
- Twitter: 10.5 million followers
- YouTube: 314,000 subscribers, 55.5 million views
- Instagram: 4.2 million followers
BernieSanders.com uses social media very well, mostly by releasing graphics and videos for campaign supporters to share. They clearly do not listen on social media to any extent, but that’s understandable when their social media feeds are this active. Many of the comments on the social media of the campaign are negative, but also unhelpful.
2. Our Revolution (A Political Action Committee founded by Bernie Sanders)
Domain: OurRevolution.com
Type of Business: Political Action Committee
Social Media feeds: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Medium
- Google search. No mention of social media platforms on the website, but “Our News” links to Medium.
Most recent update as of February 12, 2020, 11:00 a.m,
- Facebook: 51 minutes ago (every few business hours)
- Twitter: 53 minutes ago (every few business hours)
- YouTube: 11 months ago (several times a year.
- Instagram: 2 hours ago (every 1-2 days)
- Medium: 2 days ago (once or twice a week)
Followers
- Facebook: approximately 300,000 likes/followers
- Twitter: 130,500 followers
- YouTube: 270,000 views (number of subscribers unlisted)
- Instagram: 20,400 followers
- Medium: 51 followers
[Not to be too cynical but] “Our Revolution” largely exists so that Bernie Sanders can receive contributions larger than $20. Their donation page explicitly states that $20 is the smallest contribution they will accept. As indicated, “Our Revolution” produces a lot less content than BernieSanders.com. It also does not listen much; its primary focus is publishing content for supporters to spread.
3. Progressive Democrats of America
Domain: PDAmerica.org
Type of Business: Political Action Committee
Social Media feeds: Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, and Tumblr
- Links in header and footer of home page
Most recent update as of February 12, 2020, 1:30 p.m.
- Facebook: 1 hour ago (about 1-2 times a day)
- Twitter: 3 hours ago (approximately 1-2 times a day, plus many retweets)
- Podcasts: 1 day ago (approximately daily)
- LinkedIn: 2 days ago (approximately daily)
- YouTube: 1 month ago (about every 1-2 months)
- Pinterest: Data unavailable
- Instagram: 17 hours ago (about once a week)
- Flickr: Today (About once a month)
- Tumblr: 2 days ago (about every 1-2 days)
Followers
- Facebook: about 95,000 likes
- Twitter: 11,500 followers
- Podcasts: Number of subscribers unlisted
- LinkedIn: Number of linked profiles unlisted
- YouTube: 713 subscribers, about 115,000 total views
- Pinterest: 40,800 viewers/month
- Instagram: 727 followers
- Flickr: 83 followers
- Tumblr: Number of followers unlisted
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) was founded in 2004 out of the campaigns of Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich. Unlike “Our Revolution,” PDA is independent of the Bernie Sanders organization, and is a more loosely-aligned member of his coalition. PDA primarily uses Facebook and Twitter; like other groups in this list, it produces content for distribution, but does not engage much with its followers.
4. Center for Popular Democracy
Domain: PopularDemocracy.org
Type of Business: Public Education group
Social Media feeds: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Links in header of the home page
Most recent update as of February 12, 2020, 2:00 p.m.
- Facebook: 7 days ago (approximately 1-3 times a week)
- Twitter: Yesterday (several times a week)
- Instagram: Three weeks ago (approximately 1-2 times month)
Followers
- Facebook: Approximately 29,000 likes/followers
- Twitter: 19,300 followers
- Instagram: Nearly 3,000 followers
The Center for Popular Democracy Action is a group that focuses on organizing disadvantaged groups in cities, towns, and rural areas across the U.S.A. As a charitable organization, The Hill probably erred in identifying them as a “Sanders” group. Nevertheless, like the other groups, they primarily use social media to announce their activities and events. Their Facebook posts receive almost no comments, nor do their tweets. On the other hand, their Facebook videos receive enormous numbers of views; well in excess of 500,000. The Center is also unusual for having no YouTube presence.
5. People’s Action
Domain: PeoplesAction.org
Type of Business: Advocacy Group
Social Media feeds: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
- Links in footer of the home page
Most recent update as of February 12, 2020, 2:30 p.m.
- Facebook: Five hours ago (Approximately once a day, during weekdays)
- Twitter: Four hours ago (every 1-2 hours)
- YouTube: Last week (about 1-2 times a month)
Followers
- Facebook: About 69,000 likes/followers
- Twitter: 22,500 followers
- YouTube: 153 subscribers, 22,400 total views
People’s Action has a similar mission to The Center for Popular Democracy Action, except that it is an advocacy organizations, and not organized as a public charity. As such, the group has openly “endorsed” the Sanders campaign. However, they are not permitted by law to spend money to aid campaigns for elected office, such as the Sanders campaign for president. People’s Action Facebook posts get few comments or shares. Their tweets are also not retweeted more than a dozen times, and their videos only get a couple dozen views, or less.
Summary
Having already written a paragraph on each group, and having found that all the groups essentially use social media the same way, it is impossible to write very much to summarize my research. None of the groups are “listening” to chatter about them on social media, as Dave Kerpen uses the term.
On the other hand, all the groups produce a lot of social media content. The Sanders Campaign produces the most, but that is understandable given that this study is occurring in February 2020, between the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, heading into Super Tuesday when California and Texas will vote.
One distinguishing factor is how much the various groups get from publishing social media content. For example, many Facebook videos from the Center for Popular Democracy receive over 600,000 views, yet only a dozen shares. On the other hand, People’s Action produces many videos, and most receive only hundreds or a few thousand views. It will be worthwhile to look at these sites closer to try to determine why videos from one group are a thousand times more popular than videos from another group.
Sources of Information about Sanders Campaign Supporters:
Easley, Jonathan. “18 Progressive Groups Sign Unity Pledge amid Sanders-Warren Feud.” The Hill. 16 Jan. 2020 Accessed 11 Feb. 2020 <<https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/ 478533-18-progressive-groups-sign-unity-pledge-amid-sanders-warren-feud>>.
Slodysko, Brian. “Shadow Group provides Sanders Super PAC support he scorns.” The Associated Press. 7 Jan. 2020 <<https://apnews.com/ 345bbd1af529cfb1e41305fa3ab1e604>>.
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