Google, with its
fully decked-out media lounge, backstage “Conversation Room” and
end-of-the-week epic party, was inarguably the most prominent of the
technology companies at the Republican National Convention — a list that
also included
Facebook and
Twitter.
That makes sense – Google and YouTube were the
official social network
and live stream provider of the convention, a role they’re also serving
for the Democratic Convention. The company streamed content to hundreds
of thousands of viewers and also used the event as a coming of age
celebration for Google Hangouts, which were all the rage among media
outlets covering the event and the convention organizers.
Twitter and Facebook, meanwhile, played second fiddle. However, they
still made quite the impact. The two shared a co-working space — perhaps
in an effort to join forces against rival Google — that became a
can’t-miss destination for reporters and socially-savvy politicians,
receiving visits from such prominent politicians as Newt Gingrich and
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.
Facebook and Twitter used their space to show off their latest
political innovations, including Facebook and CNN’s analytics platform
and the Twitter Political Index. Twitter and Facebook employees,
meanwhile, mingled with one another and talked shop.
The two companies made their presence known in other ways, too: a
Twitter hashtag, #gop2012, was a part of the official campaign logo and
the company kept convention-goers up to date with interesting stats.
Meanwhile, Facebook sponsored a party to celebrate innovation and
another event for developers to demonstrate several cutting edge
political apps built using Open Graph.
Despite the technology companies’ obvious rivalry for attention and
business, their representatives sat together on many panels about social
media’s impact on politics and were warm towards one another, overall
displaying a “we’re all in this together” attitude towards sparking
social innovation in politics.
“Politicians now have many ways to get their message out there,” said
Samantha Smith, spokesperson for Google. “We all have the same goal,
helping people access that information,” she added, in reference to
Facebook and Twitter.
When asked if the competition between the social networks at the
convention was intense, Andrew Noyes, manager of public policy
communications at Facebook, said “I think it’s the same synergy you see
in our shared workplace [with Twitter]. It’s a friendly relationship.”
Joel Kaplan, vice president of public policy at Facebook, offered a
similar sentiment — but he hinted a bit more at the competition lying
beneath the surface.
“We’re excited about 2012 as the first truly social election,” Joel
Kaplan, VP at Facebook, told Mashable. “We’re all pulling in the same
direction. We’re excited about the changes social media is making to
politics. Obviously, we think that change should happen on Facebook.”
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