@GovernorPerry’s presidential announcement yesterday generated 47,419 @mentions, setting a record for 2012 GOP candidates on Twitter. The closest any other declared candidate came to this level of attention on Twitter was @MicheleBachmann with 20,163 @mentions on her announcement day. Perry even beat Sarah Palin‘s best day for Twitter buzz, which was 26,467 @mentions on June 6th. In fact, Rick Perry is the first GOP politician we know of to ever get close to @BarackObama‘s level of attention. President Obama got 60,325 @mentions when he declared war on the GOP during the debt ceiling debate, and 51,356 when he announced Osama Bin Laden’s death.
Does the GOP finally have a candidate that can go toe to toe with Obama on Twitter? Please keep in mind that @BarackObama has 9.6 million followers, while @GovernorPerry has only 61,668. For Perry to generate the same level of buzz as Obama with less than 1% of the followers is amazing.
