The Republican National Committee launched a new initiative Tuesday to boost voter engagement via Facebook.
From the RNC press release:
“With the Social Victory Center, we are revolutionizing the way activists and volunteers participate in Republican campaigns,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “We’re breaking down geographic borders and connecting users to a nationwide grassroots network and a wealth of political resources.”
The RNC also touted the initiative’s ability to reach young voters:
“This is the new frontier in digital political activism and will open new doors to political engagement,” said RNC Digital Strategy Director Tyler Brown. “It offers us the opportunity to better communicate with and listen to our grassroots supporters on a daily basis–especially young voters, who compose a larger share of Facebook’s 161 million active American users.”
In recent years, Democrats have had the advantage in online outreach. But Republicans have begun to fight back, and RNC officials have pointed to a number of successful campaigns to co-opt Democratic hashtags on Twitter as evidence that conservatives have upped their social networking game. Tuesday’s RNC event was part of a larger program by Chairman Reince Priebus to use grassroots tactics to activate the GOP base in the fall. With Mitt Romney having to shift into general election mode, the grassroots efforts by the RNC on social media and other more traditional outlets (which have been ramping up for months) are expected to play a big role in the campaign at the ground level.
