With a focus on social media blunders, Twitter gaffes, and Facebook faux pas, we’ll be profiling one politician, political figure, organization, or candidate who has committed one of the social media sins in our weekly series Social Slipups.
Image from realclearpolitics.com
Infamous for his blunt, “tell it like it is” mentality, the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie is making news with his recent speech given at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Although many praise him for his straightforward delivery of speeches, arguing that he is a breath of fresh air from all the “pandering” politicians out there, his comments delivered in the public eye can sometimes be interpreted as crass.
The governor has become a well known political figure on YouTube. After a slew of videos of the governor interacting with various press and constituents, he was dubbed as “Governor Youtube”.
Various YouTube videos have been posted of the governor, shedding a more negative light on his appearance in social media with critics implying that he is more concerned about receiving publicity than improving New Jersey economically.
“Web videos of Christie berating teachers at town hall meetings quickly went viral, giving Christie a large national audience. Critics dubbed him "Gov. YouTube," suggesting he was more interested in getting publicity for himself than for improving New Jersey's finances.” - Huffington Post's Beth Fouhy and Thomas Beaumont
Here are just a couple videos of Governor Christie that have gone viral in the past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkuTm-ON904
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpGQZPW9KVU
As well as some TMZ coverage of a Jersey Shore fight.
The question of whether those on the other end of his shouting matches and name calling actually deserved the attacks is subjective. But the high view counts on captured encounters has elevated the governor's official YouTube channel to high popularity along with his nation wide fame. For many, this may provide grounds for questioning his need for publicity.
With some already trying to predict candidates for the 2016 election, many are criticizing his speech as the RNC as yet another pull for self-publicity. ThinkProgress reports that in his speech given yesterday, he said the word “I” a whopping 37 times while “Mitt Romney” was benched at just a 7 mentions. The blog post’s guide used words like “bragged” and “touting” to describe Christie’s speech.
As a result of video social media being a channel in which politicians can gain publicity (both negative and positive) the case of Governor Chris Christie and his criticism of priorities makes way for Gov. YouTube to be this week’s “Social Slipup”.
