With the weather throwing the GOP a curveball and Ron Paul delegates giving Romney a fit, the Republican National Convention has been pitched by the media largely as a ceremonial event to give Mitt Romney the party's proverbial throne. What is less talked about are the "other things" that go on at the national convention, like making changes to the party platform.

Image from rawstory.com

Can’t make it to Tampa? You can still keep updated on this year’s Republican National Convention (RNC) in realtime, delivered with the spunky canter that comes with social media.

Dubbed as “The Convention Without Walls”, the social media strategy of this year’s RNC is reinvented to delve into many forms of social media.

Photo: CNN

The Wall Street Journal has the revised Republican National Convention schedule up on its website. Before reading further, click that link and do a quick thirty second scroll down the page to get a feel for who all is speaking at the convention this week.

Alright, did you do it? Did you skim it? Okay... read on:

Screenshot from California Right to Know Campaign ad

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Yes on Proposition 37 California Right to Know Campaign is launching a their first television ad today. The $150,000 campaign will air the 30-second video in major media markets for 10 days, according to a California Right to Know Campaign statement.

Proposition 37 requires the labeling of genetically modified food and will be on the California ballot in November.

As echoed throughout the social media community, engagement is far more important than numbers, making a politician's follower count meaningless if he or she does not actively engage with supporters. Recognizing the importance of engagement, the Republican Party has fittingly themed their convention "Convention without Walls," in an attempt to break down the physical barriers to attendance with the help of social media. As we outlined earlier on The Social Ballot, one key strategy is through the use of smart phones.

The Sac Bee's Torey Van Oot is on the ground in Tampa at the Republican National Convention, closely following the California delegation. She's been tweeting out photos of the scene on the convention floor, including California congressional candidate Ricky Gill. Gill is largely seen as a bright up-in-coming figure in California for conservatives and was featured heavily in youth and minority outreach programming at the CAGOP convention. He's running in Congressional District 9, against Rep. Jerry McNerney.