Pinterest
• Audience: Women, ages 18-44
• The average user spends 20~ minutes on Pinterest
• Pinterest is a good way to “personify” a campaign
• Both Gavin Newsom and Michelle Obama have been praised for their
upkeep of highly successful Pinterest accounts
• Appeals to more than politics – boards such as “Crafts/DIY” and “The
Obama Family Table” expand campaign influence into less politicized
areas of interest

Who’s using it well: Gavin Newsom, Michelle Obama
Gavin Newsom: Winter of Love,
Photo of the Day, Books, San
Francisco Giants
Michelle Obama: Great Memories,
People Who Inspire Me, Recipe Ideas

Instagram
• Very large audience: 6.5 billion users; 300 million are active monthly
• About 50/50 split of male and female users
• Each user spends 21~ minutes on the site each day
• Young, technologically-savvy audience
• Image-based sharing is easier for audience to engage and connect with;
very popular with young voters

Who’s using it well: Elise
Stefanik
• Stays highly connected with district members via
Instagram
• Provides frequent photo updates of meetings,
speaking engagements, and Congressional
happenings
• First candidate to Instagram her official
Congressional filing

Vine
• Short, 6-second videos that users can “re-vine” and comment on. Option for users to sort vines through categories
• Both parties have utilized vines to reach public; many Republican candidates used it to respond to Obama’s State of the
Union address
• Options like Periscope, Meerkat allow for similar engagement but no length limitations (but unlike the two newer apps,
Vine does not delete videos)
Who’s using it well: Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
• Frequent viner, engages and “reloops” users often
• Has vined himself voting on controversial bills in
California
Vine Username: RepSwalwell

Vine: Examples

Live Video Apps: Periscope and Meerkat
• Both platforms let users broadcast
live, shareable video
• Voters can interact in real-time with
messages, hearts and comments
• You can subscribe to a user’s video
feed, enabling candidates to build
strong engagement bases
• Periscope was launched by Twitter,
while Meerkat is an independent
app (that users still engage with via
Twitter)

Meerkat
• Live, shareable video
platform
• Users can receive
• notifications every time a
candidate goes live
• Can share, retweet,
comment
• Videos disappear after
live event ends
Who’s using it well: Jeb Bush
• Shares speeches, press releases,
etc.
• One of the first politicians to
integrate Meerkat into political
efforts

• Live videos on Twitter + option of saving
them for 24 hours
• Senator John Thune and Jerry Moran
used it to give recent speeches, press
conferences
Periscope