John Boehner

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms. Taking quick snapshots or 15 second videos and applying funky filters of different colors and hues and sharing them with your friends isn’t just for hipsters any more. More and more politicians are joining Instagram to reach out to voters in a more personal way through photos and videos.

With its acquirement by Facebook and the addition of short video capabilities to the platform, Instagram is a powerful tool for helping politicians reach the ever growing mobile audience. Instagram’s new 15 second video feature is ideal for mobile video watching and integrates seamlessly with other social networks for instant sharing.

At the start of 2014, who are the most savvy politicians on Instagram? Through an analysis of Instagram followers and individual photo likes, Arc 3 has compiled a list of the top ten politicians on Instagram:

1. President Barack Obama @barackobama 2.73 million followers

The top ten most liked political photos on Instagram are shared by the President’s account. These photos range from a “Thank you” photo on Election Night with 294k likes to birthday wishes for the President with 86k likes. Upon the President joining Instagram, the social media platform announced that “We look forward to seeing how President Obama uses Instagram to give folks a visual sense of what happens in the everyday life of the President of the United States.” So far the President’s team has done that and more.

2. Mitt Romney @mittromney 71k followers

The former Governor of Massachusetts and Republican nominee for President has the second largest following of a politician on Instagram. The account largely contains photos from campaign stops during the 2012 Presidential election with his last post being November 6, 2012. The most popular photo on his account was a get out the vote photo on election day that received over 17k likes.

3. George W. Bush @georgewbush 64k followers

The 43rd President has taken to painting and his artistic talents show in his Instagram account. Posting touching photos of family and new grandchildren, he also adds in beautiful landscapes of his native Texas. The former Texas Rangers owner’s love of sports is also on full display with photos of trips to professional football and baseball games.

4. Senator Cory Booker @corybooker 33k followers

The former Mayor of Newark and newest member of the U.S. Senate is also one of the most adept at using social media for civic engagement, responding to constituent requests and comments personally. Senator Booker’s Insta feed contains a wide variety of content, including savvy use of short video and uploading of press clips.

5. Congressman Kevin McCarthy @repkevinmccarthy 11k followers

The House Majority Whip, McCarthy was recognized by BuzzFeed as the best Republican Congressman on Instagram. McCarthy’s Insta feed is full of photos of D.C.’s who’s who, his family dog and “Throwback Thursday” photos of his family. McCarthy’s video of playing Frisbee with the family dog received over 2k likes.

6. Governor Chris Christie @govchristie 5k followers

The potential 2016 candidate for President and Republican Governor of New Jersey has a balanced mix of celebrity photos, family “Throwback Thursday” photos and behind the scenes photos in his role as Governor. Governor Christie’s photo shares reflect his team’s understanding of emotion and imagery to garner support on social media.

7. Michael Bloomberg @mikebloomberg 4k followers

Having completed his term as Mayor of the Big Apple, Bloomberg has set up a philanthropic foundation to advance his favorite causes. His Insta feed is loaded with photos of groundbreakings, ceremonies and events in the performance of his duties as Mayor. Since leaving the Mayoral office, he has posted a stream of photos related to his campaign for immigration reform, Iamimmigration.org.

8. Gabby Giffords @gabbygiffords 4k followers

The former Congresswoman from Southern Arizona retired from Congress after her courageous return from a 2011 shooting that nearly claimed her life. Founder of the PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, Gifford’s Instagram account is full of photos of her advocacy work.

9. Speaker John Boehner @speakerboehner 3k followers

The Speaker is the king of ‘Throwback Thursday”, posting photos ranging from his high school football days under legendary Coach Gerry Faust to school field trips to family photos with his brothers and Santa Claus. The photos personalize one of the most powerful men in the country, who is 2nd in the line of succession to the Presidency. His Insta feed also includes hundreds of behind the scenes photos of his official duties as Speaker.

10. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard @tulsigabbard 2k followers

The 32 year old Army veteran, surfer and representative from Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional district is one of the rising stars of the Democratic Party. Her Insta feed is chalked full of beautiful Hawaiian landscapes as well as behind the scenes photos of her duties as a Congresswoman for the Aloha state. A fitness enthusiast, the Congresswoman’s account has photos of her many physical activities such as running, hiking, sking, and yoga.

At the start of 2014, these are the top ten politicians on Instagram. As social media continues to become more and more visual, we expect more politicians to adopt Instagram as a necessary part of their social media efforts. Who are your favorite politicians on Instagram? Let us know!

Social media played an important role in helping to secure the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012. President Obama’s utilization of social media also played a key role in his defeat of Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and then Senator John McCain in the general election in 2008. In 2012, President Obama essentially took up where he left off in the last Presidential election and developed a decisive advantage in the area of social media over Mitt Romney. The Obama-Biden campaign’s utilization of social media for get out the vote efforts and its analysis of social data for the prediction of voter behavior, targeting of messages and media buying was truly remarkable.

But who are the other success stories in social media amongst politicians besides President Obama? Through the analysis of Klout Scores, Facebook Likes and Twitter followers amongst politicans across the country, Arc 3 has compiled the top ten most social media savvy politicans. In order to qualify for the list you must either have held elected office or been a candidate for elected office within the last year.

1. Barack Obama (Klout Score 99): President Obama maintained a substantial lead in both Facebook likes and Twitter followers over Mitt Romney. By the end of the campaign, Obama had 22.7 million followers and 32.2 million likes, compared to Romney’s 1.8 million followers and 12.1 million likes. The Obama-Biden campaign’s posting of an image of Barack and Michelle Obama in an embrace, accompanied by the message, “Four more years” set two social media records, receiving more Twitter retweets (755,000) and Facebook likes (3.5 million) than any other post in history.

2. John McCain (Klout Score 92): The U.S. Senator from Arizona and former Republican Presidential candidate in 2008 shows considerable strength in social media, outscoring both Vice President Joe Biden and Mitt Romney. Senator McCain has 880,594 Facebook likes and 1.7 million Twitter followers. His independent streak and reputation for bluntness are highly suitable for the medium of social media.

3. Joe Biden (Klout Score 90): Vice President Biden’s social media presence benefited from being a part of a very gifted Obama-Biden campaign digital team. Vice President Biden had 555,571 Facebook likes and 116,900 Twitter followers. Biden is known to be prone to verbal gaffes in the real world, but his digital world is very disciplined and tame in comparison.

4. Mitt Romney (Klout Score 89): Throughout the Presidential campaign, Romney’s number of followers on Facebook and Twitter were greatly outpaced by President Obama. At the end of the campaign, Romney had 1.8 million followers on Twitter and 12.1 million Facebook likes. The President had 12 times more followers on Twitter and 2 times more followers on Facebook than Romney. It was not all bad news for Romney’s social efforts, as Romney’s Facebook strategies did at times have him leading President Obama in Facebook engagement with his “People Talking About This” numbers being higher.

5. Nancy Pelosi (Klout Score 89): The current Democratic leader in the House has a solid social media presence consistent with her wired constituents in her San Francisco Congressional District. Pelosi has 285, 926 Twitter followers and 67,776 Facebook likes.

6. Newt Gingrich (Klout Score 88): The former Republican House Speaker and Presidential candidate had one of the strongest presences on social media out of the Republican candidates for President in 2012. Winner of the first Republican Presidential primary in the South, South Carolina, Speaker Gingrich has 292,262 Facebook likes and 1.4 million followers on Twitter.

7. Jerry Brown (Klout Score 88): The current Governor of California, home of Silicon Valley, logically has a solid social media presence. He is very strong on Twitter with some 1.05 million followers and has 136,190 Facebook likes. Governor Brown’s followers prefer Twitter almost seven times more than Facebook. A former Presidential candidate who earned the nickname “Moonbeam”, there is no shortage of content on his Twitter stream.

8. John Boehner (Klout Score 87): The current Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has strongly promoted social media over years amongst his GOP caucus members. Once issuing a press release entitled “PWNED: House GOP Dominates Twitter, YouTube, Social Media in Congress”, he has taken the lead and shown his members how to be social media savvy. (Note: PWNED is trash talk that means you “owned” your opponent). Boehner has 320,479 Facebook likes and 220,763 Twitter followers for his campaign accounts.

9. Ron Paul (Klout Score 86): The former Congressman from Texas and Republican Presidential Candidate in 2012 has a considerable social media following reflective of the passion his candidacy generated among tech savvy millenials and libertarians. Paul has over 1.1 million Facebook likes and over 200,300 Twitter followers.

10. Cory Booker (Klout Score 85): The Mayor of Newark, New Jersey utilizes Twitter as a way to hear constituent concerns. The Mayor’s twitter account has become a civic reporting system that has been a better platform for consituent’s voices to be heard than the actual telephone at City Hall. Mayor Booker has over 1.3 million Twitter followers and 128,137 Facebook likes. Many constituents in Newark say if you want a pothole fixed you need to tweet to him about it.

At the start of 2013, these are the top ten most social media savvy U.S. politicians. Will they maintain their status or will new leaders emerge and enter into the top ten? Arc 3 will be following closely to see who comes out on top at the end of what is certain to be a year of innovation and enterprise in social media and politics.

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