George W. Bush Is Winning the Popular (Facebook) Vote

By Skyla Freeman | 6.3.2010

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The 43rd President knows how to make friends – fast. George W. Bush’s Official Facebook page launched yesterday, and in less than 24 hours, Bush became more popular than Al Gore, John Kerry, and Jimmy Carter (who has an official Carter Library page – and a mere 669 fans). In just one day, Bush had gathered more than 55,000 followers, surpassing many politicians with long-standing accounts. Among presidents and presidential hopefuls, Bush looks like he’ll easily catch up to Bill Clinton, who had nearly 328,000 fans at press time. Sizing up the 2008 election, pages from Joe Biden, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee (at several hundred thousand each) are also within sight. Not so easy to surpass? Tea-party and Facebook fan favorite Sarah Palin, who updates daily to a cool one million followers, and President Barack Obama, now past eight million followers.
While Bush’s joining the A-list on Facebook may surprise some, his popularity on the networking site and online has been growing steadily. Last February, a website called bushfans.com launched the “Miss Me Yet?” fan page, celebrating the highlights of the Bush presidency and criticizing the Obama Administration. It now has more than 160,000 fans. Even Bush team members have fared well in the high-school halls of Facebook popularity. “The Architect” Karl Rove, with more than 22,000 fans, is no one to sniff at. Laura Bush has been similarly successful; her relatively new page has a following of nearly 19,000.
So a lot of people want to be friends with Bush – but who is he friending? So far, the Decider is being selective, following fives sites, among them his wife’s page, his mother’s foundations, and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. His staff is equally choosey at the GWB Presidential Center Twitter account, which follows only Mrs. Bush and Southern Methodist University. However, that isn’t remotely discouraging the former President’s fans, as Facebook members continue to “like” him in droves; by this afternoon he was closing in on 100,000 fans. Bush seems to be getting the popular vote for 2010.

The 43rd President knows how to make friends – fast. George W. Bush’s Official Facebook page launched yesterday, and in less than 24 hours, Bush became more popular than Al Gore, John Kerry, and Jimmy Carter (who has an official Carter Library page – and a mere 669 fans). In just one day, Bush had gathered more than 55,000 followers, surpassing many politicians with long-standing accounts. Among presidents and presidential hopefuls, Bush looks like he’ll easily catch up to Bill Clinton, who had nearly 328,000 fans at press time. Sizing up the 2008 election, pages from Joe Biden, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee (at several hundred thousand each) are also within sight. Not so easy to surpass? Tea-party and Facebook fan favorite Sarah Palin, who updates daily to a cool one million followers, and President Barack Obama, now past eight million followers.

While Bush’s joining the A-list on Facebook may surprise some, his popularity on the networking site and online has been growing steadily. Last February, a website called bushfans.com launched the “Miss Me Yet?” fan page, celebrating the highlights of the Bush presidency and criticizing the Obama Administration. It now has more than 160,000 fans. Even Bush team members have fared well in the high-school halls of Facebook popularity. “The Architect” Karl Rove, with more than 22,000 fans, is no one to sniff at. Laura Bush has been similarly successful; her relatively new page has a following of nearly 19,000.

So a lot of people want to be friends with Bush – but who is he friending? So far, the Decider is being selective, following fives sites, among them his wife’s page, his mother’s foundations, and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. His staff is equally choosey at the GWB Presidential Center Twitter account, which follows only Mrs. Bush and Southern Methodist University. However, that isn’t remotely discouraging the former President’s fans, as Facebook members continue to “like” him in droves; by this afternoon he was closing in on 100,000 fans. Bush seems to be getting the popular vote for 2010.

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Skyla Freeman (skylafreeman.com) is a former writer for President George W. Bush.  She blogs about style and culture at Sanity Fair online (sfair.blogspot.com).

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One Response to “George W. Bush Is Winning the Popular (Facebook) Vote”

  1. bruidspaar says:
    8-22-2011, 5:58 pm
    pointer

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    Reply

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