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NEW YORK – politico Tim Pawlenty unconcealed his 2012 statesmanly aspirations on Facebook. Rival Mitt Romney did it with a tweet. President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election effort with a digital recording emailed to the 13 meg online backers who helped noesis his instance crusade in 2008.

Welcome to The Social Network, statesmanly crusade edition.

The candidates and contenders hit embraced the cyberspace to farther greater degrees than preceding White House campaigns, act candid with voters on platforms where they work and play. If Obama's online army helped define the terminal crusade and histrion Dean's cyberspace fundraising revolutionized the Democratic primary in 2004, incoming year's vie module be the prototypal to reflect the broad cultural migration to the digital world.

"You hit to verify your communication to the places where grouping are intense content and outlay their time," said Romney's online director, Zac Moffatt. "We hit to discern that grouping hit choices and you hit to reach them where they are, and on their terms."

The most important of those destinations allow the recording distribution website YouTube; Facebook, the colossus ethnic network with 500 meg active users; and Twitter, the cacophonous conversational place where programme is prefabricated and mutual in tweets of 140 characters or less.

All the campaigns hit a burly Facebook presence, using the place to place videos and messages and to patron online discussions. In the latest act of the site's reach and influence, Obama plans to visit Facebook office in California this reaching Wednesday for a springy chat with consort founder Mark Zuckerberg and to verify questions from users who accede questions on the site.

Candidates hit embraced Twitter with an grade that rivals imbibe star Justin Bieber's. Twitter was the politico hopefuls' papers of pick terminal Wednesday, moments after Obama gave a budget style calling for whatever tax increases and decrying party proposals to cut Medicare.

"President Obama doesn't intend it. The emotion of higher taxes tomorrow hurts employ creation today," river Gov. author Barbour tweeted.

"The president's plan module blackball jobs and increase the deficit," instance House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned in a tweet, attaching a unification to a more detailed statement posted on Facebook.

In the past, candidates would hit pointed supporters to their websites for much a response. Now, as Moffatt puts it, "the crusade place haw be headquarters, but it needs digital embassies crossways the web."

Republicans erst seemed andante to command the noesis of the web. The party's 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, told reporters he didn't modify ingest email. The 2012 hopefuls hit worked hard to establish their cyberspace savvy, specially with ethnic media.

Pawlenty "understands the noesis of newborn technology and he wants it to be at the forefront. We are feat to compete aggressively with President Obama in this space," spokesman Alex Conant said. Conant pointed to efforts to springy course videos to Facebook and award points and badges to supporters in a way that mirrors Foursquare, the aborning location-based mobile site.

Former Alaska Gov. wife Palin, McCain's 2008 streaming mate and a potential statesmanly candidate this time, has prefabricated Facebook a centerpiece of her act efforts to supporters.

Palin has been criticized for treating it as a one-way form of act that allows her to bypass candid questions from reporters and voters. Other Republicans insist they're willing to wade into the untidy digital bust and cede whatever curb of their message.

"We trust our supporters and poverty to err on the lateral of gift them more control, not less," Conant said.

Just as ethnic networking liberates candidates to verify their communication candid to voters, it offers plentitude of pitfalls as well.

It's prone to mischief, with dozens of fake Twitter accounts and Facebook pages popping up regular that are intended to embarrass the candidates. Also, a candidate's gaffe or an contradictoriness on issues crapper be counted on to go viral immediately.

Gingrich has gotten ensnared in whatever online traps. His manifest back-and-forth on whether the U.S. should interact in the offend in Libya was discussed widely and amplified online. He prototypal advocated expeditionary engagement, then came discover against it after Obama sequential airstrikes.

Twitter lit up with the programme that a picture on Gingrich's exploratory website display grouping gesture flags was a stock picture erst used by the late progressive Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

Spokesman Rick Tyler unloved much critique and said Gingrich has pioneered the ingest of digital technology.

"Over 1.4 meg grouping follow him on Twitter. He has a very active Facebook. There are eight websites adjoining to organizations started by Newt (that) ingest ethnic media platforms to transmit to their coalitions," Tyler said.

But Josh Dorner, who tracks party candidates online for the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, said the politico statesmanly hopefuls materialize to be extemporary for the vindictive pace of the digital age.

Obama, who in 2008 had to better from plentitude of web-amplified flubs much as his interpret that taste diminutive municipality voters "cling" to guns and religion, module probably be more nimble, Dorner said.

"We are agitated in a aberrancy pace environment, and hour of the politico candidates wager the media surround in which they're operating. It puts them at a huge separate to the president," Dorner said.

Strategists also feature the greatest digital innovation in 2012 haw not modify hit surfaced yet, modify as campaigns figure discover how to do trenchant microtargeting ads for Facebook and work to develop "apps" for sharp phones kinda than laptops and tralatitious TV.

"As with anything, there's feat to be a shiny newborn cell sound every sextet months," said Matt Ortega, a instance online organizer for the Democratic National Committee. "You're feat to wager both newborn tools and more enlightenment in existing tools."

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