In the News

Here’s something we haven’t seen done with Facebook Timeline before: political opposition research. Newt Gingrich launched a new Timeline page called the “Romney Record” Wednesday morning, fresh off the heels of Super Tuesday. The idea? To use Timeline’s chronological layout to highlight Mitt Romney’s decisions that some conservative voters may find off-putting. Many conservatives, Gingrich included, have [...]

The “Romney Record” page uses the new feature to highlight Romney’s most embarrassing and contradictory moments, from liberal issue positions to the dog on the roof of his car. It’s courtesy of his good friends at the Gingrich campaign.

The Newt Gingrich campaign shifted its online advertising away from his homestate of Georgia yesterday to focus on Tennessee and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, pro-Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future bought around $190,000 in online ads recently, aimed at voters in Super Tuesday primary states including Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, North Dakota, Massachusetts, and Alaska. The [...]

Life inside successful Web startups—especially the really successful ones—can be nasty, brutish, and short. As companies grow exponentially, egos clash, investors jockey for control, and business complexities rapidly exceed the managerial abilities of the founders. Venture capitalist Peter Fenton calls this phenomenon “the violence of a startup.” And nowhere has the violence been fiercer, or [...]

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are breaking ground with new mobile payment technology for campaign fundraising. Square is a credit card reader about the size of a bottle cap that attaches to an iPhone, iPad or Android phone. It allows food trucks, cab drivers, and now campaign staffers to process payments with the swipe of [...]

According to Vincent Harris, who runs Gingrich’s new media efforts, the team switched to Timeline because it allows the campaign to showcase Gingrich’s “long record of fighting for conservative values” as well as the candidate’s personal side. What are Harris’ plans for Gingrich’s Facebook presence? Even with this new Timeline page up, his old “public [...]

In a January debate, Newt Gingrich said he wished his campaign had been more Internet-based since it launched. A new online ad effort from Gingrich signals a shift in that direction. The ads, aimed at second amendment supporters in upcoming primary states, have Mitt Romney in the crosshairs for waffling on gun rights. Meanwhile, today [...]

“Spending on mobile ads by political campaigns this election cycle will take up only a fraction of candidates’ war chests, but the digital teams of GOP presidential hopefuls are busily experimenting with mobile, using it to target specific locations and interest groups.” Mobile also offers opportunities for targeting more creatively. Before Texas Gov. Rick Perry [...]

“As GOP presidential contenders stump for votes from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina, Google, Facebook and Twitter are in a race of their own — for millions of dollars in political ads. The tech giants are offering candidates new ways to advertise — Mitt Romney has spots on YouTube and Rick Perry’s Facebook [...]

“Dan Liljenquist stepped up his campaign efforts, even flooding popular sites and mobile apps such as Pandora with “Dan for Utah” ads. Rep. Holly Richardson, who resigned from the legislature last week to assist Liljenquist’s campaign, has been pushing the campaign on social media sites. Her resignation was even reported on national Fox News. Richardson [...]