Romney’s boring announcement

By Alexis Levinson | April 12, 2011

Mitt Romney on Monday announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee via Twitter, following in the footsteps of another potential GOP contender, Tim Pawlenty, who announced last month on Facebook. But the move felt stale to some, despite the ‘hipness’ that a rollout using social media theoretically connotes.

“I mean it’s just so boring, isn’t it?” said Vincent Harris of Harris Media LLC of all of the Republican announcements so far.

“I feel like someone could write a presidential announcement handbook,” he said. “One, announce on a social networking platform. Two, release a web video. Three, send out an email.”

“At least Tim Pawlenty had an energetic web video,” he continued. “Mitt Romney’s, you can literally hear birds chirping in the background.” (Indeed, unlike Pawlenty’s action movie-esque background track, Romney’s announcement is accompanied by the sweet sound of birdsong).