I've been a blogger for years and my Technorati account dates back to March of 2004. But, I've never seen anything like the sustained presence of Ron Paul in the Technorati top search terms. The Paris Hiltons and iPhones come and go and YouTube is almost always at the top. But a politician? When has that ever happened before? According to a Technorati spokesman, never.
As for comparable searches on potential
presidential candidates, interestingly enough, there aren't
any. Ron Paul has had the longest stint in our top searches out of all
candidates. Mike Gravel had a quick stint, he's another grass-roots Web
campaigner. But aside from that and a few blips when Obama, Clinton, and
Edwards uploaded YouTube videos or after the debates, Ron Paul has been the
most sustained top search for political candidates.
About the sustained trajectory of Ron Paul's popularity in the blogosphere, here's what Technorati's spokesman had to say:
"Ron Paul" was relatively
unsearched-for term, until...
-May 4, when he became a popular (but not
top) search.
THEN on...May 8, his popularity
quadrupled and he became an official top search (thus entering the online
zeitgeist, you might say), all building up to May 15-16, when he became really
really hot (peaking on the 16th), and has since been enjoying a steady stream
of searches.
May 4 was when Ron Paul won the MSNBC debate poll. On May 8 the Paul campaign put out this press release:
Ron Paul Builds Momentum
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2007
ARLINGTON, VA – Congressman Ron Paul's support has soared since the
first Republican presidential debate. Conservative commentator John
McLaughlin, host of “The McLaughlin Group," cited Ron Paul as having
given "the best performance of the debate." In fact, the Paul
campaign's apparent strength has many other pundits scrambling to
explain it. Paul campaign officials offer the following examples of
the candidate's rising success.
Since the debate on May 3, Ron Paul:
- Handily won two post-debate polls posted by event sponsor MSNBC
- Placed a close third (18%) in a post-debate poll on the conservative Drudge Report
- Won an ABCNews.com online debate poll with 84%
- Won a C-SPAN online GOP candidate poll with 69%
- Became the third most-mentioned person in the blogosphere, beating out Paris Hilton, according to the reputable Technorati.com
- Produced a YouTube.com video that was ranked the 8th most popular overall video, and the most-viewed political video
- Was featured, by popular demand, on the front of Digg.com
- Generated so many bulletin posts on MySpace.com that the site owner News Corp. blocked all additional posts about Dr. Paul
- Became a "most searched" term on Google and Yahoo!
- Saw a quadrupling of daily visitors to RonPaul2008.com
"These figures speak for themselves," said campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Ron
Paul has quickly become a strong contender for the GOP nomination
because of his powerful message of freedom and limited government."
May 15 was the Fox News debate. If you don't remember how that one went, here's a hilarious refresher.
h/t ihateronpaul.com
I guess Ron Paul is right when he says "Freedom is popular."
