Dilma and Marina stifle Aécio and Campos on Twitter.
On social media, the difference in the number of followers between the leading and second-placed candidates in the polls compared to the third and fourth-placed candidates is brutal; while President Dilma Rousseff and former minister Marina Silva already have almost 3 million fans on Twitter, Senator Aécio Neves and Governor Eduardo Campos barely exceed 30; a digital alarm clock is ringing for them; even champions of sectarianism like Reinaldo Azevedo and Merval Pereira praise Dilma's digital offensive, even though they suspect it's pure marketing.
247 - The alarm clock rang in the ears of presidential candidates Aécio Neves and Eduardo Campos. They need to wake up from the deep sleep they're in when it comes to social media. While the senator from the PSDB party has 25,6 followers on his Twitter account, the governor of Pernambuco boasts a contingent five times smaller: 4,5.
For ordinary citizens, these numbers would be enough to ensure that neither of them feels alone. On the contrary, they could say they have thousands of friends. The problem is that their direct competitors for the Presidency of the Republic in 2014 already have and surpassed the million-follower mark.
Accustomed to communicating with her audience via Twitter, presidential candidate Marina Silva, from the still unregistered Rede Sustentabilidade party, had amassed an army of 759 followers on the Twitter network this Saturday, the 28th. On Friday the 27th, for example, she recommended reading an article she authored published in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. In contrast, there are no known recent tweets from Aécio and Campos, who are clearly disregarding the social network as an environment for conducting their electoral campaigns.
It's quite different with President Dilma Rousseff. In an initiative that sparked mixed praise from columnists who only find reasons to criticize her, such as Reinaldo Azevedo of Veja.com and Merval Pereira of O Globo, the president launched a successful digital offensive on Friday the 27th. With blogger Jeferson Monteiro by her side – creator of the website Dilma Bolada, dedicated to praising her daily – the president showed a fun and friendly side by producing a series of tweets, with humorous and sincere remarks. The result was an increase of 20 followers to her account in the first 24 hours. Currently, Dilma has no less than 1,92 million followers. A number that is only growing.
Until yesterday, it had been almost a year since Dilma last posted on Twitter, more precisely since December 13th of last year. Now, to make up for lost time, she has opened her own space on Instagram and is also setting up her Facebook page. As a bonus, when she spoke with Dilma Bolada, the real Dilma promoted @portalbrasil, where the government offers more than 600 online services to the public.
The president's undeniable advantage on social media worries columnists dedicated to criticizing her. Precisely because, with her successful strategy, she even manages to elicit applause from places where, until now, only stones have been thrown against her.