President Obama apparently has 18.5 million Facebook friends which not surprisingly is far more than former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
When the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman told his liberal colleagues on the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" what a potential advantage this gives the current White House resident, there was much rejoicing (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Welcome back. Howard, tell me something I don't know.
HOWARD FINEMAN, HUFFINGTON POST: Well, the organizational battle is starting not just in the states but in cyberspace. On Facebook, Newt Gingrich has 100,000 Facebook fans. Mitt Romney has 800,000, but most significantly, Barack Obama has 18.5 million and that's an organizational tool that his people are right now figuring out how to update for the 2012 campaign. It’s potentially dynamite.
MATTHEWS: Wow.
FINEMAN: Not many. Zero.
Notice the huge smile on Katty Kay's face as well as Matthews exclaiming, "Wow."
Journalism at its finest, wouldn't you agree?
*****Update: Facebooker Bill Riley wisely points out that 18.5 million friends is not necessarily all that extraordinary for the most powerful person in the world...
Sorted by Fans
|
|
Name |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1. |
37,822,397 |
92,714 |
582,316 |
|
|
2. |
34,986,927 |
59,434 |
370,643 |
|
|
3. |
29,697,439 |
66,240 |
550,214 |
|
|
4. |
29,548,132 |
42,132 |
275,317 |
|
|
5. |
29,422,358 |
65,798 |
393,190 |
|
|
6. |
28,054,915 |
42,676 |
342,902 |
|
|
7. |
26,401,542 |
42,257 |
259,182 |
|
|
8. |
26,154,076 |
80,242 |
526,246 |
|
|
9. |
23,869,308 |
49,580 |
346,052 |
|
|
10. |
22,999,534 |
37,814 |
271,873 |
|
|
11. |
22,872,438 |
19,869 |
196,126 |
|
|
12. |
22,751,995 |
72,541 |
441,259 |
|
|
13. |
22,534,905 |
72,774 |
474,299 |
|
|
14. |
21,451,175 |
57,659 |
373,415 |
|
|
15. |
21,172,809 |
14,409 |
98,651 |
|
|
16. |
20,975,490 |
48,064 |
476,525 |
|
|
17. |
20,961,525 |
11,511 |
99,393 |
|
|
18. |
20,944,994 |
55,709 |
344,204 |
|
|
19. |
20,791,655 |
40,863 |
247,485 |
|
|
20. |
19,939,458 |
76,844 |
384,286 |
|
|
21. |
19,858,654 |
11,414 |
93,975 |
|
|
22. |
19,692,391 |
22,760 |
149,023 |
|
|
23. |
19,474,512 |
49,385 |
311,185 |
|
|
24. |
19,448,032 |
7,941 |
53,214 |
|
|
25. |
18,977,990 |
20,649 |
123,459 |
|
|
26. |
18,538,596 |
9,347 |
56,280 |
