Obama’s camp tweets about 29 times each day. Study: Obama winning digital race

President Barack Obama can claim victory over Mitt Romney in the digital arena at this point in the campaign, according to a new study.

The Obama campaign posted almost four times as much content online as Mitt Romney’s campaign did, and is active on twice as many social media platforms, a new Pew Research Center study found. The starkest contrast between the two candidates is on Twitter, according to the report. The Romney campaign tweeted about once a day, while Obama’s camp tweeted about 29 times each day.


And that’s not the only site where Obama holds a distinct advantage — his campaign also is much more active posting videos on YouTube and blogs on his website.

“As the conventions drew closer, Romney’s campaign took steps to close the technology gap, and may well take more with the addition of Paul Ryan to the ticket,” Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism deputy director Amy Mitchell said in a statement. “But there is a long way to go before the Romney team matches the level of activity of the Obama campaign.”

The study found that about one-third of the Romney campaign’s online posts were focused on Obama and attacked the president’s policies or decisions, while about 14 percent of Obama’s posts centered on the Republican nominee. The two campaigns do share one common digital thread — both have posted more about the economy than any other issue. About 24 percent of Romney’s postings are about the economy, and 19 percent of Obama’s content focuses on the issue.

The report also noted that while the campaigns are both trying to communicate directly with voters online, they’re not doing much to engage their followers by sharing or retweeting their comments. Just 16 percent of Obama’s tweets were retweets, and the Romney camp had only one retweet — from his son Josh — the study points out.

For this report, Pew analyzed online data from June 4-17. Pew examined posts, updates, tweets and videos from each candidate’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts, as well as their main websites.