From a social media standpoint, our experience at National Right to Life throughout the Komen debacle has been remarkable. Our number of Facebook fans skyrocketed between January 31 and February 3, and those numbers were matched on Twitter.
Beyond the increase in Facebook fans, we also saw some of the highest rate of participation during that time. Pro-lifers followed the controversy very carefully.
It was heartening to see people by the hundreds spreading the good pro-life information that comes from NRLC to all their friends online. We have the best grassroots people following us on Facebook. They share the news they know is important–exactly that is what social media is built for.The most recent meme to materialize from the Komen /Planned Parenthood controversy is that pro-abortionists were able to force the hand of a powerful organization by flexing their social media muscle. No doubt, a simple trip to Planned Parenthood’s Facebook page reveals they have a massive following there. But the media analysis on this topic has been intriguing.
Consider how Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richard set the tone for this very idea. A CBS News online story had the following:
“Richards said there was an ‘outpouring of personal stories from patients’ who have used Planned Parenthood services and that those stories reached a broad audience via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.“‘The intimate nature of social media and the ability of folks to communicate across all lines, I’ve never seen anything like it,’ she said. ‘I absolutely believe the explosion on Facebook and Twitter drove a lot of coverage on mainstream media as well.’”
Forbes.com published an article 6 days later by Stephanie Losee who wrote that the social media response represented the mood of Komen contributors who the article says disagreed with Komen’s decision to defund PPFA. But it was also reported that Komen contributions increased by 100%, which is to be expected, given that the majority of Americans are pro-life and could now feel comfortable donating to Komen.
But Losee’s analysis is almost tautological: Komen’s constituents who did not care that their money was funding the nation’s largest abortion provider obviously disagreed with the decision. But there were plenty of people who value human life to fill the void those lapsed donors left.
Readers might be interested to know that Ms. Losee is a post-abortive, “pro-choice advocate” who once wrote that you would never find “Choose Life” license plates in a civilized state like California, where she lives. So it’s no surprise that she would portray the pro-abortion side as not just vocal but a social media heavy weight.
Huffington Post featured an article by Kathleen Kane published 5 days after Cecile Richard’s comments. Kane argues that because social media users as a group are younger than the general population, Planned Parenthood can attribute its social media success to the fact that so many of its clients are also young women. Oh, and by the way, Ms. Kane is also Communications Director for the Manhattan Young Democrats. You can understand her opinion as just more pro-abortion spin.
The pro-abortionists not only took their bullying of Komen to the social media forum, they also used more traditional media to magnify the message that they have dominated the web.
PPFA and its allies may claim to have a leg up in the use of Social Media. But, if so, you can help us even this playing field. If you don’t already, go to Facebook and “Like” National Right to Life;follow us on Twitter (@nrlc); and follow us on any of the other social media channels we use (Tumblr, Google+, and YouTube).
Contrary to the impression that is widespread in the mainstream media, there are plenty of pro-life folks online. A quick search of the hashtags #prochoice and #prolife reveals that in the last 30 days alone there has been twice as much pro-life volume on Twitter. That means that over the past month for every pro-abortion tweet published on Twitter there were roughly twice as many pro-life tweets. The media surely won’t cover that.
The bottom line is opinion polls show America is pro-life. They don’t have the people; we do.
