Political conversation since my last at-glance-look at the 2012 candidates has been centered on fixing our nation’s debt issues and employment. Since this is a non-partisan column, we’re going to stick away from the discussion and stick to the numbers – the social numbers that is.

Something that I’ve noticed is how actively engaged each candidate’s fans are on Facebook. Unlike Twitter, it provides a platform for a long form means to express your opinion, as opposed to Twitter’s 140 characters. People interested in politics are passionate about their beliefs and their feelings towards representatives. That being said, it doesn’t come to much of a surprise that of the two platforms being measured for the sake of this column, Facebook tends to have the stronger following than that of Twitter.

Note, though, the disparity between number of fans between Newt Gingrich’s Facebook and Twitter pages. He is the only potential Republican candidate whose Twitter presence is in the millions yet his Facebook remains in the six-figures. From what we hear though from Google, looks as though Mr. Gingrich has a very strong presence on Google+ and hosts a number of public “hang-outs” – I wonder how that will affect him in the long run because this is a great tool for some free video publicity.

At a glance, the candidates so far:

This article first appeared on Big Fuel’s Content to Commerce blog 7/21/11 — as linked here.