“No. 1 hero in Tunisia” is probably not a status update Mark Zuckerberg ever thought would appear on his Facebook wall. Yet that is exactly what Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) has anointed the CEO and co-founder of Facebook after a visit to Tunisia this month. Is ‘No. 1 hero’ in a protest-torn country really a status a CEO like Zuckerberg wants?
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. 
An op-ed piece in The Washington Post by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), which praised President Barack Obama for his Jan. 12 speech at the memorial service honoring those slain in the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 8, was the most-shared news link by bloggers, while Apple once again topped the list of most-Tweeted news links, and the most-watched news and politics video on YouTube was footage of flooding in Toowoomba, Australia, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism’s New Media Index for the week of Jan. 17-21.
McCain’s op-ed accounted for 17 percent of news links shared via the blogosphere, and it was followed by: video of a BBC interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, appearing for the second week in a row, at 16 percent; another Washington Post op-ed piece, this one by George Will, who wrote that Congress has bequeathed much of its lawmaking power to the presidency and other government agencies in recent years, at 15 percent; health care, at 14 percent; and the economy, at 8 percent.
A recent academic study measuring the “social media IQ” of US politicians paints a picture of John McCain as a social media maven and the GOP in general as far smarter than their Democratic counterparts. But it perhaps relies too much on measures of the quantity of tweets rather than the quality of their content – arguably a better prediction of virality and exposure on social media. While GOP senators do appear to have the edge over the Democrats online, it is likely for reasons other than simply more content.
Read more
Well, we know at least one person who is in the Jake Tapper camp.
Senator John McCain took to Twitter Monday afternoon to weigh in on Christiane Amanpour‘s debut on ABC’s “This Week.”
His critique was short and to the point:
“Anyone else miss @jaketapper yesterday?”
Ouch. Tapper, ABC News’ White House correspondent, ably filled in as interim host of the program until Amanpour debuted.
Tapper brought some new features like fact-checking and live tweeting to the program, but kept the focus on U.S. politics, which is in line with “This Week’s” history and what the other Sunday public affairs shows put on the air.
Amanpour has indicated she would like to bring a more international take on the week’s news to the show, while still discussing U.S. politics.
McCain, who is a U.S. Senator, seems more inclined to favor Tapper’s inside the beltway style.
Of course, one of the biggest reasons for bringing Amanpour to “This Week” was to differentiate the program from its competition. As for McCain’s criticism, it probably won’t stop him from appearing on the program. Foreign policy is, after all, his specialty.
Overnight ratings are in and Saturday Night Live with host Betty White was the most-watched SNL in 18 months. The show has a preliminary 8.8 household rating in the country’s 56 largest markets. The best since the the Nov. 1, 2008 show, which feature Sen. John McCain a few days before the presidential election.
The Mother’s Day-themed episode also featured several female SNL alumni, including Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon and Rachel Dratch.
NBC.com also released three clips that were only part of the dress rehearsal featuring several classic sketch characters (one below, two more after the jump).
With only 140 characters to ask and answer a question there is little a politician can do to filibuster during an interviewer’s questions. Such was the case this afternoon as ABC’s George Stephanopoulos conducted the network’s first Twitterview. The Twitterviewee: Sen. John McCain.
The questions ranged from AIG to foreign threats to Sen. McCain’s daughter. And, again, with only 140 characters, there’s very little depth here.
Here is the twanscript from the Twitterview… with most recent Tweets first.
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: Thanks a lot george, let’s do it again soon. now i look forward to reading our followers comments and insults.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: Thanks for your time Senator.You’re a good sport I know I’m not getting anymore on Coulter and Ingraham Happy St Pat’s again
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: like any family we agree on some things and disagree on others.
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: I’m proud of my daughter and she has a right to her opinions.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: Lots of twitterers want to know: what do you think of Meghans’s feud with Coulter and Ingraham?
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: too early to draw that conclusion.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohMcCain: Cheney said on CNN that Obama putting US at risk of new terror attack Agree?
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: both. the challenges are different but both significant.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: What worries you more: Pakistan or Iran?
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: I’m working with others on alternatives – cong paul ryan has some great ideas.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: Take point on 1st AIG bailout How about budget? Will you offer alternative?
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: to follow up – first AIG bailout was pre-tarp.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: Obama says GOP can’t “just say no” on budget Will you offer a full alternative to Obama budget?
• SenJohnMcCain: i voted for first tarp but that doesn’t mean i voted to bail out AIG.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: RIght, but didn’t you vote for first TARP, which went to AIG?
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: i haven’t seen it but i would explore every option. I repeat, we wouldn’t have this problem if we hadn’t bailed them out
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: ok, but today: should bonus contracts be broken? Dodd wants a targeted tax on bonuses OK with that?
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: i would have never bailed out AIG, the real scandal is billions to foreign banks.
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: AIG: Would a President McCain break bonus contracts? Obama teams says that would cause more harm than good
• SenJohnMcCain @GStephanopoulos: Happy St. Patrick’s day – slow, sometimes pc somtimes bb
• SenJohnMcCain: Happy St. Patricks day
• SenJohnMcCain: both, usually pc sometimes bb.
• SenJohnMcCain: hi george im a little slow
• GStephanopoulos @SenJohnMcCain: Happy St Patrick’s Day! First things first: How do u tweet — dictate or type? Blackberry or pc?
Follow @GStephanopoulos here…
Follow @SenJohnMcCain here…
Follow @WebNewser here…
>More: Stephanopoulos blogs about the Twitterview…
A few comments from followers after the jump…
Last week, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos conducted a back-and-forth Twitter exchange with Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is one of the most prolific Twitterers in Congress.
Well now, the moderator of the Sunday morning public affairs show “This Week” will conduct his first Twitterview — an interview via Twitter — and he’s doing it with Sen. John McCain.
We’re going to attempt to conduct a full interview exclusively on Twitter — complete with the 140-character limit!
All a part of exploring new ways to connect with our “This Week” viewers online. So, if you have any suggested questions for me to ask Sen. McCain — in 140 characters or less — “twitter” me!
Last Friday, msnbc.com’s First Read wrote about how Sen. McCain has gone from being a “candidate who acknowledged during the 2008 presidential campaign not using e-mail or Blackberries to now being a Twitter touter.”
TVNewser conducted its first (and so far only) Twitterview in September with CNN’s Rick Sanchez.
We’re still waiting for mobile traffic numbers, but Hitwise is reporting that CNN.com was the most-visited TV network Web site on Nov. 4, receiving .61% of all U.S Internet visits, according to MediaPost.
The site received a 146 percent bump in visits on Tuesday compared to Monday. MSNBC was in second place with .40% of all U.S. Internet visits, representing the site’s largest number of daily hits in its 12-year history, with over 250 million page views and 20 million uniques (showing just how many people, besides us, kept hitting “Refresh” throughout the night).
The report also said that Barack Obama‘s Web site received a 6% increase in U.S. visits on Tuesday, while John McCain‘s Web site hits dropped 18%.
Editor & Publisher reports that IDW Publishing’s upcoming comic books about presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will also be available for download onto cell phones through GoComics.com.
Both IDW’s 28-page print comic-biographies and the mobile version from GoComics will debut on October 8, marking the first time that a comic book is released simultaneously in print and on mobile simultaneously.
