2015 Member Online All-Star Competition: Most Viral Posts; Top Infographic, Video, & Constituent Services Post Finalists—Vote For Your Favorite Now
Mariel Saez 202-225-3130
The Democratic Whip Office’s sixth annual Member Online All-Star Competition came to a close earlier this week. It was a great success, with House Democrats collectively gaining over 231,000 new social media followers over three weeks.
At next week’s Whip meeting, competition highlights will be presented and trophies will be awarded to the Overall MVP Rep. Katherine Clark and Freshman MVP Rep. Debbie Dingell, as well as trophies for the awards listed below.
Thanks to the many offices that created and nominated impressive work in each of these areas. Two Members – Reps. John Lewis and Michelle Lujan Grisham – will receive awards for the most viral posts. For the other three categories, finalists were announced this afternoon on social media. Everyone is encouraged to vote for your favorites by sharing or liking them on Facebook (links below) by tomorrow at midnight ET.
MOST VIRAL POST AWARD
To help level the playing field for Members with less followers, the Whip’s office divided the total reach numbers by the total number of followers a Member has. After doing so, Congressman John Lewis was still the far and away winner of our new “Most Viral Post” award. His arrest anniversary post reached over 5 million people on Facebook and Twitter.
Our colleague and friend from Georgia is so many things—a civil rights hero, a prolific Congressman, “THE hit of Comic-Con,” and now, clearly, a bona fide internet superstar.
Since he is such a social media powerhouse, we will be awarding another trophy for the second most viral post to Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham. Her post on a surprise visit to a troubled Albuquerque Social Security office clearly struck a nerve with her constituents, as it was liked by over 9,300 people and shared by over 1,470—reaching over 436,000 people on Facebook alone.
TOP INFOGRAPHIC AWARD FINALISTS
Click through to vote on your favorite.
- Rep. Bill Foster graphically celebrates the 5th Anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and highlights the major impacts that the law has made.
- Rep. Lois Frankel graphically shows the major accomplishments the Democratic Caucus has made in advancing the “When Women Succeed, America Succeeds” agenda.
- Rep. Ami Bera graphically tells a story of the seriousness of California’s drought, and what it is going to take to come together to address it.
TOP VIDEO AWARD FINALISTS
Click through to vote on your favorite.
- Rep. Mark Takano uses a series of flip board drawings to explain President Obama’s proposal for expanding who was eligible for overtime pay, and what that means for ordinary Americans.
- Rep. Mark Pocan uses his skills as a former magician to explain the inner workings of lawmaking on Capitol Hill.
- Rep Luis Gutierrez takes to the House Floor to passionately respond to the outrageous comments made by Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.
TOP CONSTITUENT SERVICES POST FINALISTS
Since we received a number of nominations that highlight Member office's constituent services operations, we decided to create a new category and trophy just for these types of posts. The winner will also be selected by the public. Click through to vote on your favorite.
- Rep. Louise Slaughter uses a clean and attractive infographic to show the hard work she and her staff have put into helping and communicating with her constituents.
- Rep. Alan Lowenthal uses a novel four page slide presentation to show the hard work he and his staff have done helping and communicating with his constituents.
- Rep. Pete Visclosky uses a well-produced testimonial video to highlight how he and his staff have made a real difference in the lives of different constituents.