Social media expert Al DiGuido penned the following open letter to Mitt Romney and his online communications team:
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Sitting here on the Connecticut shoreline as neighboring towns are losing power, winds are howling outside and we are getting regular reports and photos from friends and relatives that show homes and businesses being washed away. Our local media is providing non stop news coverage and essential information for all of us that are doing battle with this massive hurricane; Sandy. Many of the local politicians around NY & CT have taken to the airwaves asking folks to evacuate and leave their homes; uncertain of when they will be able to return. It has been called the most epic and catostrophic weather related storm of our life time. Last report is that Sandy could result in nearly $10B a day in damages to this region. All of this and we are still 4-5 hours away from the real violence of the storm.
Where is Mitt Romney ? In the last several hours…like many others (over 60 million in this region) have been hunkered down in front of TV’s and computers on social media sites like Facebook. Not ONE message has come from Mitt to the people in our region expressing concern and/or prayers that all will be spared the certain devastation that such a storm could unleash on the entire eastern seaboard. What do I get…? A ill timed and advised email from the campaign asking for the “umpteenth” time to support the Romney campaign’s “momentum” with 8 days to go to election day. Seriously…is there anyone in that campaign team that has any common sense..? If you can’t segment out the east coast names in your Email DB and send a more “appropriate” message to all of us… you should have been fired a long time ago.
Mitt… Seriously… After months of posting carloads of messages on Facebook… today there is NOTHING from you.
Be Presidential. Stop and have the team pound Facebook with messages of concern for all of us on East Coast. Show that you care about the entire country and that you and Ann are praying for all of us. In times of dire need, that’s what we the electorate want from our leaders and most certainly from our President. Show that you care. If you can’t do it… We need to hear from you NOW… in the middle of the storm.. and then afterwards when the clean up begins… Have one of your team members get the message out NOW.
To be fair to you Mitt… the President hasn’t sent a message like this to any of us via any medium as yet either. I promise you that all of us are watching right now. When Sandy passes and we will have weathered this storm, we are going to remember the leaders that went out of their way to be helpful and supportive. Right now…you are missing in action and please have your team and all of those that are affiliated with your campaign suspend marketing campaigns that are focused on Obama and fundraising for a couple of days. I am sure that it won’t hurt you all that much. In fact… it may actually benefit you.
The internet allows you the ability to speak on a direct basis to millions of us. Stop using it as another broadcast message. Target all of us on the East coast with appropriate concern and messaging. Every hour that goes by is yet another hour of missed opportunity for you and your candidacy. Show the world just how caring and concerned you are as an individual and a leader. Say something, Tweet something, post something on Facebook.
NOW.
