Gingrich Is First Candidate to Activate Facebook Timeline

February 14th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Newt Gingrich, ex-Speaker of the House and Republican presidential hopeful, has turned on Facebook‘s new profile option, Timeline.

Maybe he was inspired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who did the same last week? Not exactly. According to Vincent Harris, who runs Gingrich’s new media efforts, the team switched to Timeline because it allows the campaign to showcase Gingrich’s “long record of fighting for conservative values” as well as the candidate’s personal side.

On Gingrich’s Timeline, his cover photo shows the candidate wide-grinned, signing autographs beside his wife Callista. His occupation is “Founder at Center for Health Transformation,” Gingrich’s healthcare organization. His education is in “European History at Tulane University,” and he lives in McLean, Virginia.

Facebook Timeline‘s “Life Event” feature lets users highlight significant achievements in their lives. It’s also a natural fit to show off a politician’s accomplishments. On Gingrich’s page, recent endorsements, such as Herman Cain and Chuck Norris, stand out with pictures of endorsers and links to relevant news articles.

Timeline, which is meant to be viewed as a biography, is well suited to a politician with a public service record as long as Gingrich has.

In that vein, Gingrich uses “Life Event” markers to highlight accomplishments that are part of his presidential campaign’s message. In 1972, there’s a marker for Gingrich’s role as 6th district chairman for President Nixon’s election. His Timeline also highlights achievements or positions that may appeal to current voters: “early supporter of tax rate reductions” in 1978, “praised Reagan’s leadership” in 1984, “testified against Cap and Trade” in 2009, and so on.

Facebook Timeline does, however, have a way of boiling flavor out of events that once lit political fireworks: Gingrich’s stepping down from his post as Speaker came after pressure from other Republicans, but Timeline reduces that to “1999: Ended Work at United States House of Representatives.” Also, only one of Gingrich’s marriages is listed, but it’s unclear if this is a limitation on Facebook’s part or an omission by Gingrich’s team.

Facebook has a team headquartered in Washington, D.C. which helps politicians use the social network to organize. Harris said the Facebook political team helped with branding, and that they “are incredibly on the ball and serve as a good resource for campaigns,” said Harris.

Gingrich has also turned on Facebook Subscribe, a feature which lets Facebook users share certain updates with the general public while keeping other messages private. As of 4:15 p.m. ET Monday, he had just over 1,000 subscribers.

What are Harris’ plans for Gingrich’s Facebook presence? Even with this new Timeline page up, his old “public figure” page is still running.

“The fantastic visual nature of Timeline will allow Speaker Gingrich’s campaign to showcase important events, endorsements, and victories,” said Harris. “We plan on utilizing both the page and Timeline in a parallel nature, at least until pages potentially update to Timeline.”

Will the other candidates follow suit and jump on Timeline? What do you think of Gingrich’s Timeline? Sound off in the comments below.