Martin

O’Malley

Martin in the Media

By TJ Gosse

Overall, Martin O’Malley has a very young, lively, and energetic image. He has utilized inspiring one-liners during his campaign including “Believe”, “Better choices, better results” and “Join the Movement”. He is well known for taking initiative of issues and facing them head on. Although he is known for being hard-nosed former Mayor of Baltimore, he is better described as a man of the people. He has the mindset of a servant to the community. As a father and family man, he puts education and other crucial issues at the forefront of his movement. He has a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and several videos on YouTube. He also has his own website where he encourages voters to sign up and donate. 

One way that his website is similar to his personality is because it is very clear cut. It is not dull, but it is basic. There is a spot to “Join the Team” or sign up to donate, and some of his important speeches. There are over twenty speeches hitting on topics anywhere from same-sex marriage to the Utah Democratic Jubilee Dinner. This is getting straight to the point, just like his no-nonsense mentality. Here, voters can directly see what he talks about in his speeches, what kind of person he is and what his beliefs are.

O’Malley posts a lot of different types of things on his Facebook page. Most recently, he made a post about an event for St. Patrick’s Day happy hour, where his band will be performing. He also posted on February 9^th, 2015 that he had broken his elbow while at the gym. He thanked the people at the hospital and hoped for a speedy recovery. This is one way to make himself seem more personable. Thousands and thousands of people “like”, “share”, “retweet”, or re-post all of his messages. He is somewhat active on all of his accounts. On average, he has Facebook posts at least every other day.

But he does not just use it for his personal life. He also posts about important issues like climate change and terrorism groups like ISIS. In these posts, he gives his opinion on specifically what the change needs to be. He posts:

The new AUMF should address ISIS specifically, and mitigate any unintended consequences by including clear language on the use of ground troops and the length and terms of engagement.

Here, he is raising the awareness of others and possibly inspiring them to help and follow his cause. I thought it was especially interesting because one Facebook user named “Democrats Against Hillary Clinton in 2016” responds by saying “No new wars! Run Martin run!!” I thought this also gave an insight to the outlook of many people in the Democratic Party. People like him and want to see him succeed.

On twitter, he has over ten thousand posts and more than fifty eight thousand followers. Most of the twitter posts are very similar, if not identical to the things he preaches on Facebook. This has its benefits because it shows how his values are consistent. It also shows that he is not on social media all day since he is clearly copy and pasting his posts. At the moment, he is on the right track. His online use portrays a well-balanced man who has ability to lead. In order to boost his online presence, he should continue to post inspirational, eye-opening issues that will get the people going. Although the “real-life” posts are nice, he should limit these and be as professional as the presidents that have come before him.

To see how the O'Malley campaign views themselves, please watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPqEg3Xh7xg

SOURCES

http://martinomalley.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MartinOMalley 

https://twitter.com/governoromalley