Check out last week’s top 10 over-performing Facebook posts from the 2016 presidential campaigns! The data is via our friends at CrowdTangle, and remember that these aren’t the top-performing posts in ABSOLUTE terms, since that would almost always be dominated by the pages with the biggest followings. Instead, these are posts that beat the average for that particular page — posts that reset the bar for success for that campaign on Facebook. If you like this list, check our our weekly Top Ten Facebook Advocacy Posts, also compiled with CrowdTangle data.
A special note to our readers-via-email: be sure to click through to the online version of this article to see the embedded posts. It’s well worth your time.
1. Bernie Sanders (4.9x)
The corporate media and political establishment keep counting us out, but we keep winning states and doing so by large margins. If we can keep this up, we’re going to shock them all and win this nomination.
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, April 5, 2016
2. Ted Cruz (4.2x)
Thank you Wisconsin! Help us #CruzToVictory —> http://cruzcrew.com/1RSfRLN
Posted by Ted Cruz on Tuesday, April 5, 2016
3. Bernie Sanders (4.2x)
Wisconsin, today you sent a strong message: when we stand together there is nothing we cannot accomplish. Thank you! #WisconsinPrimary
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, April 5, 2016
4. Bernie Sanders (4.1x)
Mark Ruffalo and Matthew Cooke are right. The owners of this country want you to give up on the political process. But I am urging you: do not give into that despair.
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Monday, April 4, 2016
5. Hillary Clinton (3.8x)
Making new friends in Syracuse.
Posted by Hillary Clinton on Friday, April 1, 2016
6. Bernie Sanders (3.0x)
The reason that our campaign is doing well is that we are doing something unusual in American politics: we are telling the truth.
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Saturday, April 2, 2016
7. Ted Cruz (2.9x)
Happy to hear Donald J. Trump accepted my challenge to debate one-on-one!
Posted by Ted Cruz on Friday, April 1, 2016
8. Ted Cruz (2.8x)
I ask you to join us as we continue to unite Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, and all Americans who care about…
Posted by Ted Cruz on Tuesday, April 5, 2016
9. Bernie Sanders (2.6x)
I don't go to unions and then leave to go to Wall Street fundraisers. Unions are my family. I have worked with them for my entire life.
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Thursday, April 7, 2016
10. Ted Cruz (2.6x)
#CruzToVictory in Wisconsin: Wisconsin.TedCruz.org
Posted by Ted Cruz on Sunday, April 3, 2016
Explanation of the Scoring
These posts don’t represent the most-viewed pieces of content on Facebook (since that would almost entirely end up being dominated by the same small handful of large-audience Pages over and over). Instead, we list the posts that performed the best (using shares as the primary metric) against the organization Page’s OWN average (hence the word “over-performing”). To build the list, we CrowdTangle’s tracking system, which generates an average rate of growth for Pages over time (with at least 50 data points before a Page is scored). So, the "x" numbers listed above specifically represent how many more multiples of shares each post received compared with what the Page’s posts normally get. Note that we set a minimum bar of total engagement of around 500 shares or so.
About CrowdTangle
CrowdTangle is a new tool that helps organizations easily keep track of what’s being shared on Facebook. Organizations can use it to find shareable content around their own issue area or to keep track of what affiliated Pages are posting on a regular basis. Launched in late January, the beta version of the tool is already being used by dozens of leading organizations across the country. If you want to see how it works, watch this short video: http://www.screenr.com/Iv1H
– cpd
White House photo by Daniel Schwen, via Wikimedia Commons.