Rossi ahead in virtual reality; actual reality still eludes him
Ever since Rob Ford entered the race, Rocco Rossi has been having a hard time of it. Being dethroned as the right-wing opposition to George Smitherman isn’t easy, but Rossi has an ace up his sleeve: a slew of Twitterers, Facebook friends and Google ad words.
The Star has the scoop:
He has an army of online supporters, many from the marketing world, posting comments and shaping the online debate to generate positive word-of-mouth, says Patrick Gladney, Northstar’s director of social media.
“Rossi’s aggressive online marketing is driving positive buzz,” Gladney says. “He has a team of people who are the architects of his image online, called ‘Rocco’s army.’ If anything, they are inflating the positive impressions of him.”
The difference between the real world and the twit-o-sphere is interesting: Ford is way ahead on-line but leading only slightly according to the polls. Rossi is well ahead of Joe Pantalone on-line, though Pantalone is slightly ahead of him in the polls.
Both agree on one thing: nobody much cares for, or about, Giorgio Mammoliti. Worse than having three times as many negative mentions as positive is the fact that Mammoliti has the largest number of “neutral” mentions of any candidate. To be loved or hated is one thing, but to be ignored is the worst.
