#BelieveinAmerica #GOP2012

If you log on to Twitter today, you’ll notice the trending topic #BelieveinAmerica, with a “Promoted” tag next to it. Promoting what you ask?  The GOP convention (paid for by the Romney campaign). From The Verge:

The Journal confirmed with the Romney campaign’s digital director Zac Moffatt, and Twitter confirmed to us that this is the first official political campaign to buy a trending topic, which has been possible since December of 2010. Thursday night, the last night of the RNC, is the night that Mitt Romney is scheduled to officially accept the Republican nomination for President in Tampa, Florida.

Of course controlling the trending tag of the day is very different from controllling how people use it. As of this morning there are a whole lot of non-Romney supporters tweeting with the #believeinAmerica tag.
Also, the second trending topic at this hour is a seemingly un-promoted #GOP2012.
Here’s the WSJ video of Romney’s digital director Zac Moffatt explaining the buy.