A few weeks ago, I saw Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers tweet about a new website from the House Republican caucus asking people to share "#YourStory" about their health insurance cancellations. I immediately tweeted to my progressive followers to visit the site and share stories about how the Affordable Care Act had improved their lives.
I wish I knew how many people did what I asked. I do not, because the House GOP website (as well as its Senate Republican counterpart) does not display the stories submitted. Neither does another GOP.com website called #ObamaCosts.
Why are the stories hidden? Is it because the GOP doesn't want people like me to hijack their websites with true stories that contradict their political narrative?
By contrast, a Facebook page created by Rob Miller, a guy in Los Angeles, called ACA "Obamacare" Signup Successes displays all the stories for all to see. And, apparently, all but a few posts are positive.
Are the Republicans hiding the stories they collect because many of them contradict their political narrative about the Affordable Care Act? Admittedly, I am guessing, but given the overwhelmingly positive and large collection of stories on Miller's Facebook page, that is why the GOP hides the stories. Not only are there thousands of success stories on the Facebook page, but many of those stories have thousands of "likes." So it stands to reason that the GOP site is getting mixed results.
Social media creates an expectation of transparency when it comes to these types of campaigns. We expect to see the stories people post because we can. So when a campaign hides the stories they collect, it engenders suspicion. Not sharing all of the stories, even if you use a hashtag to collect them, is not a social media campaign.