And you thought First Lady Michelle Obama was hip for jumping on Twitter.
Wannabe First Lady Ann Romney, as far as we can tell, is the only 2012 Presidential candidate’s wife on Pinterest, the rapidly growing social network. But while Ann Romney is busy pinning family photos, “candid” campaign shots, books worth reading, recipes and patriotic images, her husband’s campaign is playing a game of whack-a-mole with people using Pinterest to satirize the candidate and his wealth.
Earlier this month, Gawker reported that the Romeny camapign had convinced Pinterest to get the user who claimed the handle MittRomneyGOP to change it to FakeMittRomney. Sample pins include “Have you ever taken a Pellegrino bath? It’s like a jacuzzi, but you save on electricity” on a photo of the pricey sparkling water and “I don’t even know what this is, but I have 12 of them,” on a photo of a handcut vase.
We’ve asked Pinterest to clarify its policies on user names and hoax accounts, but should note we’re also still waiting to hear back from them on our request to help us make sense of their user policy and its relationship to copyright law. We’ll update both posts if and when Pinterest gets back to us.
Hoax accounts are nothing new: Twitter even allows satirical accounts as long as they are clearly labeled as such, and as long as they don’t poke fun at French President Nicolas Sarkozy. What is shocking, however, is that more candidates aren’t paying attention to Pinterest, given its rapid growth and the fact that a majority of its users are voting-age women.
