SF Mayor Gavin Newsom tweets he’s running for governor

April 21, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

Oh, so maybe that’s what Twitter chief executive Evan Williams meant when he said, “We are Twitterfying SF!” after meeting with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Newsom just announced he’s running for the governor of California, and according to his website, the announcement first went out via a tweet on the microblogging site.

“It’s official- running for Gov of CA,” Newsom wrote to his 275,000 Twitter followers. “Wanted you to be the first to know.”

At least for now, Newsom seems to have placed websites like Twitter front-and-center in his campaign. The “action” button on his site leads to a page asking supporters to follow Newsom on Twitter and Facebook, to donate to the campaign via ActBlue, and to upload their videos to Newsom’s YouTube page. Plus, one of the featured stories on Newsom’s website is his interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose. The web has played a big role in Newsom’s efforts before, for example when he used YouTube to post a State of the City address that was a mind-boggling 7.5 hours long.

It’s worth comparing Newsom’s site to former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman’s, which “just” has a link to Whitman’s pages on Facebook and on Tokoni, the story-sharing site whose technology was also used to build MegWhitman.com. (Whitman is at an earlier stage of her campaign, since technically she has only formed an exploratory committee, not announced her candidacy.)

I’ve embedded Newsom’s YouTube video announcing his candidacy here. As you might expect, he spends most of his time talking about the economy, including green jobs and cleantech. Senator Dianne Feinstein is also said to be considering a run for the Democratic nomination. Like Newsom, she’s a relatively moderate Democrat, at least on economic issues. (Newsom, of course, may be best known throughout the state for being further left on social issues, specifically with his support of gay marriage.)

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • Clarence
    Nice try Gavin...friendly reminder YOU ARE NOT Barack Obama...if you think tweeting is going to be what facebook was to Obama, you're wrong.
  • John Smith
    Unfaithful to his wife why should it be any different when it comes to his job?
  • Anyone else notice that the anatomy of the modern headline follows this formula?
    [Insert celebrity name] Tweets [Insert whatever] on Twitter
  • Yeah, but I didn't say "on Twitter"! So I totally defied the formula!
  • I agree. Just the other night I swear I saw about half a dozen headlines using the formula.
  • will
    not only that, he is "unfaithful" to his best friend . . . sleeping with your best friend's wife = breaking man rule #1 . . . .
  • Gavin

    Tell Gordon Getty & the J.P. Getty Trust to pay their $6,440,000 bill at MacDonald Bank ...
    I earned the Getty Oil Company shareholders Four Billion Bucks …
    On the Reserve acquisition; the way they treat me … it really sucks!
    As the Getty inheritors bask in glee;
    All I asked for was that they look after me.
    Four billion dollars they earned on Reserve …
    My fee I surely deserve.
    It turns out J.P. Getty may have been a Nazi;
    His family even goes back to Germany ….
    With Hitler, GÖring & Goebbels he did stand;
    While trying to undermine the American land!
    For paintings & artifacts he did receive;
    With his oil he was able to deceive?
    Hoover & the FBI & Roosevelt they knew …
    That J.P. Getty & espionage he drew!
    Many a young lad and Jew did die
    As planes dropped bombs from the sky.
    For years while Getty sat in Berlin
    He may have committed many a sin.
    The ashes and smoke from the chimneys it rose
    While old man Getty sat cozy … he chose.
    With artwork held tightly under his arm
    Still dripping in blood … as the real owner met harm.
    Into the ovens & on meat-hooks, bullets between the eyes …
    Listen very carefully you can still hear their cries!
    While the Gettys sit in England; at their estate at Wormsley;
    And Gordon sings in San Francisco …
    With his 727 in tow;
    The Getty museum sits atop Malibu;
    While the corpses of World War 2 scream … “J.P. Getty … We know you!”
  • 43,000 people were killed in UK by the Nazis while J. Paul Getty was in Berlin shipping oil to Hitler. Jean Paul Getty’s mother; Catherine Risher was German. Dec. 20, 1940 … the New York Daily News wrote about Getty’s involvement with espionage at the Pierre Hotel in New York. 2003 documents declassified by UK Warfare Ministry reveal that Oct. 1941 the pro-Nazi Jean Paul Getty employed and lodged Nazis at his Pierre Hotel in New York City; Nazis who were involved in spying on and sabotaging Allied Forces’ war production plants. FBI reported that Getty was still shipping oil to Hitler; months after London was being bombed … five months before Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. J. PAUL GETTY; FBI FILE 100.1202, JUNE 26, 1940; ESPIONAGE.