Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, took to Instagram on Thursday to announce his intention to run for re-election.
Hubbard released his video on Instagram, which was recently purchased by Facebook for $1 billion, and also shared it on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Launching our re-election campaign on Instagram! Excited for what's in store #alabama #HD79 #teamhubbard http://t.co/nmFlCOAMGX
— Mike Hubbard (@SpeakerHubbard) September 26, 2013
Armed with the ability to reach the masses at a moment’s notice, social media has become politicians’ favorite way to deliver their message directly to the public, rather than counting on the traditional media to do it for them. As of July, Twitter was averaging more than 132,000 tweets per minute and Facebook reported having more than a billion active users.
Hubbard currently has over 13,000 “likes” on Facebook and just under 4,000 “followers” on Twitter.
[READ: An in-depth look at how Alabama’s top political leaders are using new media]
In addition to the social media announcement, Hubbard also sent out an email blast touting Alabama’s business friendly climate and declining unemployment rate.
“Alabama has made great strides with a conservative House over the last four years,” Hubbard said in the email. “The unemployment rate is below the national average and we are now the second most job-friendly state in the country.”
Hubbard was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1998, and elected as the Speaker of the House in 2010.
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