How Many Romney Staffers Did It Take To Send a Tweet?

— -- It’s unclear how many people it took to screw in a light bulb at Mitt Romney’s campaign headquarters in 2012, but we now know how many people it took to approve a tweet: 22.

A study released today by University of North Carolina journalism professor Daniel Kreiss found that the hierarchy and bureaucracy inside the Romney campaign was far higher than on President Obama’s political team. The findings come from extensive interviews with Romney and Obama campaign staffers.

“Whether it was a tweet, Facebook post, blog post, photo — anything you could imagine — it had to be sent around to everyone for approval,” said Caitlin Checklett, the digital integration director for the Romney campaign. “Towards the end of the campaign, that was 22 individuals who had to approve it. The digital team unfortunately did not have the opportunity to think of things on their own and post them.”

Zach Moffatt, the digital director for Team Romney, offered a tongue-in-cheek response to their social media strategy including “the best tweets ever written by 17 people.”

But the Obama campaign, according to its digital director Teddy Goff, could make decisions far faster and react with more autonomy.

The full report can be read here.