Twitter's Invisible Dominance at the Convention

TAMPA, Fla. (TheStreet) --Hidden behind four rows of Bloomberg terminals in a far corner on the third floor of the Tampa Convention Center, Twitter employees sit at their computers tapping away in silence.

Twitter is everywhere at the Republican National Convention, but it has eluded the gaudy representation flaunted by its digital peers.

The popular social media company shares a sliver of space with Facebook (FB) directly behind Bloomberg's news center, but Twitter's spokeswoman is quick to point out that the company has a substantial presence amid the activities.

Perhaps its biggest contribution is the RNC "event page," which is a destination on Twitter that packages for users the most relevant tweets across the Web about this week's Republican convention.

"We flagged the event that we could do this, and they [Republican National Committee] gave us their blessing," said Rachael Horwitz, a Twitter spokeswoman.

Twitter has only hosted two previous event pages -- one for NASCAR's Pocono 400 race on June 10, and the other for the Summer Olympic Games in conjunction with NBC.

The company will run the RNC event page through Mitt Romney's acceptance of the nomination, and then switch things to the Democratic National Convention scheduled next week.

Horwitz said Twitter wanted to give consumers, journalists and others a one-stop locale for all breaking news and interesting tidbits related to the GOP festivities.

To populate the event page timeline with the most pertinent tweets, Twitter's editorial staff first selected what it considered the top politicians, reporters, experts and pundits on politics.

With the help of users marking their tweets with the hashtag #GOP2012, Twitter algorithms worked from its base of pre-selected tweeters to curate the best information being sent into the twitter-verse.

The final product, if one visits the page, is a smattering of smart, humorous and behind-the-scenes tweets that range from influential figures to prime-time observers.

Facebook mashed its footprint on the convention floor by setting up photo booth kiosks around the Tampa Bay Times Forum, and Google (GOOG) has pasted its presence on the massive convention screens between Republican speeches.

Twitter has its logo printed on an eight-and-a-half- by 11-inch sheet of computer paper that directs passersby to its post, and broadcasts a marquee of tweets (interspersed with Google+ comments) that occasionally scroll around the convention floor.

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