Political debate about the Common Core State Standards (the first major education policy initiative in the social media age) ramped up quickly on social media, particularly on Twitter. However, while the increased and intense conversation influenced many states to disavow Common Core in name, those states ended up adopting standards that were essentially the same. More important, the author argues, the Twitter-based conflict over Common Core served as a proxy war for other concerns and revealed lasting changes in the nature of political advocacy in education.