The Orlando Sentinel ran an article today about Facebook's new feature that allows members to list their preferred candidates in political races.
The popular online meeting place for college students recently unveiled a new feature that allows users to list the political candidates they support alongside their pet peeves, favorite quotes and goofy or inappropriate pictures of themselves and their friends. The site then takes users' political preferences, totals them and displays them in a poll that shows the support candidates are getting among Facebook users.This past Monday, I spent some time talking to Etan Horowitz, the reporter responsible for the article. None of my quotes made the story, but much of what he and I talked about echoed the comments by Phil Noble of PoliticsOnline.The new feature is the latest sign that everyone -- from corporations to universities to political candidates -- is tapping into social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. And though it might not be popular enough yet to have a major impact on this election, one expert predicts it could become a crucial tool in future campaigns.
In Florida you can review who supports Jim Davis (D) or his opponent Charlie Crist (R) in the Governor's race
On Tuesday afternoon, Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist had 54 percent of the Facebook vote, while his Democratic opponent Davis had 46 percent of the vote. A little more than 3,000 Facebook users have listed their preference in the governor's race.Some of the local campaigns are looking at the poll data from Facebook, but the percentages are not the real power of this new tool. Campaigns can now quickly identify individuals that support their candidate. The next step is to begin the outreach program. How does a campaign convert somebody who supports a candidate enough post it publicly on Facebook to an on-campus resource?
Now, who should do this? Well they shouldn't be over 30 to start with. The campaign outreach programs via social networks should be led by people in the same peer group as the users. Like any blogger relations program, the goal is to build a relationship and not to pitch news or events.
This new feature and story really highlight the research/listening power of social networks. Previously, to identify people interested in a particular topic you needed them to come to you, or spend some serious $'s on research. Now with a few minutes on Technorati you can find a few dozen or a few hundred people that share a common interest. Now all you have to do is connect with them.
Visitor Comments
As a current student that is on Facebook (and is addicted might I add), I think that it’s great that people are finally taking notice of this. You really can find out ANYTHING about ANYONE just by viewing his or her profile. That can be both a good and bad thing seeing as how your secrets and even political views are out in the open. Do you think that political candidates will actually pay attention to these sites, or will they just go along with what they are doing? I think that it would be foolish to not at least check them out, but I do not know if they will really stop and take a good hard look.
I also never thought about the fact that all of your interests and hobbies are on there too. This would be a great way for anyone, in particular candidates, to figure out just who is or isn’t voting for/supporting them in elections. Thank you for this article, because you have brought attention to something people might have previously not thought about or just completely blown off. (Which if you speak to any college student, you know would be crazy!)
Posted by: Virginia Tharpe | September 21, 2006 12:43 PM
Using myspace and thefacebook as political polling mechanisms serve as innovative campaign strategies and will probably prove beneficial to many candidates. The pollsters are getting a good idea of how the younger generation will vote; these young people are the ones actually voting in elections.
Campaigning through a social web network makes sense, considering the number of voting age college students who compulsively check their facebook account daily. Not to mention the myspace community, whose website received the most hits of any single website recently.
The campaign managers have tapped into an extremely fruitful resource. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this will have on future elections.
Posted by: Kristina Wilburn | September 21, 2006 12:56 PM
It is happening. Facebook will soon become a tool for demographic studies, and this is just the beginning.
Now that Facebook has added a tool for members to list their preferred political candidate, the doors have swung open to a whole new take on Facebook.
If political parties are able to learn about who is backing their candidate through Facebook, then what next?
Companies will begin to advertise their products on Facebook and will benefit. Their product will reach a large market through Facebook. More importantly, the company will be able to get their hands on very detailed demographic information about the market they are trying to reach.
Companies can save the time and money on surveying the publics to find out their needs and wants. Just by scrolling through the Facebook pages, one can get an idea of what members watch, read, buy...and the list goes on.
As of this moment, this is not the case with Facebook. It is simply a social site. But as more features are added, such as showcasing favored political candidates, Facebook will become a tool for research.
It is hard to say if this is good or bad. Companies may benefit, but will Facebook members get angry? My guess is Facebook will be taking baby steps when expanding the site. But in all, only time will tell.
Posted by: Kristin Hill | September 25, 2006 11:34 AM
Hey Josh,
First of all I wanted to thank you for coming and speaking with my class at Auburn this past week. It was very interesting to hear what someone in the social media field had to say. It definitely showed me how blogging really is making a difference in what is going on in mainstream media. Your stories about the mishaps with bloggers, politicians and journalists were quite funny, but at the same time made me want to hold my tongue around you. (just kidding) On that note I'll get back to my post. The facebook is like cocaine for some college students, myself included. I can spend hours on it just researching what people are doing, and their views on the world. Some of these views include politcal. Now what or who my friends are backing really does not affect my view point in one way or another, but it is a great way for their candidate to get their name out there. I certainly don't want to be talking to the creepy 30-something politician on facebook about why I should vote for his candidate in the next election. I think it needs to come from my "friends" on facebook, and with that I might add that their reasons need to be more substantial then just, he's republican so vote for him. Which, unfortunately, is what happens most of the time. If candidates want to reach voters through facebook or myspace they should contact local republican or democratic or whatever club on the college campus. Then that representitve can take the candidates message to their peers.
Posted by: Rachel S | September 26, 2006 6:00 PM
Facebook has done it again. They have managed to be the source of all information about a person. Why should people even get to know someone anymore when all they have to do is read their facebook profile? I am all for voicing your political opinions and supporting candidates but simply announcing on facebook that you support a candidate does not mean that you will actually go to the polls and vote. A candidate using this as a source does not do much for them if these people do not vote on Election Day. The thing I do agree with is using social media to reach my generation. Maybe this time around "Rocking the Vote" will work.
Posted by: Rachel M | October 4, 2006 1:05 AM