DALLAS ó Texas Gov. Rick Perry broke new ground in his 2010 re-election campaign by bringing shoe-leather tactics to social media.
He cut costs by dumping yard signs in favor of Facebook, fanned enthusiasm about campaign stops through online word-of-mouth and even scored points by blocking certain bloggers and reporters from following him on Twitter.|By Theodore Kim, The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS ó Texas Gov. Rick Perry broke new ground in his 2010 re-election campaign by bringing shoe-leather tactics to social media.
He cut costs by dumping yard signs in favor of Facebook, fanned enthusiasm about campaign stops through online word-of-mouth and even scored points by blocking certain bloggers and reporters from following him on Twitter.
But in presidential politics, the social media stakes are much higher and the tactics increasingly advanced. And Perry’s late entry into the race for the Republican nomination has put him behind many other candidates.
Rival Mitt Romney has amassed a Facebook following nearly seven times the size of Perry’s. Perry also lags behind candidates Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Herman Cain on Facebook.
Bachmann has launched a slick campaign page on YouTube that has attracted many more views than Perry’s own web videos. And should Perry win his party’s nomination, he faces the prospect of a steep climb against Barack Obama, who has cultivated a significantly larger social media audience than all the GOP candidates put together.
It’s an increasingly important platform in politics. Social media lets candidates get their message directly to voters and gives supporters a chance to amplify it. It provides a powerful organization tool for grassroots backers. It helps raise money. And for campaigns accustomed to spending tens of millions of dollars on events to generate news coverage and television ads to reach the masses, social media is a cheap way to distribute news, campaign information and even attacks on rivals.
The number of social media followers or fans a candidate does not translate directly into campaign success. Perry soundly defeated Democrat Bill White in the 2010 race for governor even though both had built similar audiences on Facebook.
For 2012, Herman Cain has launched the most comprehensive Facebook page of the GOP candidates, with videos, discussion boards and live streams from the campaign bus. But he continues to trail well behind Perry and Romney in polls.
But given its place in American life, campaigns can’t ignore social media.
About 54 percent of adult Americans online in 2010 used the Web for political purposes, according to the Pew Internet&American Life Project. More specifically, almost one in four turned to social media sites to engage in politics during the 2010 midterm elections, a separate Pew study found. And the use cuts across party, age, gender, race and ethnicity, according to Pew.
The early start by Perry’s rivals has allowed them extra time to build heartier followings, identify their most active online supporters and enroll them as digital campaign evangelists.
Jon Huntsman’s Facebook page goes as far as to include a “Top Supporters” link that ranks and rewards users based on how active they are on his campaign page.
“Social media makes it easy to identify and reach out to those individuals who are very engaged and then turn them into proselytizers,” said Aaron Smith, a senior researcher and author of the Pew social media study.
“They can then take action by sending information to their friends, encourage their friends to vote and create their own content around the campaign,” Smith said.
Obama’s 2008 campaign was the first to use social media to rally voters on a national scale. And he continues to take his online campaign to new levels, underscoring the challenges Perry would face should he reach the general election.
In addition to accumulating big followings on his main Facebook (23.1 million followers) and Twitter (10 million) accounts, Obama has individual feeds for every state. He also maintains targeted Twitter and Facebook feeds representing key constituencies, including teachers, Latinos, women and students.
All of Obama’s feeds, powered mostly by volunteers, feature tailored content and have helped him construct the most sophisticated online social network in politics.
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©2011 The Dallas Morning News
