Major candidates’ social media 

- Mike Hogan
www.facebook.com/HoganforMayor (1,432 people liking)
twitter.com/#!/hoganformayor (182 followers)
www.youtube.com/user/MikeHoganforMayor

- Audrey Moran
www.facebook.com/imwithaudrey (1,184 people liking)
twitter.com/#!/ImWithAudrey (404 followers)
www.youtube.com/user/ImWithAudrey

- Rick Mullaney
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000511265040 (728 friends)
www.youtube.com/user/mullaneyformayor

- Alvin Brown
www.facebook.com/AlvinForMayor (221 people liking)
twitter.com/#!/AlvinForMayor (11 followers)

In the weeks after announcing they were running for Jacksonville mayor, some of the candidates seemed to watch a few online numbers almost as closely as they’ll eventually watch the polls.

These metrics have never been a factor previously — because they didn’t exist. This year, how many friends candidates have on Facebook and followers on Twitter seems pretty important.

“I think it’s the first time social media and websites are making a difference in moving voters, in persuading undecided voters,” said John Daigle, Mike Hogan’s campaign manager and a strong proponent of social media.

The race for mayor hasn’t yet reached the fever pitch of full-scale campaigning, with the combination of statewide elections and the holiday season leading candidates to hold their fire until the new year. Behind the scenes, though, most of the major candidates have been posting ads to YouTube, tweeting out news on Twitter and getting people to “like” them on Facebook.

Such usage of social media mirrors a national trend for even small, local campaigns to court voters and connects with supporters online.

Politicians used to talk about how all politics were local, said Jordan Raynor, a consultant who has made a name for himself by using social media. Now, he said, “all politics is social.”

The campaigns of three of the four major candidates for mayor — Hogan, Audrey Moran and Rick Mullaney — said that social media was baked into their strategies from the beginning of the race, in part because not using it for the campaign would seem odd.

“It was somewhat organic,” said Cathleen Murphy, Moran’s communications director. “On a personnel level, we were all already using those tools.”

That’s one reason social networking, particularly Facebook, can be so powerful in local races, Raynor said: Because people use them for reasons other than politics, when they talk about a favorite candidate, their comments carry more weight.

“We’re big believers in the only endorsement that matters anymore are the endorsements of Jane and Joe Schmoe,” Raynor said. “The most important endorsement is that of another friend.”

David Adler, who supports Hogan, said he’s seen that dynamic play out after he “liked” the candidate on Facebook. “It leads to conversations,” he said. “Friends ask me why I’m supporting him.”

Twitter is useful in national elections, as a way to push out information to both supporters and undecided voters.

Locally, candidates turn to Facebook to connect with people who know each other, said Jim Varian, a campaign consultant not working for any mayoral candidate.

“That social interaction is better facilitated on Facebook,” he said. “It gets people networking and brings you to more people’s attention.”

Rose Marie Preddy, on Mullaney’s finance committee, has seen that firsthand.

“Several of my friends live in Jacksonville, so when I post a photo such as the event I co-hosted with him, it is certain to be read by my circle of friends,” she said. “Using Facebook comments and photos personalizes the candidate, much more than a bumper sticker.”

Even so, Alvin Brown — the major candidate who has relied the least on social media — said he’s found that true in-person communication has played a bigger role in gathering supporters.

“Social media will play a role, but I don’t think it’ll be the role,” Brown said. “It’s more important is you connect with voters face to face, door to door, meeting people where they’re at. There is tremendous value when voters can see you face to face. You want to do both.”

Increasingly, those candidates that are venturing online are finding that they’re reaching beyond the young people typically thought of as users of sites like Facebook. A report issued Thursday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project said the number of Internet users 74 or older who use social networking sites quadrupled since 2008, from 4 percent to 16 percent.

 For the local campaigns,  Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer a variety of outlets to push out messages, from posting cheaply filmed ads to letting supporters know when the next event is.

“We can invite people who might not be in the loop,” said Kathryn Adams, Mullaney’s campaign manager.

At an event last month, “we had people come who had never been part of the campaign before. They heard their friends were going and all of a sudden there was more than a hundred  people.”

As the election moves into high gear in coming weeks, social media won’t go away, although its purpose will shift. Then, instead of trying to connect with supporters, the candidates will focus on pushing out more information to sway undecided voters and then move to using the sites to spur voters to the polls.

For now, though, the campaigns will focus on forging a connection with voters that they each hope will pay off in a few months. 

“It opens another avenue of communication,” said Josh Woolsey, Moran’s campaign manager. “Audrey, when she’s in the Mayor’s Office, wants an open door. It shows she has one now.”

Forging that connection will require more from the candidates, said Adams, who said Mullaney’s campaign will ramp up usage of such tools in coming months. “I think it’s going to flow evolutionarily,” she said. “I’m sure it’s going to continue to grow.”

Nothing will replace the old standbys of phone banks and door knocking, Daigle said, but new ways of reaching voters could be a game changer.

“This is the first cycle,” he said, “where these tools can actually have an impact on the election.”

timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4103

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-12-21/story/jacksonville-ma...