Use of social media by candidates
10.27.2010
In:
Public Affairs,
Social Media
Expanded research by Capstrat shows that while the number of legislators using social media has crept up since earlier this year, many have not yet tapped the full potential of these communication tools. In addition, a new examination of non-incumbent legislative candidates shows they are exceeding incumbent legislators in social media.
Most legislators (with some notable exceptions), have not yet fully integrated social media into their communications plans and could benefit from following just a few simple steps to increase their social media impact.
- Create Fan Pages rather than Friend Pages on Facebook
- Tout all statements and events on Twitter
- Link Twitter updates with web pages and Facebook
- Unlock Tweets
Overall, Republicans candidates (incumbents and non-incumbents) still lead Democrats in terms of percent of candidates with active Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Active Updates, Active Followers
For some candidates, updates and other activity fall off quickly after Facebook or Twitter accounts are created, suggesting busy schedules may quickly outweigh the novelty of the approach. In fact, the number of incumbent legislators with a Twitter account has increased since earlier this year. But the average number of people following incumbent legislators on Twitter has decreased. With legislators not giving regular updates, people are dropping them from their follow list.
During active campaigns, all legislative candidates are attending events, issuing statements and talking about their policies. Some legislators might think of Twitter as that annoying “what are you doing?” tool. Instead, they should think of Twitter and Facebook as opportunities to direct people to their messages as well.
Incumbent legislators are missing out an on an opportunity to create a direct connection with constituents. Most people have no idea what a legislator does on a day-to-day basis. They can use Twitter to “de-mystify” their jobs. They can also link directly to campaign statements and get the word out about events and fundraisers.
New candidates, though, might be marking a shift in direction. On Twitter, new candidates far outpace incumbents on the establishment of accounts. Nearly half of non-incumbent legislative candidates are already on Twitter.
They call it “social” media, so don’t be so closed off
Some legislative candidates seem curiously reluctant to embrace the public nature of social media, for example by locking their Tweets (restricting them to approved contacts).
Candidates could certainly do more to harness the two-way nature of the medium. Comments on most Facebook pages are minimal as are retweets of candidates’ Twitter streams. Social media could potentially do more to help legislators and candidates take the public’s pulse on key issues if interaction were higher. And in terms of generating awareness, a more “viral” nature could exponentially increase the reach of candidates’ messages, including appeals for fundraising.
The power potential of social media is to give the average voter a direct connection to the candidate – personalize the experience. Some candidates have personal pages when they should be pushing potential supporters to Profile pages. The key difference is that personal pages require “friends” to share a great deal of personal information. Even if you are tremendously interested in what a candidate is doing, do you really want to share pictures of your four-year-old’s birthday party or that new puppy with every other friend of the legislator? In our view, a better fit for most candidates would be a Profile page that lets constituents and supporters keep up while sharing minimal personal information.
Senator Andrew Brock (D-Davie) and Representative Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), for example, have both demonstrated how legislators can use social media to get out their message. Both utilize Profile pages in addition to their personal pages. Both consistently send out messages about campaign events and positions on issues. Rep. Glazier also posts many pictures on his Facebook page, further connecting him with the voters.
About our Additional Research
Capstrat looked at Facebook and Twitter use among incumbent legislators earlier this year. This research updates those numbers and also looks at social media use among all legislative candidates.
To assess the impact of the campaign season on social media, we compared activity between incumbents and non-incumbent challengers in both the N.C. House and N.C. Senate. A composite breakdown of this data is shown below in for Facebook and Twitter.
Republicans and challengers appear to be heavier users of Facebook and Twitter than Democratic incumbents.
Biggest Social Media Users
*Where possible, we combined Facebook friends, fans and members of group pages under the designation “friends.” “Challenger” includes any non-incumbent, including candidates for open seats.
* Capstrat compiled data on candidates October 11-15, 2010. We acknowledge that given the fluid nature of social media, numbers change on a daily basis.
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