I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But it does look a little bizarre: John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton – they all have Facebook profiles. Now Hillary and Barack barely really have anything on their profiles except for who supports them – instead of the “Add friend” link there’s a “Support Hillary” link, and her network is “Election 2006”. Maybe they were added by the Facebook team rather than deliberately? I hadn’t heard of Evan Bayh, another would-be-president, but had to chuckle when I read his Interests according to his Facebook profile:
Energy Independence, National Security, War on Terror, Iraq, Veterans and Military Personnel, Education, Middle Class, Poverty, Environment, Racial Equality, Economics, Business, Globalization and Trade Policy, Elections, Indiana Politics, Indiana Sports, Democratic Party, Phi Kappa Psi, Football, Colts, Pacers, Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chip Ice Cream, Cherry Pie, Apple Pie, BBQ
Bizarre. I wonder if it works? I suppose it might make more sense than setting up a stand in a college – if this is where students are, that’s where these candidates want to be, I guess.
If you want more, go look at John Edwards’ list of social network sites where he has a profile. He has busy campaign workers, that’s for sure!
Ali
This isn’t such a shock. John Kerry and Joh Edwards were both on Orkut during the last election campaign. I doubt it really helps, but not being seen to care about where others do is certainly going to hurt. What this does highlight is that at heart all governments/presidents/candidates are much the same when it comes down to tactics (but not necessarily to policies obviously) and the tools that they use.
Jill
They were on Orkut? Goodness. So in that case, I suppose Facebook profiles etc are simply a very cheap way of “being where voters are”? Cost effective politics. Yay.
Ali
Are they really where the voters are? How many Facebook users will actually be able to vote in 2008? Isn’t this more about seeming to be hip and with it to pander to a global youth. This was particulalry clear with the Kerry campaign, oposing conservatism and drawing links back to senator Kerry’s history as a protestor in his younger days.
what is interesting is that this isn’t a new phenomenon per se, just the use of a new tool. Think back to the photo of Kerry and john Lennon at an anti Vietnam rally in Bryant Park.
Jill
Huh. He changed his interests. No doubt because he personally reads jill/txt all the time and so edited accordingly after reading my blog post 🙂
But Ali, since 95% of all US college students are on Facebook – and they’re mostly 18-22 years old – and that demographic barely votes – well, certainly seems like a very important demographic for the US presidential candidates are there.