What do Michael Lenz, Justin Bieber, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tim Occhipinti all have in common? They’re not all candidates for the 4th Ward election or basketball players, but they do all use Twitter.
Social networking isn’t just for college kids anymore. In the midst of a heated election season in Hoboken, candidates for office have hit the Web in the hopes that their message will reach potential voters unfiltered by bloggers or edited by media operations. In a city where the local blogosphere can have an immediate impact on an election, both the campaigns of Councilman Michael Lenz and Tim Occhipinti consider it important to send their messages out directly to the voters via social networking sites.
Social networking isn’t just for college kids anymore.
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‘Easier to reach people online’
David Cruz works as the communications director for the Occhipinti campaign.
“Primarily, we’re using our Facebook page and we use Twitter,” Cruz said. “We have our own YouTube page and our own site, obviously. We tweet everyday; we update the Facebook page multiple times.”
The Lenz campaign also utilizes social networking sites in order to reach potential voters. Twitter users can follow the news from the campaign, as well as join a group that updates with news about Lenz.
“[Social networking] has been used over the last two years since the Obama election, and there’s been a real explosion of using the Internet and social media in elections,” said Sam Briggs, campaign manager for Michael Lenz. “It’s not that you shouldn’t do the classic campaign stuff, but because of the shift in the younger demographic, it’s easier to reach people online sometimes.”
Cruz sees the online component of the campaign as just part of the puzzle to winning an election.
“I know it doesn’t replace anything in terms of how we get to our people,” Cruz said.
Though it may work on a national level, Briggs and Cruz see an interesting approach to November’s 4th Ward election. Both have said, since the ward is so diverse, there isn’t just one way to approach voters.
“I think in the 4th Ward you’d be well advised to use all the methods available to you to get your word out,” Cruz said. “But in the end, nothing beats shoe-leather and getting out in the street.”
Cost of doing business
In a changing world where information on the Internet is free, Briggs views the inclusion of social media in campaigns as a simple cost-benefit analysis that results in more information being transmitted for a much lower cost.
“A mailer can be 50 cents or a dollar per person,” Briggs said. “But you can use a Google advertisement and reach a couple thousand people for a couple hundred bucks.”
Twitter and Facebook are both free to use. Twitter is a unique social networking website where people can send messages composed of up to 140 characters at a time out to “followers.” Though it is election season, Lenz and Occhipinti aren’t the only city public figures that use Twitter. Councilman Dave Mello, Mayor Dawn Zimmer, and Councilman Ravi Bhalla are among those in city government who “tweet.”
Election season isn’t the only time politicians use social network sites.
Juan Melli is the communications director for the city of Hoboken.
“Social networking is one of the ways the city both communicates with residents and receives feedback from the community,” Melli said. Melli said the city has expanded the use of social networks.
“The city of Hoboken began using Twitter in May 2009 and Facebook in March 2010,” Melli said. “We also more recently created Twitter accounts specific to the Department of Transportation and Parking and the Hop shuttle system.”
As of last week, the city has 1,692 followers on Twitter, who receive short messages and updates about what’s happening in Hoboken.
Straight from the source
Especially during election seasons, campaign managers utilize Facebook and Twitter to send out messages unfiltered by blogs and media sources.
“It’s great, because if you sent out a press release, you may see a quote that is hard hitting,” Briggs said. “The reporters may choose not to use that one. By using the Internet, we are able to get our information out to the people who want to see it.”
As is common with the Internet, there is the good, and there is the bad.
“The negative side is the anonymity of, particularly, blogs,” Cruz said. “I’ll tell you that we are the target of a coordinated blog effort. I mean, right down to the point of people really being cyber bullies, using derogatory language.”
It’s not the beginning of a wholesale shift in strategy, according to the campaign managers, but rather a way to complement campaigns.
“I think the online stuff is just another way of getting the word out,” Cruz said. “In campaigns past that I’ve covered [as a journalist], people have gone from going door to door to using sound cars.”
Not everyone has the luxury of using Facebook and Twitter, and Cruz believes it’s somewhat socioeconomic.
“Often times, particularly with working-class people, they don’t have the time to be messing around on Facebook. They have to go to work, take care of their kids, clean, cook. They don’t have the time to be involved in social media. I think there may come a day when social media is so saturated that everyone will be getting their message out, but right now, it’s just part of the mix.”
Ray Smith can be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com.