• Response to “I have more Facebook “friends” than you”

    Posted on June 28 2010 by Megan Jackson in Online Strategy with 0 comments

    ***This is an email sent to Sherm Frederick of the Las Vegas Review-Journal about his blog post “I have more Facebook “friends” than you” posted Friday, Jun. 25, 2010***

    Dear Sherm,

    I wanted to take a moment to share a response to your blog entry about Sharron Angle’s Facebook fans. Funny enough, I wrote about this topic just last week, before Sharron Angle claimed “fan” victory over Harry Reid. The truth is that this is an award that we cannot predict the true winner of until Election Day, and even then, that award will go to the campaign that spends the most money on Facebook advertising. There are only a few reasons why fans are helpful to a campaign, but in the US Senate Race, fans are being used to compensate for other campaign problems.

    Candidates and campaigns are getting more and more caught up in the competition to have the most fans. There are easily a hundred reasons why someone would “like” a politician on Facebook, but to campaigns only three reasons really matter: money, volunteers and voting. Unfortunately, most fans aren’t in a position to provide any of the three for a variety of reasons ranging from location to the economy. This presents a problem when campaigns invest hundreds or even thousands of dollars into acquiring fans who they will receive no benefit from.

    We have an interesting phenomenon occurring in the Nevada US Senate race. Both candidates are encountering public relations issues for very different reasons. This has created one more reason to win the Facebook fan competition: goodwill. Harry Reid is going into the 2010 election with alarming low approval ratings due to the current political climate, time in office, etc. Sharron Angle is dealing with increasing negatives from the ads that are targeting her as well as her reputation within the state. Both candidates are attempting to cope by winning the competition for Facebook fans. It is a great strategy to offset the local negativity with national support, but it will do little to gain volunteers or votes in Nevada.

    To gain that goodwill, candidates and campaigns are buying their friends and fans through advertising. Most often candidates are extending these networks far beyond the area where they are campaigning. This adds another dimension to the competition for growth. It can take upwards of 500 impressions to gain a fan which provides a lot of opportunity to share messages. Sharron Angle is still hanging her hat on the “Defeat Harry Reid” theme, while Harry Reid is using his Facebook advertising to push campaign messages as well as recruit fans, helping to make his case that “no one can do more”. So even with less “fans” Harry Reid may be leading in terms of messaging.

    While Harry Reid has slowed or even stopped the Facebook ads since before the primary, that doesn’t mean he’s going to let Sharron Angle keep the lead for long. He allowed Sue Lowden to hold the lead for less than one week before launching a series of ads that easily propelled him beyond reach.

    A Facebook campaign cannot be judged by fans alone. We must take into consideration the ad buys and the messages that got them there.  The evolution of Facebook use and the activeness of the fans will likely change over the course of the campaign to create a new definition to the value of a fan.

    Sincerely,
    Megan Jackson, Partner
    GrassRoots 2.0

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