City Council campaigns use social media
In the crowded race for five open seats on City Council, a newcomer with no previous political experience has emerged as the early fundraising leader — bringing in more than $23,500 this year, according to campaign finance reports.
The entire field of 14 Democratic candidates has raised $90,000, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
With a financial edge, newcomer Matt Haag, who moved to Rochester from Baltimore in 2007, has been able to do more than other candidates with social networking sites, targeted online advertising, video and other technologies to create buzz and build a grassroots organization — all in hopes of winning the primary election on Sept. 15.
“The technology we are experimenting with at the local level didn’t exist five years ago, or even four,” said Haag campaign manager Mike Williams. “In a way, we are on the cutting edge here — the bleeding edge — trying things that have never been tried in local politics.”
Other candidates are making greater use of such social media Web sites as Facebook and Twitter, as well as e-mail blasts, robo calls and campaign Web sites — noticeably at the city level but also extending to town and village races.
Mayor Robert Duffy has gotten into the mix with his own Re-elect Bob Duffy Facebook page. And mayoral challenger Alex White is relying on Facebook, a blog and other people online for his low-budget campaign.
“I want to do this very viral,” White said, explaining that he asks his supporters to talk about him on Facebook and Twitter so others might do the same. “It’s really about organizing people to go tell people.”
The potential of new media in the political arena was apparent in President Barack Obama’s campaign, and now is being tested in the national health care debate.
A group called Blue State Digital provided the technology for the Obama for America Web site and led the campaign’s new media team. Bob Self is a founding partner of the Washington, D.C.-based company.
“The big take-away message on the usage of new media for the Obama campaign was, we really figured out how to use the Internet to effectively bring your supporters together to do something to help you get elected,” Self said. “It wasn’t just using the Internet to talk to each other, or having a blog for people to comment on, or being on Twitter to tweet back and forth.”
If you are a Facebook user, log on in Rochester and have politics, local government or even dogs identified among your interests, chances are one of Haag’s advertisements has popped up on your computer screen. Why dogs? Because Haag’s ad features him with one of his three dogs, and 40 percent of Facebook users identify themselves as dog lovers, Williams said.
The campaign claims to have picked up 100 volunteers in one week.
“What the Internet is really good at is taking your supporters and keeping them energized,” Self said, “and keeping them doing things for you.”
In the coming days, Haag — a professional fundraiser whose brother has worked in viral marketing of sports teams — will roll out online video ads with embedded hyperlinks taking viewers to the campaign Web site. They can track who clicks on their ads, match that to voter registration lists and see who has a history of voting in primaries.
Working the voter lists is common practice in campaigning, identifying those City Council member Carolee Conklin calls “super primes.” Conklin is seeking re-election to a second term and has spent a lifetime in city government and politics.
Candidates agree there still is no substitute for meeting voters face to face, and direct mail remains a staple. The technology is an added tool, Conklin said, but likely another four or five years from supplanting traditional methods.
She went to a house party last week with about 30 people in the 19th Ward and said that remains “the best use of my time.”
“What’s the value of it? I’m not sure,” Conklin said of Web sites and Facebook pages. “We keep reinventing the wheel … (but) grass-roots politics remains grass-roots politics.”
The Duffy campaign has limited its new media experiment to Facebook so far, said Sean Hart, communications director at the Monroe County Democratic Committee, speaking on behalf of the Duffy campaign. The Democratic Committee generally controls the Duffy Facebook page.
“At the local level, social media tends to play a smaller role in our campaigns than at the state or national level,” Hart said, as the audience is smaller. “It’s sometimes hard at this level to really gauge how effective it’s being.”
Harry Davis is making his third City Council run, the first being a write-in campaign in 2003. His use of technology has evolved, and this time he is on Facebook, which he uses much like a blog, trying to post a topical commentary every day, then tweeting it and driving people to his Web site. He also is regularly asking for e-mails to build his contact lists.
“It doesn’t take the place of anything,” he said, explaining that he still does the door-to-door work and the phone calls.
Those who win the upcoming primary and fall election will also find a city government increasingly wired into social media. City staffers were meeting with a consultant on Friday and are working on a plan for how best to use the technology.
Gary Walker, the city’s communications director, said the intent always was to use Facebook and Twitter, but he did not anticipate how quickly the technology would move into the mainstream. The city got started with pages on Facebook a few weeks ago, and is planning more. Staffers also have begun tweeting special events.
“It is going to morph into all aspects of city government, and we are going to be doing that sooner than we thought,” Walker said, though raising similar questions about the payoff. “We want to measure it. We are not just going to do it to do it. We want it to be effective.
“Our first blush on it is, it’s a very powerful tool.”
BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com
City Council candidates
The following Democratic candidates will vie for the party nomination in a Sept. 15 primary. In addition to the Web sites listed below, many have information on Facebook.
*incumbent
Note: Republicans did not field any candidates for city races. One independent candidate, Diane Watkins, has filed to run in November under her own banner.
