 "Photo: Courtesy votebenson.com")
 "Photo: Courtesy votebenson.com")
Jocelyn Benson began her campaign for Michigan Secretary of State a year ago with an exploratory committee and a single Facebook page.
The Wayne State assistant law professor is using the social networking site to its fullest potential by recruiting members and updating them with her latest campaign information.
Facebook, along with Twitter, is one of the newer and more popular media that political candidates use to reach out to potential voters.
“It’s a great way to excite people and get people informed about our efforts,” said Benson, a Democrat. “I certainly don’t think we’d be as strong as we are without Facebook.”
The social networking site helped Benson raise some of her $227,000 in 2009 from more than 1,200 donors in 50 Michigan counties. She said it speaks volumes to the type of support the campaign has been generating.
Facebook gives easy access for political parties to users’ e-mail addresses, their likes and dislikes, and often with which political party they align. And it’s all free. But Facebook allows potential voters and constituents an outlet to be heard.
“Concerning comments, politicians are beginning to understand that someone who comments on their Facebook page with a concern should be looked at the same way as someone sending a letter to their district office,” wrote Vincent Harris, founder of Harris Media, an online communication firm specializing in political campaigns.
He ran Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s successful 2009 campaign. Harris wrote in his blog on techrepublican.com that McDonnell’s camp made the decision early on to make Facebook the primary social network of the campaign.
“Campaigns are slowly waking up to the fact that a Facebook supporter is an avid fan: someone to cultivate, communicate with and ask help from,” Harris wrote in his blog.
Benson sees that instant feedback with Facebook. She said it’s an incredible tool, not just to communicate outward, but for other people to communicate where they would like her to show up around the state.
“That’s the type of availability and accessibility that we want to continue once we’re in that (secretary of state) office,” Benson said.
But accruing avid supporters is the first major step. Seventy-seven percent of Facebook fan pages have less than 1,000 fans, according to a 2009 study released by social media monitoring and analytics firm Sysomos.
As of Feb. 22, Benson is well above the norm with 1,831 members on her “Jocelyn Benson for Michigan Secretary of State” groups page. She also has 1,408 friends on her personal page, and more than 2,700 fans on another.
Benson said the number of members she has “is almost an informal poll on the type of support we’ve got.”
She said Facebook has been critical for her campaign to be able to get the word out beyond the press and directly to supporters. But those aren’t the only people watching.
“Our opponents, I imagine, are also keeping a close eye on our page,” Benson said.
Rep. Paul Scott (R-Mich.) and Calhoun County Clerk Anne Norlander, also a Republican, have Facebook pages for their campaigns. As of Feb. 22, Scott has 741 members.
Norlander has 574 on her groups page and more than 1,700 on her personal one.
Norlander, who’s been in office for 26 years, said this campaign has been like none other. She also uses YouTube and Twitter.
“This is a very techno-intense election,” she said. “It wasn’t this way eight years ago.”
Norlander said it’s interesting to see what people write on her “wall,” which is a way for friends, fans or members to post comments on Facebook. But there is one downside, she said.
“Facebook is addictive,” Norlander said. “I wasn’t the type of person to sit on the computer a lot, but I am now.”
It will be announced at a convention this summer whether Benson will be awarded the Democratic nomination. Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, a Democrat, announced Feb. 2 her candidacy for Michigan Secretary of State. Within two weeks, Winfrey had a Facebook page for her campaign and 231 fans.
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