Online social networking may be the next big thing in politics.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
July 24, 2006

By Kathleen Haughney

Like thousands of college students across the country, Jon Lozano uses his online Facebook profile to socialize. But the Penn State junior is also part of a small but growing number of young adults who use their online profiles to stump for candidates.

Besides creating a personal snapshot of his life on his Facebook page, Lozano includes a link to an online group he created to support U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's reelection bid. The political site allows a visitor to connect online with others who back the Pennsylvania Republican and participate in online discussions about the race.

Lozano said creating the Facebook group was a good way to spark interest in the campaign and "get a few people to join now."

Pennsylvania and New Jersey are among a number of states where students are using their pages on Facebook and another online social network called MySpace to boost interest in this year's U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidates.

Daniel Gore and Jay Huerbin, both 18 and incoming University of Pittsburgh freshmen, have already joined or created such political groups.

Gore created a group supporting Santorum's Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., on July 12. It has attracted members from New York University, Florida State University, Lehigh University, and the University of Pittsburgh.

"The aim is to generate... dialogue, to generate discussion. Too many people just ignore what's going on current-events- wise, and that's a problem, I think," said Gore, who is from Johnstown. "There's so many issues that...are debated in Congress, and I don't think our views about this should be ignored."

Huerbin, who lives in Gibsonia, a Pittsburgh suburb, joined a MySpace group about Swann to get more information about the Republican's candidacy while he decides whom to back for governor. Although Huerbin said MySpace and Facebook wouldn't be his only sources of information, they were definitely starting points.

"But if I come across something that I find interesting, I will Google it and look at it more in depth," Huerbin said.

A search of Facebook and MySpace sites shows at least four groups behind Gov. Rendell; nine for Swann; seven backing Santorum; and 14 promoting Casey. However, some of those sites simply advocate booting Rendell and Santorum from office.

In New Jersey, aides to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and his Republican challenger, State Sen. Tom Kean Jr., said office interns approached them about creating sites for them and the ideas were quickly accepted.

Scott Shields, director of Internet operations for the Menendez campaign, said the senator's two children were Facebook users and wanted to start a site as well. After only a few days on the Web, more than 300 supporters had joined the group, he reported.

Brian McGinnis, an intern from Cherry Hill with the Menendez campaign, said Shields had noticed the interns checking their Facebook profiles in their downtime and started asking questions. Soon afterward, the interns created the group.

The buzz extends past Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Candidates from Texas, Ohio and Tennessee are trying to reach voters through Facebook and MySpace groups.

A campaign volunteer created a MySpace profile of Phil Angelides, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in California. His spokesman, Brian Brokaw, said that although the volunteer created the site independently, the campaign had embraced it. "Anything that sort of spreads the word in a way that is effective is a good thing," he said.

The Angelides site also is providing useful feedback for the campaign through an online forum. Brokaw said some MySpace users were asking the California gubernatorial candidates to "talk more about college tuition."

"It's a different sort of focus group, instead of the traditional way," Brokaw said.

Whether such use of Facebook or similar sites can expand support for a candidate is up for debate, said Jack Nagel, a University of Pennsylvania political science professor.

Nagel said Web sites had enabled campaigns to communicate with potential voters at a faster rate, but the lack of face-to-face communication could create problems for candidates looking to sustain relationships with voters found through Internet groups.

Although former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean attracted a lot of attention in the 2004 presidential campaign with his use of the Internet to raise money, Nagel said, connections established on the Web between a campaign and voters can collapse very fast. As a result, a voter's support might not be as strong as it would be if the voter had face-to-face contact with a campaign worker.

While a number of campaigns said they were monitoring how effective these types of Web pages were in reaching young voters, the Rendell campaign is already using MySpace. It posted a blurb asking for volunteers on a MySpace group that supports Rendell.

Swann spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said it was too early to say whether this new way of recruiting supporters would pan out. Despite traditional pushes such as rock concerts or voter rallies, the number of young voters in general remains low.

Dan Fee, Rendell's campaign spokesman, said whether or not the tactics worked, different means needed to be used to reach young voters.