It's hard not to like Rick Perry, with his charming Texas smile and comfortable manners. His grin is as shiny as his boots, which proudly display the truly Texan slogan, "Come and Take It." In his picture on Twitter, he's holding a puppy. He Tweets endearing things like, "I just presented a $25,000 check to a high school teacher" and "Fletcher's corny dog may be the absolute best food at the Texas State Fair." He even condescended to "Follow" me on the popular social networking site. Seriously, what's not to like? His affability has helped keep him in office for so long, and it will be a huge factor in whether or not he wins the governor's race again in 2010.
Although Perry has certainly had some technical problems in the past, he seems to have no problem with social networking, being just as savvy on Facebook as he is on Twitter, according to Sinead Hultman's Gubernatorial PR Blog. He hasn't been in office this long for no reason. He is a master politician, knowing exactly how to reach the right people. "Perry is one of the few conservatives who 'gets' Twitter. He doesn’t just outsource it to young staffers.... If we want to continue to thrive as a state we need leaders who are forward thinking without compromising their principles," Thomas Umstattd writes in his conservative blog.
These social skills, conveyed both through personal presence and technology, may be Kay Bailey Hutchison's biggest obstacle in the governor's race as she seeks to unseat him with her impressive 16-year history in the Senate. Through Perry's social networking, he is painting himself as a good ol' Texas gentleman who is still "forward thinking," while Hutchison is left with the nicknames "Washington Kay" and "Kay Bailout." Too bad she doesn't Tweet more often about Fletcher's corny dogs.
I am not a strong follower or either Kay Hutchison or Rick Perry, but I do see the difference in the two candidates that you were just describing. I see that Hutchison can be, at times, more cold and unreachable than Perry. The technology she utilizes - Facebook, Twitter, her own Web site - are more information-oriented in a way. Whereas Perry uses these resources to strongly depict his image of what you said - a good ol' Texas gentleman. I think this could definitely help expand his popularity, especially for people that may not necessarily know much about the race or the candidates, but know how to use these Web sites.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both. We all know that not only is social media a way of the future, social media is NOW. It is becoming easier for voters to learn about candidates whether they intentionally look for the information or not (i.e. paid advertisements in the outer columns of facebook, etc.) With the advancements of techonology and the prominent presence of social media, it is vital that political candidates know how to utilize these tools; more and more the general public is looking to the internet for information rather than other traditional media.
ReplyDeleteAs a member of the younger voting population, I can appreciate it when a poitician is tech-savvy like Gov. Perry. To me, this quality shows that these candidates, although they are older, are open-minded as far as using new media to reach voters, rather than sticking strictly to traditional forms such as tv and mass mail-outs. One could only hope that the respective candidate would keep the same open-minded mentality during their incumbancy if elected.