by Ari B. Adler
July 16, 2009

Networking and public outreach have taken on a whole new dimension in the state capital that is expanding faster than a black hole — and some would suggest sucking up more time and space, too. But the use of Facebook and Twitter by policymakers, policy watchers and the communications professionals who help them spread their messages cannot be ignored.

“Michigan has always been on the forefront of effective use of politics and technology,” said Julielyn Gibbons, president of i3 Strategies LLC in East Lansing. Gibbons said that, according to the National Governors Association, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Lt. Gov. John Cherry were the first sitting officeholders of their rank to use Twitter.

Anyone who watches those Twitter accounts regularly knows that neither the governor nor lieutenant governor is always the one tweeting, often leaving the updates to staff. But the pair do periodically post something personal.

Gibbons was part of the Cure Michigan Team that helped Proposal 2 — stem cell research — to victory in the 2008 election.

“We used Facebook ads and Twitter in a way that no other campaign in Michigan really had before,” Gibbons said. “I know that those efforts played a real role in that close victory. I think that exemplifies the emerging role that social media and online strategy will continue to play in government and elections.”

It’s not just the left side of the political sphere tapping into social media for grassroots outreach. According to Nick De Leeuw, webmaster at RightMichigan.com, former Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis used social media to become one of the more prominent conservatives in national politics.

“Saul stands out as the example of the power of social networking sites,” De Leeuw said. “The man took his Facebook and Twitter accounts and unleashed everything from his thoughts on politics and policy to his everyday life on the world and turned it into one heck of a run at the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. Take away social networking and nobody outside Michigan knows Saul.”

It’s the combination of personal and professional lives — or some would say the collision of them — that makes social networking and social media sites the talk of the town these days.

“What makes people interesting in social media is when they mix in some personal observations with their business postings,” said Gary Naeyaert, vice president of public relations and legislative affairs for the Michigan Association of Public School Academies. “The benefit of social media is the quickness of getting messages out there and the ability to amplify your messages through other people’s networks.”

De Leeuw said that while professional outreach can help people and organizations network about their cause across the state and the country, “on the flip side, I can jump online and talk about my take on the new Terminator movie, which can hook folks in an entirely different way.”

The ability to show someone your personality alongside your business persona helps with authenticity, according to Gibbons. “While it can be a risk to show your personal side to those in the professional side of your life, I think it’s one worth taking. Once or twice I’ve run into the colliding worlds issue, but it only inspires me to find the next big thing in social media.”

For Nathan Triplett, a legislative aide for state Rep. Kate Ebli (D-Monroe) and an East Lansing city councilman, sticking to the cautionary side of that line is important.

“From time to time I’ll share something personal in a tweet or a status update, but that’s rare,” said Triplett. “I treat anything I post using social media the same way I’d approach traditional media. If I wouldn’t want it on the front page of the Lansing State Journal, it’s not going on my Twitter or Facebook pages.”

Still, Triplett said using social media allows him to engage with constituents directly and provides them access to him in real time. “Especially representing a community with a large university student population, I’ve found social media to be a way to engage a group of residents who aren’t normally brought in by traditional media. Social media lets me reach out to them and gives them the opportunity to engage me on comfortable ground.”

Naeyaert cites Triplett as a social media user who sets a good example because “he’s always thoughtful in his postings.” Triplett, in turn, cited the Michigan Senate Democrats as a political organization to watch and learn from.

“They are good at updating frequently and utilizing multimedia — especially linked video — in their tweets and Facebook postings,” Triplett said. “Rarely does a session day go by when @MISenateDems does not highlight what one Democratic senator or another is doing that day.”

Triplett said the Senate Democrats are using the new media to reach out to voters, but also to bring them back to some of the older resources, like traditional websites. It’s precisely the idea of coordinating all available resources — old and new — that is driving the redesign of the Small Business Association of Michigan’s website, according to Michael Rogers, vice president of communications.

The newly designed site, which launched on July 8, “jumps into social networking with both feet,” Rogers said. “All our content is comment-enabled and can be forwarded to e-mail or posted on any number of social networking sites. We also have a blog, guest bloggers and forums. Our plan is to facilitate an SBAM community.”

Rogers said he has high hopes for the new social networking aspects of the site building “a genuine community of like-minded small business owners.”

“So far, social media is supplementing our other communications rather than accomplishing something we could not have done otherwise,” he said. “But the best is yet to come.”

With users stretching across many different demographic and geographic boundaries, it seems there’s no end in sight for social networking as a medium, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or something not yet invented.

“The concept of social networking isn’t dependent on one website or online tool,” De Leeuw said. “People will be people. We talk to each other. We share our thoughts. Every day, it’s what we do as a species. Will we always do that on Facebook and Twitter? Absolutely not — but it’s important to remember that they’re merely tools that have capitalized on human nature.”

Naeyaert tends not to respond when people say social networking is just a fad. “While it’s hard to say if Twitter is the next 8-track player, it’s fun while it lasts,” Naeyaert said, noting that the most active social networkers he sees tend to be younger professionals, but that he’s encouraged by the number of middle-aged users “dipping their toes into the social media water.”

It’s the exponential growth and the increasing distribution across demographic lines that make social media so great and so likely to stick around, Gibbons said.

“There really is no generational or age divide,” she said. “The fastest-growing demographic on Facebook is women over 45, and you’re hearing more and more about grandparents and their grandkids connecting on Facebook and Twitter.”

Social media is no more of a fad than the Internet was when it first hit the scene, according to Rogers.

“In the 1990s, I had a colleague who said he thought the Internet was going to fade away like CB radio. But social media is not a fad because it taps into several strong trends: widespread broadband and always-on Internet, nearly universal cell phone use and a sociological urge to bare our souls to strangers, ala Oprah.”

It’s that always-on appeal that can also be a downside, said Naeyaert, who warns folks getting involved to beware of how addictive and time-consuming social networking can become.

Triplett agrees, but noted it’s the interactive nature of social media that makes it effective.

“You need to post frequently to hold people’s interest and you should expect people to comment on what you are posting — and then they’ll expect you to respond,” he said. “Social media comes with a whole new level of exposure, but it’s well worth it.”

Ari B. Adler is a media relations professional with experience as a newspaper reporter and editor as well as a government and corporate spokesperson. He is the communications administrator for Delta Dental of Michigan and an adjunct instructor at Michigan State University. You can follow him on Twitter at @aribadler.