Social media prevalent in governor's race

Perry directs supporters through Twitter, Facebook.

In something of a fireside chat for the 21st century, Gov. Rick Perry has invited his supporters to gather around their computers today and listen to him talk about Texas.

"This is just another way for us to interact with people across the state," Perry said Monday.

Reporters won't be in the room with Perry, so they won't get to write about the size of his crowd or supporters who try to bring up secession, which a couple of people hinted at when Perry spoke in Round Rock on Monday.

And while it's not clear how fresh Perry's message today will be, there's no doubt that when it's over, the myriad operatives in Perry's political universe will splatter-paint it across the Internet.

Perhaps no Texas politician has plunged deeper into the phenomenon of new media than Perry. Not only is the governor himself prolific on Twitter, a service that allows users to post short online messages for anyone who's interested to see, but his campaign and state offices have separate accounts that broadcast Perry news throughout the day.

Whatever they say is often repeated (or, more precisely, re-tweeted) by Perry employees, advisers and supporters until just about anyone with a remote interest in the governor has heard it.

Today's event, which is as close as Perry's likely to come to a formal announcement that he's seeking re-election, comports well with what Perry is doing elsewhere on the Internet: using technology to speak straight to voters without the news media or anyone else getting in the way.

Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and other candidates for governor are trying to do the same thing. They're all following the lead set last year by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, who built a massive donor base through Facebook and other sites, allowed voters to create their own Obama Web sites and announced his vice presidential pick via text message.

"Without social media, Obama would not be president today," said Michael Cheney, a professor at the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

Obama's campaign excelled at getting voters' contact information and then using it over and over to reach them.

Perry appears to be using a similar model; he and supporters have heavily promoted today's speech through Twitter and Facebook, but before watching it, voters will be asked for their e-mail addresses, home addresses and phone numbers.

The battle among Perry, Hutchison and Wharton businesswoman Debra Medina for the Republican nomination is coming through loud and clear on Twitter.

Perry has a campaign Twitter account and an account for his state business. Hutchison also has a campaign account, as do Democratic candidates such as Hank Gilbert and Tom Schieffer.

Candidates from both parties use the pages to remind supporters of events and media appearances, relay flattering news coverage and chronicle the candidates' travels. For example, Hutchison's campaign posted a photo of her at Saturday's Texas Tech-University of Houston football game.

The campaign messages are often regurgitated by employees or supporters, extending the reach of the message. And supporters, often anonymous, will go tweet-for-tweet with their adversaries.

So at a time when some news organizations are cutting back their coverage of state government, more of the campaign dialogue is coming directly from the campaigns.

The most popular tweeter in the campaign may be Perry himself. He has more than 17,000 followers on an account he updates personally.

This recent tweet from Perry is typical: "Dell acquires Perot Systems....I would call that a Texas sized deal!!! Congrats to Michael and Ross."

Perry will be the first to admit his page is not heavy on public policy.

"It's easy, and it's unfiltered," Perry said. "I come home, and the wiener dog and the lab puppy are waiting for me. That's probably not something (reporters) are going to spend a lot of ink and paper on. But this is a way for me to personalize who I am."

The Texas Democratic Party recently launched a fan page on Facebook that quickly attracted more than 2,000 followers. The party also has accounts on Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, a photo-sharing site.

Phillip Martin, a communications specialist with the Texas Democratic Trust, which supports Democratic campaigns, said social media outlets allow campaigns to pinpoint their most fervent supporters. Instead of spending days on the phone looking for people to host events, a campaign worker can post a message on Facebook and wait for volunteers.

"More and more people are getting their news online and engaging in politics online," Martin said. "It's smart for the party to be where the people are."

Tom Hollihan, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, said campaigns are embracing social media because it costs virtually nothing "to penetrate deeper into communities of like-minded people than (they) could have before."

jembry@statesman.com; 445-3572