Like most Facebook users, every day I get a few “friend” requests in my email, and most of the time, I accept, though I’m mainly hearing from people I actually know, or from people with whom I share enough real friends that I feel comfortable having a “loose tie” with them. Extended social networks are useful, and I’m under no illusion that all these people are the kind of friends that I’d let sleep on my couch or roam through my refrigerator.
But today, I got a friend request from Howard Dean, the DNC chair and former presidential candidate. Normally, I’d just say no to a friend request from a politician, for a couple of reasons. First, as editor of two non-partisan (or cross-partisan) sites, I don’t want someone thinking that if I’m “friends,” say, with John Edwards, that means I’ve endorsed him. (And if you’re wondering about the Obama application that I put on my Facebook page, it’s there not because I’m supporting him, but because I wanted to see how his internet team was making use of Facebook’s open platform for applications).
And second, who really believes that a friend request from a politician is actually coming from that person, for real, as opposed to a staffer who is working their profile for them?
But I decided in this case to say yes. First of all, Howard Dean isn’t running for anything; he’s running a political party. Second, it’s Howard Dean! and I’m really curious to see what use he’s making of Facebook. (A glance at his profile shows that he’s been very busy lately making “friends”–it looks like every single person in the progressive online community got friended by Dean today or yesterday!)
To make this interesting, I wrote him an email (using Facebook’s email system), and I’m kind of expecting an answer, since now we’re “friends.” Here’s some of what I wrote:
I’m wondering what’s up with your choosing to reach out and “friend” me and if you’d be willing to get into a dialogue (for publication) about how you think about these things, and what your larger view is of the various efforts people have been making to engage people though online social networks and political organizing.
For starters: What does it mean for a national political leader like yourself to have “friends” on Facebook? How do you personally use Facebook?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
I’m doing all of this with danah boyd’s presentation at PdF about “Digital Handshakes on Virtual Receiving Lines,” very much in mind. For Dean (or the person doing this work for him), is this just about collecting names and using Facebook as another broadcast tool? Or is this about digitally shaking hands and connecting–with a light touch to be sure–in a real, human way, by doing such things as commenting on people’s pages or the posts they put up? We’ll see…