So, this afternoon I got an email reading, “Howard Dean sent you a message on Facebook.” (This is after I decided to accept his friend invitation yesterday.) Well, it wasn’t really from Dean. What I did get was an email from the person who is paid to “be” Howard Dean on Facebook, or rather, one of the staffers behind his profile, Stephanie Taylor, the managing editor of Democrats.org. I wish I could say I was disappointed to not hear directly from the Governor, but this is what I expected. Let’s parse what she wrote:
This is Stephanie Taylor, one of the Democratic Party staffers behind Governor Dean’s new Facebook profile. You asked yesterday how we expect to use this profile. I’ll try to answer.
As you are well aware, Facebook, MySpace and other social networking apps have become places where both public figures and organizations are now expected to have a presence. This is a basic acknowledgment of a place where constituencies are located—like appearing at a ball park or a union hall.
Who exactly expects public figures to have a presence on Facebook? Is it other Facebook members? Or is this an expectation that has been created externally to Facebook? I think the latter. Interesting that this is Dean’s “new” Facebook profile, no? What was wrong with the old one?
Not that Dean shouldn’t be on Facebook. It is absolutely true that an organization like the Democratic Party needs to have a presence wherever large numbers of people congregate (can you imagine the Ds, or the Rs, with a table at a ball park, by the way?), but does it really work make sense for them to do it through a fictional character called Howard Dean who is really run by a committee of staffers? When I hear Dean on the radio or see him on TV or at an event, I know it’s him. On Facebook, I’m dealing with a committee? (I guess the giveaway is in the first sentence, where she talks about how they are going to “use this profile.” Feh.)
Stephanie goes on to say:
For example, the College Democrats of America Convention takes place this weekend in Columbia, South Carolina. As danah boyd recently pointed out, for better or worse, college students live on Facebook. So Governor Dean’s Facebook profile is part of a larger attempt to meet this constituency in the place where they are.
These virtual spaces also offer new organizing opportunities, which most of us are only beginning to understand. Governor Dean’s profile is one more opportunity among many to build a network around shared values and interests—in this case, progressive politics. How we use that network to organize will evolve over time, just as the networks themselves are still evolving.
In addition to Facebook and MySpace, we also have our own social networking site, the Democratic Party’s Partybuilder. In the coming months, we’ll be experimenting with how to grow our own community and keep it vibrant, while speaking to people in the communities where they live, too.
I’m glad they’re experimenting with how to grow a community, I really am. I guess I’m skeptical of how one does that without devoting real time to real connections between real people. What kind of “meeting” is taking place here, between a famous person’s Facebook profile and college students? I remember when Dean actually got onto the DeanforAmerica blog in 2003; you could tell from the writing that it was most likely him. Will college students feel “met” if they get a poke? This might work much better if Dean’s profile actually said something like “Stephanie Taylor, on behalf of Howard Dean.” Stephanie cites danah boyd, but I don’t think she understood what danah is driving at. Places like Facebook are real hangouts for actual people, not marketing platforms (in theory, anyway).
Stephanie concluded her note to me thus:
Basically, we’re trying to be everywhere. Think of it like a virtual 50-State Strategy.
Thanks for becoming Governor Dean’s friend. We might poke you from time to time, but probably won’t throw sheep. That would be undignified.
Stephanie Taylor, Managing Editor, Democrats.org
In essence, I guess what she’s saying is Dean on Facebook is an avatar, or, to be less neutral about it, a marionette, one that can throw virtual sheep but “chooses” not to. He’s not the real person, but a representation that other people are using, drawing on his popularity and exposure to build a network.
Oh well, same as it ever was. Stephanie, you can consider this a poke from me.