Okay, call me old fashioned, but is capital ‘P’ Politics really ready to join the social networking fad? Or, reversing that, is social networking really ready to get involved with Politics? I came across a piece of evidence today that suggests perhaps not.
I stumbled upon the Facebook profile page for Jim Webb - the democratic candidate for the current Senate race in Virginia. Facebook, the social networking site originally developed for students at pretentious colleges (like my own), has boomed into something not-quite-the-size-of-Myspace but huge nonetheless. First it was profiles and friends, private messages and wall posts. Then Groups got big. Then they added photo albums. Then they added mobile support. Then they added Global Groups (and morons keep trying to start the biggest group possible). And we now have Notes and API projects and all sorts of add-ons.
Today I learned about a new feature that ties into the upcoming election in November. You have the opportunity to ‘officially’ list your support for a candidate or for key issues using the new ‘Election 2006′ section. In theory it makes a lot of sense and is an interesting (but lazy) way for your friends to know where you stand.
I added Jim Webb to the list because I wanted to see what happened when you showed your support. Jim Webb doesn’t have a typical profile, as you will see. But there is one feature on here that carried over from the regular section of Facebook that really bothers me.
Can somebody please explain to me what it means to ‘Poke’ Jim Webb? The Poke is an ambiguous action as is. Usually it means you’re drunk and letting some hottie know you’re kind of into them. Sometimes it can be used ironically. But are we really responsible enough to be Poking our nation’s politicians?
Webb served in Vietnam. He graduated law school at Georgetown. He’s written eight books. He was the Secretary of the Navy. And now he’s running for Senate. Should you really be poking him?
Who even receives the poke? There’s a profile for all of these candidates but I can’t even confirm that the process actually involves the most lowly intern in the Webb office. At face value, it looks as if these are just generic common interest groups, not political profiles. Does Facebook hope to sign on actual candidates in a “if you build it they will come” scheme? If so, will the Webb campaign please put me in charge of Facebook public relations? I would gladly let you pay me to do so. If you don’t, the independents will sweep! Take Kinky Friedman’s (I-TX) profile, for example. Kinky is actually invovled with his page. His about me section begins “How Hard Could It Be? My Common-Sense Priorities For Texas.” If you agree that it’s not all that difficult you should probably Poke Kinky. (That sounds both dirty and silly.)
Will Jim Webb and George Allen post photos of themselves from Saturday night at the club? Does Georgia incumbent Govenor Sonny Perdue think Family Guy Rocks? Does Pennsylvania Representative Melissa A. Hart love the girls of 411-L!?!?! Will Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) poke me back? We’ll just have to wait and see.
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