By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
It looks like New York's potential U.S. Senate candidate, Harold Ford Jr., is finally getting with the Twitter trend.
The former Tennessee congressman sent out his fourth tweet ever on Sunday morning (if you count his inaugural message last July reading “test tweet"). It was his New York-related missive of 140 characters or less.
“In Buffalo today, worshiping @ greater refuge temple, lunching @ chophouse & meeting w local officials. And, LETS GO JETS!” Ford tweeted on Sunday morning.
But Ford will have to bulk up on the frequency of his tweets and his Twitter following if he wants to be a real competitor for virtual voter support — he currently has 427 followers to rival Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s 1,749.
Gillibrand has tweeted 120 times, sending messages Friday about the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and on Thursday tweeting, “Very troubling SCOTUS decision overturning restrictions on corp donations to pol campaigns.”
Interestingly, despite both politicians' vows to listen to voters, Gillibrand and Ford have ignored the prevailing Twitter etiquette that the polite thing to do when someone follows you is to follow back — both of them follow a whopping zero people.
Ford also has some work to do when it comes to Facebook friends and fans.
His unofficial Facebook fan page has 3,528 members to Gillibrand’s 6,755. Whether or not Ford's Facebook fans are New Yorkers is another issue Ford will have to address — should he decide to run.
These days, new media can mean the difference between winning and losing a campaign, according to Juan Melli, former new media director for ex-N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine.
Melli cited the recent upset in the Massachusetts Senate race as an example of the growing role of social media in elections.
“Scott Brown started out with not a lot of money and not a lot of name recognition, but he was very smart in the way he used online advertising in a way that Coakley didn’t,” Melli said of the Republican Senator's victory over Massachusetts Democrat Martha Coakley.
“It wasn’t the reason that he won, but he probably wouldn’t have without it,” Melli said.
Brown managed to build a big following online and used the tools to tap into voter discontent, said Melli, adding that it had helped the candidate raise millions of dollars.
Despite the impact social media can have on a campaign’s success, Melli was careful to underscore the greater importance of a candidate’s message and their connection to voters over their command of Facebook and Twitter.
“I do actually believe these tools have huge potential and are under-utilized, I just don’t think it can make up for a bad candidate,” Melli said.
“Tweeting that you’re having a limo drive you to your meeting won’t work.”
