As a follow-up to my overview of the candidates in the Sept. 8 by-election in Westmount Ville-Marie, here's a quick rundown of the campaigns' Facebook strategies (sorted by number of supporters):
(UPDATE Aug. 19: Mr. Larivée has joined the club, so I've updated the list as of today)
Anne Lagacé-Dowson (NDP)
- Fan page: YES
- Supporters: 511
- Personal page: NO
Marc Garneau (Liberal)
- Fan page: YES
- Supporters: 370
- Personal page: YES
- Embarrassing personal information on personal page: NO
Claude William Genest (Green)
- Fan page: YES
- Supporters: 178
- Personal page: YES (Though his profile pic is of a chimp hugging a bird)
- Embarrassing personal information on personal page: Open wall, "flirt" box on his profile page, and photos of him dressed as a pimp. Does that count?
Charles Larivée (Bloc Québécois)
- Fan page: YES (though it's actually a group, not a fan page)
- Supporters: 120
- Personal page: YES
- Embarrassing personal information on personal page: Nope, it's wiped clean
Judith Vienneau (Rhino)
- Fan page: YES (but no photo)
- Supporters: 8 (ouch)
- Personal page: YES
- Embarrassing personal information on personal page: Plenty of TMI boxes on the profile page. Also, apparently wanted to be leader of the Libertarian Party. Maybe Rhino was her second choice?
Guy Dufort (Conservative)
- Fan page: NO
- Personal page: YES (private)
Many politicians have fake "personal" profiles setup, which I think is largely irrelevant since Facebook invented the fan page. So I won't take any marks away from Lagacé Dowson for that. But Dufort and Larivée not having any Facebook exposure at all? That's just not right.
Howdy!
But you missed one important fact: The number of friends in common!! I share one with Marc Garneau, three with Claude William four with Genest, four with Judith Vienneau, none with Guy Dufort and zero for Charles Larivée as well.
I've been keeping a count of Facebook supporters for all the by-election candidates plus the leaders in a regular bi-weekly "Facebook Watch", over at the Pundits' Guide, if you're interested in following it. When I first started, tons of people wrote me to say it probably meant nothing. Tons of people. So, I decided it might mean at least something, and keep right on collecting the data.
Please see: Facebook Watch (or depending how this commenting platform handles URLs, http://www.punditsguide.ca/labels/Facebook%20Watch.php).
One other point: I'm not sure that any Rhino candidate actually got their papers in by the deadline (yesterday).
Hello,
I'm afraid the information you have on me is incomplete. I have both a Facebook group and a profile that is not private at all.
Here is the link to the group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21366620598
Here is the link to the profile:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Charles_P_Larivee/657380614
Both adresses are published on my web site:
http://www.blocquebecois.org/fr/dossiers/partielles2008/westmount-ville-marie.asp
Thank you for your active participation in this process.
Regards,
Charles Larivée
Merci pour les renseignements, Charles. Je vais ajouter ces modifications avant la prochaine mise-à-jour de "Facebook Watch" au punditsguide.ca.
Felicitations pour votre décision de participer dans la vie démocratique.
sincèrement,
alice