The world has changed since the last time Jerry Brown was at the helm of the State of California. First elected to statewide office in 1970, Governor Brown is no stranger to campaigning throughout the “Golden State.” One major difference between the campaign that eventually brought him his first tenure as governor and his 2010 campaign was his use of social media.
Since President Barack Obama’s use of social media in his presidential campaign, many other prospective lawmakers have used social media as a way to get their message out to voters. Social media is becoming increasingly important as traditional marketing channels are becoming less effective. Printed newspaper ads, for example, are costly to run and do not reach the same number of people that a Facebook fan profile or Twitter profile have the possibility of reaching. Social media profiles are almost always free to create. However, most candidates have a paid staff member or team that creates, monitors and updates these profiles on behalf of the candidate.
