Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder feels searing heat of social media

[Bozita]

Last Updated: April 20. 2011 1:57AM
Snyder feels searing heat of social media
Critics use Facebook, Twitter to set up protests, fight policies
Paul Egan / Detroit News Lansing Bureau


Lansing — Filmmaker Michael Moore used Twitter to get demonstrators to Lansing for a huge Capitol rally.

A Facebook page run by voter Derek Stephens tracks Gov. Rick Snyder's stops so protesters can show their opposition to his policies. Videos of those protests quickly find their way onto YouTube.

Twitter users can find fake pages that parody the governor and his budget director.

As battles continue over Snyder's proposed budget and a beefed-up emergency manager law for financially troubled cities and school districts, the Republican governor is facing the power of social media like no Michigan leader before him.

"To mobilize like-minded individuals, social media, I think, is the best tool that's been invented so far," said Matt Friedman, a partner in the strategic communications company Tanner Friedman of Farmington Hills.

"Social media is approaching almost a critical mass now — it's instant, and it's personal."

It's also playing a central role in the early effort to recall Snyder after less than four months in office, with the most popular of a half-dozen such Facebook pages "liked" by more than 12,200 people.

"We're seeing the most controversy with the new governors, because they have a new agenda they're trying to implement," Friedman said.

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From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110420/POLITICS02/104200351/Snyder-feels-searing-heat-of-social-media#ixzz1K5O7JDhT