PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The race for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania is nearly impossible to escape. Campaign ads are everywhere you look — TV, radio, billboards, even front yards.
But some of the most intense competition is on social media sites, and they have become an indispensable part of political races.
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok don’t always lend themselves to deep analysis of the issues, and voters don’t seem to use them that way.
KYW Newsradio asked attendees at a recent event for Democratic nominee John Fetterman where they get most of their information from about this race. Answers ranged from the Philadelphia Inquirer, email and Yahoo! to The Washington Post, The New York Times and CNN.
And at an event for GOP nominee Mehmet Oz, “Fox News, cable news” were among the answers.
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But Fetterman campaign manager Brendan McPhillips said sites such as Twitter are useful tools for his candidate.
“Social media and Twitter are fun ways that we can engage people who might not be part of the normal process,” said McPhillips, “and when you’re running a successful campaign, you have to meet people where they are and bring them into the campaign.”
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania marketing professor Pinar Yildirim studied political uses of social media, and found it was most effective for candidates who position themselves as outsiders.
Vying for the open seat being vacated by retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, that’s territory that both Fetterman and Oz are trying to claim in a race that could dictate the balance of power in D.C.
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Both candidates have accounts on the major social sites, but they use them in different ways and to different effect.
Public affairs consultant Larry Ceisler says Fetterman is building a narrative about both himself and his opponent.
“He’s defined Oz as the out-of-touch guy who’s from out-of-state,” Ceisler said, “whereas Fetterman is able to build this persona as being a person who can empathize, of being the everyday man.”
Fetterman often trolls Oz by posting videos that Oz himself has produced, such as the notorious grocery shopping trip that went viral.
Fetterman goes for entertainment value, such as this compilation from the show that made Oz’s national reputation.
Oz has far more followers than Fetterman across social media platforms, and he posts just as often, but with less humor.
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Most of his posts attack Fetterman for being soft on crime — a strategy Republicans nationally are using against Democrats.
“I received the unanimous endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police. Unanimous. Do you know how hard that is?” said Oz. “Hundreds of police officers uniting behind one candidate because they’re so upset with how John Fetterman has continually undermined them.”
But Oz’s posts get little traction compared with Fetterman’s. The democrat's posts are liked and shared thousands of times.
He also pays for ads on Facebook, amplifying his social media presence in a way that Oz hasn't seen.
McPhillips said the strategy wouldn’t work for everyone.
“It showcases John’s personality in a way that a lot of campaigns can’t do,” he said. “We just have a very unique candidate. He’s funny. He likes to crack jokes. So social media is a useful tool for us to show more people who John is.”
The Oz campaign declined an interview request about its social media strategy, but emailed a statement saying, “The more John Fetterman spends on Facebook, the closer the race gets. That's because races aren't won on Twitter, they're won on the issues.”