Gov. Tom Wolf takes his case to Facebook
The most important media event in Harrisburg this week wasn’t a press conference.
Rather than go before reporters at a traditional news conference at the capitol media center, Gov. Wolf took his case, and his face, directly to voters on facebook.
Gov. Wolf held his first ever livestream video chat on the social media site.
On the face of it, the event itself was noteworthy since it’s the first time a sitting governor has done such a thing.
But even more noteworthy than the event itself was the inventiveness Gov. Wolf and his team demonstrated by attempting the feat. There are no books or classes to be had about any of this.
It’s just not a matter of turning on a camera and linking up to facebook.
In the old days, preparation for a news conference followed time-honored, well-defined rituals: you’d arrange for a room with a podium and a microphone to hold the press conference, send out press advisories, prepare hand-outs and type news releases, and so on.
All this preparation, like the livestream event itself, has to be reinvented for the social media age. Wolf’s team had to experiment not just with the event, but also with the invitations to the event.
The day before his live facebook appearance, Wolf’s team tweeted, “Hey! Gov. Wolf is holding a live facebook Town Hall. Ask the gov your questions …”
(One wonders if we’ll soon see invitations for livestream events in Philadelphia beginning, “Yo!”)
Wolf even prepared a short video invitation.
“Hi everybody,” a folksy Wolf intoned on a facebook video. “I want to invite you to participate on a facebook Town Hall I’m having on my budget, tomorrow … It’s gonna be live-streamed on my” — here Wolf made finger quotes with his hands — “Facebook Page, and I’ll answer questions from Pennsylvanians about my budget’s three priorities: jobs that pay; schools that teach; and government that works. Post your questions for me in the comments section of this post, and I’ll answer as many as I can tomorrow …”
Questions for the governor started rolling in on facebook. Many of those questions predictably were posed by organized special interest groups, opposed to this or that policy advocated by Gov. Wolf. Why not eliminate all property taxes? Why spend money on public schools, but not charter or cyber schools? Even the Republican Party of Pennsylvania posed several questions on Wolf’s facebook page, such as, “Governor Tom Wolf — Do you think that making Pennsylvania families pay $1,400 a year in taxes will help them?”
Those questions from the Republicans obviously didn’t make the cut.
After all this prep work, Wolf’s facebook Town Hall livestream went off pretty well, all things considered.
Gov. Wolf sat comfortably in shirtsleeves in what looked like the wood-paneled governor’s office, across a table from his deputy press secretary, Megan Healey, who lobbed necessarily softball questions at him.
Wolf came across as low-key, unassuming, and eager to talk about his policy initiatives. For the most part Wolf stayed on message. He fielded questions on property tax reform, education, and medical marijuana. He pointed out, several times, that the state is laboring under a “number of deficits,” and, “We also have a structural budget deficit.”
The show wasn’t without glitches. My own live feed hiccupped and stalled a number of times. I’m not sure of it was my connection, or what.
But these are the kinks that have to be worked out, and Gov. Wolf and his team, to their credit, seem willing to work at it. And that’s the big story.
It would be interesting to see someone other than the governor’s press secretary select and ask the questions. Maybe next time Wolf can even have an old-fashioned, rumpled reporter serve as emcee — if for only old-time’s sake.
But it shouldn’t just be old-line reporters, or the usual capitol newsroom suspects, asking the questions, and serving as gatekeepers. Those days are gone. How about a blogger?
It would be interesting to see an everyday Pennsylvanian, or even an opposing activist, talking with the governor. That’s what will make Tom Wolf even better at this, and make such shows even more meaningful for viewers. In our society, like it or not, clarity comes from conflict.
Following Gov. Wolf’s facebook Town Hall Meeting, the old-time media predictably chimed in to tell folks what they’d just seen.
Karen Shuey, of lancasteronline, for example, quickly dashed off a story headlined, “7 things we learned from Gov. Tom Wolf’s Facebook chat,” highlighting some of the topics Wolf addressed, from sales tax to fracking.
But the old-time reporters seemed to miss the most important thing: Tom Wolf and his team are learning how to go around them. They are learning to use new media to connect directly with constituents in ways not done before.
Gov. Wolf and his team, to their credit, are demonstrating a willingness to try new things, to learn from mistakes, and to get better at it.
If he keeps experimenting, practicing, and getting better, Tom Wolf will become the best at this in the state — if he isn’t already.
One day there will come a young politician who does this all easily, and naturally, without making “finger quotes.”
Then the face of politics, and governing, will change forever.
