John Fritchey Is a Facebook Hero
The one state Rep. who actually understands social networking
By MATT BARTOSIK
Updated 12:27 PM CST, Wed, Dec 2, 2009
Teenagers and hipsters aren't the only folks to ride the social networking wave.
Many politicians are in online mix.
But where most politicians blast boring tidbits on their platforms -- looking at you Pat Quinn, Kirk Dillard, Bill Brady, Jim Ryan, Andy McKenna, Adam Andrzejewski, Bob Schillerstrom, and Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias -- one politician is shaking it up with a load of personal information.
State Representative John Fritchey (11th) is actually, um, social on his social networking sites. He uses Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger to expose his friendly, funny side.
"Social networking is an incredibly effective tool for elected officials—if properly used. It has the ability to not only open lines of communication but also to strengthen the relationships with your audience," Fritchey told Chicagoist, which has a nice mash up of some choice Facebook threads.
"But the key is that it be genuine. My friends, personal and political, know that I write everything on my blog, post all my own Facebook material and do my own tweets, so they know that they're not only hearing from me, but hearing it in my own words."
"I think that a lot of elected officials aren't real comfortable with the idea of showing the amount of candor that I do online, but I think that for the most part, my followers appreciate it," Fritchey continued. "At the end of the day, it's a fun and easy way to show your human side, which a lot of people forget that elected officials have."
There are no reports yet on who his Farmville neighbors are.
Matt Bartosik is a Chicago native and a social media sovereign.
Copyright NBC Local Media / NBC Chicago
First Published: Dec 1, 2009 1:20 AM CST
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