Social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter were incredibly influential in the 2008 Presidential campaign. Now, social media is filtering down to local races, including Dallas’ own mayoral race.

The leading contenders for the upcoming May Dallas mayoral elections, Mike Rawlings, David Kunkle, Ron Natinsky and Edward Okpa, have developed unique campaign strategies using social media websites.

According to mayoral candidate Mike Rawlings, for instance, the two most important components of his campaign website are his calendar and blog. The calendar informs voters of where they can meet at different forums and events and the blog allows him to keep people updated with news, videos and collateral pieces.

“When people come to my campaign website, I want them to be able to see at a glance what is going on with my campaign at the moment,” Rawlings said.

Followers of @Mike_Rawlings on Twitter can also interact directly with Rawlings and express concerns and ideas for Dallas through their tweets.

“My favorite part of this campaign, whether is it traditional meet and greets or social media, is listening to people and the innovative ideas they have about making Dallas a better place to live for our families,” Rawlings said.

Rawlings has also capitalized on the video sharing power of Youtube to easily distribute his campaign videos on topics ranging from better basics to education to economic growth

Candidate David Kunkle utilizes social media devices both as voter-to-voter contact to tell his story and to help elicit support, while notifying his current supporter’s of what is going on in the campaign.

The Kunkle campaign tries to create excitement by posting interesting and timely items they feel supporters and soon-to-be supporters will like.

“Recently we were endorsed by animal rights people and many started posting pictures of their pets and how excited they were that a candidate took the time to listen to their concerns and support their cause,” Clayton Henry, who manages the Kunkle campaign said.

Kunkle reached out to volunteers with a recent tweet, “Got a free nite? Not much on the TV? Mavericks in a five (oooh)? Come to Kunkle HQ in Uptown & call voters for David.”

Kunkle uses a scoreboard to measure the number of voters involved with social media.

“We have worked hard to use this to the fullest because we think we reach a demographic the other candidates are not tapping into very successfully,” Henry said.

Candidate Ron Natinsky is using a website, emails, as well as his accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube to reach potential voters. Online volunteers also make posts on blogs and message boards.

However, there is data beginning to indicate that society is starting to respond to social media like it has to direct mail, according to Randall White, who manages web communications for the Ron Natinsky

“It is just more political yammer to throw in the digital trash bin,” White said.

But, this information inspires candidates such as Natinsky to be even more effective with online campaigns.

In municipal elections, you generally lose the percentage of the across-the-board voting population that tends to only turn out for national elections or hotly contested local referenda, White said.

“There is, however, a segment of the voter population that can be depended upon to vote in all elections. This is who we target with a web communications campaign in a municipal race,” White said.

Candidate Edward Okpa uses his Web site and Facebook page for citizen’s suggested issues, volunteer information, contributions and information on where citizens can go to meet him.

On Twitter, Okpa informed followers about upcoming events and asked them to send him a direct message if they were interested in purchasing a yard sign to display support of his campaign.

In high profile elections people are going to social media websites and looking up candidates, but in lower profile races such as the Dallas mayoral elections people may not be as likely to seek out candidates on Twitter and Facebook, Carolyn Barta, journalism professor at SMU said.

“It’s a grass roots way to campaign,” Barta said. “I think it will trickle down to lower profile races in the future.”

According to a Pew Research Center report regarding the Internet and the campaign for the 2010 midterm elections, more than half of all American adults were online political users in 2010 during the election cycle.

Around 73 percent of adult Internet users went online to get news or information about the 2010 midterm elections, or to get involved in the campaign in one way or another, according to the Pew report.

The percentage of people who use the Internet as a main source of campaign or election news has increased from seven percent in 2001 to 24 percent in 2010, according to the Pew report.

One in five adults used Twitter or a social media networking website for political purposes in 2010, according to the Pew report.

Social media campaigning was a big part of the 2011 student body elections at SMU and candidates used Facebook to reach students.

Katie Perkins, who recently ran for SMU Student Body President, maintained a Facebook page as well as a Facebook group throughout her campaign and utilized her own personal page as well as her friend’s Facebook pages.

When people endorsed Perkins, she would take a picture of them with her campaign logo and tag them on Facebook so that it would show up on their page for all of their followers to see. Perkins also had friends change their profile pictures to her campaign poster and update their statuses reminding people to vote.

“People are more likely to check a notification that I tagged them in a picture and comment on it rather than read a mass message,” Perkins said.