Lincoln campaign: Friend me in 2010

Sen. Blanche Lincoln's (D-Ark.) reelection campaign sent out an email today urging supporters to friend her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

"When Blanche first ran for Congress, there was no such thing as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace or Flickr. All she had was a pick-up truck, some yard signs and flyers. Times sure have changed," wrote her campaign manager Steve Patterson.

"The online grassroots community will be a critical component of our victory in 2010!"

We should expect to see more of this as mid-term election campaigns kick into high gear. Especially after Sen.-elect Scott Brownmade such a splash online in his successful run in Massachusetts.

But, as online political strategists have pointed out in the past, sending press releases may not be the right way to win online support. The whole point of social media is to reach voters in a new way and letting that support grow virally, not using a stale medium to ask for support in a new medium.