Nation's Leader Wants to Talk -- on Facebook

July 22, 2007 — -- It's hard for many young people in Bermuda to believe, but the island nation's top government official really does want to be their friend -- their Facebook friend, that is.

Politicians on social networking Web sites are nothing new. Every 2008 candidate from Joe Biden to John McCain can be found on Facebook and MySpace, but users certainly don't expect Barack Obama to be managing his own message queue and user profile.

Likewise, Bermudans didn't expect the premier himself to reply to their inquiries, but that's exactly what he did.

Premier Ewart Brown quietly launched his Facebook profile two months ago after hearing about the Web site during an international college campus tour. Slowly the youth of Bermuda started to add him to their "friends" lists, often asking "Is it really you?"

"I think I've convinced most of them that it's me," Brown told ABC News. "I make sure that I'm on there at least every other day, if not every day. ... I like the idea of being able to get on and deal with it personally."

Brown not only responds to e-mail messages he receives via Facebook, he also reads and replies using the more public "wall" posts all users can see.

"I was actually the first Bermuda politician with a Facebook profile, and after that a trend seemed to have started," Brown said.

Now, at least five other politicians representing both of the main political parties have joined the site.

His online experiences thus far have taught Brown that many young voters aren't registered, and many aren't knowledgeable about their national heritage. In response, he is encouraging participation and pledging to teach more Bermuda history in local schools.

For their part, the Facebook generation of Bermuda seemed interested in having Brown in their mix. He's adding more people every day and is up to 353 "friends."

Brown also used Facebook to organize a town hall meeting where 80 people showed up. He took questions on race and answered critics who wondered why he hasn't pushed for a referendum on Bermudan independence from the United Kingdom.