Over the last two decades, social media has transformed how we communicate with family, friends, and strangers.  More importantly, it has transformed how candidates approach campaigning and how issues are pushed to the people including ballot propositions.  Recently a comprehensive research project published the findings of a multi-year project, led by academics from U.S. colleges and universities and working in collaboration with researchers at Meta. It focused on how critical aspects of the algorithms that determine what people see in their feeds can affect what they see and believe.

These newly published studies from the project also show that social media algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram are extremely influential in shaping users and that there is significant ideological segregation in political news exposure.  The result was algorithm adjustments made by social media platforms have been proven to alter the political news their users see and engage with.  After reading it we wondered if they should study what power Facebook Admins of “local community group pages” could have on elections.  If an admin only allows the dissemination of one side of a political perspective could that change, influence, or alter the readers’ perceptions? Could it influence a vote?   Can you guess where we are going with this question?

A little over six years ago, in Frisco, Texas resident Jamie Heit formed a Facebook group called Frisco Residents Who Cares. Today it is a very important communication tool for the residents, the city, and for Ms. Heit!   How did the group FRWC come about?  Well, Ms. Heit answered that in her post in 2023 when she wrote “I have been the admin of this group since I created it in 2016, only about 6 months after my family and I moved to Frisco in the summer of 2015. The group originated under a different name and was devoted exclusively to a singular (then political) issue: the rezoning of a parcel of land on Legacy Drive that was being eyed as the future home for an 11-acre Oncor electrical substation. The substation was a complex issue that many residents were not happy about, but through many months of respectful discussions with city leaders, many compromises on both sides, and a lot of patience and trust in the processes, a mutually agreeable solution was eventually met. As a result of seeing what being an informed, respectful and involved resident could do, I decided to keep my group going. I renamed the page what it is today and have kept it going as a place for residents to connect and to share what’s happening IN, AROUND and TO the City of Frisco.”

My wife has loved the group for many years, and we do appreciate all the hard work Ms. Heit puts into being an admin for such a large page.  We have met her before at a few city events and she was very kind and polite, and we believe she is a genuine person.  With that said this is not personal at all, but when we receive over a dozen emails from residents, we have to offer a fair assessment of their concern about the dissemination of information on her page. My wife has mentioned a few times that as politics has become more divisive, she feels that the FRWC page has implemented some “Heit’end Controls!”  The rules for the page state, “FRWC is not a platform to promote other Facebook groups, religious institutions, or political candidates.” 

While Ms. Heit likes to claim to be impartial and have a respectful stance to ensure the information shared with the community is beneficial, it often appears to be a very one-sided perspective and that is Ms. Heit’s perspective.  Residents must decide right now whether to Vote For or Against the Frisco ISD Bond & Vatre. Many residents are searching on social media to learn more about the pros and cons of the bond.  We have seen at least 10 to 20 posts supporting the Vote For PAC posted by Ms. Heit on her FRWC page.  We have yet to see, even 1 post for the Vote No position on FRWC.  Why is that? 

Ms. Heit mentions in her very first post she is in full support of the bond, why would she want anyone with an opposing view AGAINST the bond to post on her page to her 20.7K followers?  She has 100% Heit’end Control over what is disseminated to her followers.   In one article she claims she must be impartial and respectful, but the truth is, she can’t claim to be when she blocks the opposing view. She can require it to be a factual opposition and if it is she should allow for it to be posted.   

On October 21, Heit posted for anyone looking for “factual information” about the bond propositions that were unable to attend the community presentations they could watch The Frisco ISD apple podcast with Dr. Todd Fouche, Kimberely Smith and Scott Warstler.  If you don’t have a kid in the district, you may not realize this is the district’s own podcast, not an independent podcast about Frisco ISD.  Heit fails to mention in the quick snippet on her post that Fouche is the Deputy Superintendent, Kimberly Smith is the CFO, and Scott Warstler is the Chief Operations Officer for FRISCO ISD.  Obviously, the podcast will be in support of the bond 100%!

Then on Oct 22^nd, Heit does a long post on FRWC about how she has seen questions and so much “MISINFORMATION” on social media today about the bond/propositions and states “I decided to post an explanation of the ballot items here as well.”  At least in this post she did ALERT residents she served on the Bond Exploration Committee for the past year with other members and ends her statement with “WHY THEY ARE NEEDED, WHAT THEY WILL ACCOMPLISH AND HOW THEY WILL IMPACT YOU.”   The “Heit’end Controls” are in action as there is no opposing view allowed to do an individual post. 

What is the most offensive about this post is her closing which states “Lastly, I am closing the comments only to prevent misinformation from being shared.  If you have questions, please feel free to DM me.”  Heit’end controls any opposition to respond, she doesn’t answer residents’ questions publicly but in private DMs, and that right here…IS NOT IMPARTIAL!  As admins of Facebook pages when you have the power to change an election you have a GREAT RESPONSIBILITY to be fair and Ms. Heit while we respect you, you are from FAIR! 

Are the “Heit’end Controls” new on FRWC – absolutely not!  In a post-dated April 13, 2023, Ms. Heit talks about the upcoming municipal and ISD contested races.  She boldly states “THIS ELECTION IS A PIVOTAL POINT IN FRISCO’S HISTORY AND IN THE FIGHT TO KEEP FRISCO ISD ONE OF THE STRONGEST SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE STATE.”  She goes on to say she encourages every resident to do THEIR OWN RESEARCH, and how we must remember this is non-partisan. 

She continues a few things I ask myself when looking at candidates (like we are too dumb to know what to look for) is 1. Which candidates are supported by OUTSIDE MONEY?  Will a candidate with OUTSIDE POLITICAL MONEY truly have the BEST INTEREST in Frisco/Frisco ISD?  Can we say, “pot calling the kettle black!” 

Ms. Heit, as a proud supporter of the bond, would you like to tell us HOW ALL THE OUTSIDE MONEY DONATED FROM SUBCONTRACTORS WHO STAND TO MAKE MILLIONS OFF THIS BOND PASSING, WHICH HAS FLOATED THE VOTE FOR FRISCO ISD PAC, is in our BEST INTEREST?  The wind is blowing in a new direction this year for Ms. Heit, and we are guessing she does not want us to ask the “best interest” question this year.

Ms. Heit’s background is in Public Relations and Marketing with an emphasis on media relations and we think she is a phenomenal marketer.  She should be very proud of her accomplishments including the most recent FRWC Community Gathering.  Ms. Heit helped small businesses, worked with locals to get people out to meet each other, and oh by the way she was also going to have Frisco ISD leadership there to present information on the upcoming bond.  Of course, not only did she get messages out online, but she took it to the people on the streets.  We received numerous emails after the event there was a clear message being presented and it again was very one-sided.

In closing, we know Ms. Heit will probably play the victim card and say that we are beating her up once we publish this article but that is not our intent.  While we truly respect and appreciate Ms. Heit, as a fellow resident, one thing is clear, Ms. Heit uses FRWC as her own personal pulpit. Heit carefully cultivates a marketing message for each post that reflects her views but sells it as an educational post for voters. She does not allow the opposition to post on her page and falls back on her rules of no politics or political posts. For example, in one of her posts from April 18, she writes “Admin Note – the following is an excerpt from the DMN article.  It is not my (FRWC admin) words nor necessarily my opinion, but that of the editorial board of the DMN.” 

Ms. Heit often posts pieces from newspaper articles that support her candidate or viewpoint. Crafted with care, she will never come out and say she is against the other candidate or viewpoint, but you will not see any posts supporting the narrative for those she opposes unless it is a negative piece. If Heit truly wanted to be impartial, she would have let both sides present and show her support in the comments for the position or candidate as a resident. 

Another example was in 2021 when Ms. Heit did a post for a political candidate forum, and she tagged 4 others. The post starts off looking like a forum announcement. She talks about how Frisco has low voter turnout and encourages everyone to talk to the candidates all the while knowing they won’t. Heit’s support is clear by the tags and her last line I am more than happy to talk with anyone about who I support. If this was universal, why not tag all the candidates? During the election cycle, you didn’t see any posts on the FRWC Facebook page supporting candidates who were not tagged in her post. They may have been supportive in the comments but not individual posts.

Instead, she uses her position as the ADMIN to gain trust knowing her position does and will have influencing the vote.  Just look at her post on Frisco ISD Parents where she starts the post with “Many of you may know that I am the admin for a Frisco Community Facebook group called Frisco Residents Who Cares.”  Her statement is very calculated and said at the opening to gain immediate reader’s trust.  She then promotes her community gathering not mentioning that the ISD board will be there but as soon as you as click the link to her “event” you will learn that.

What is our point?  The “Heit’end Controls” on FRWC’s Facebook page are not impartial or a free flow of informative information. The fact is, FRWC is her page, and Heit can do, post, accept, and deny anyone or anything she wants.  All we are asking for is transparency from Ms. Heit. Be clear and honest to the public that it is a page that supports her and her like-minded friends’ opinions and views and acknowledges that she markets it to others exceptionally well.  We all as a community have to realize words are powerful. When you have control of a page with 20+ followers and want to claim to be impartial then be impartial!  If you want to offer your view and only your view, then do so.  Shutting off comments so that residents can’t speak or question you when your rules read, “Let’s try and make this a safe, informative, and welcoming place for residents to come to on social media. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem” is a huge problem.  You said in 2023 to residents “Do your own research” but now you are preventing that ability by not letting both perspectives be heard and communicating on the largest community forum we have in Frisco.