Social networking on the rise in political campaigns

This article and graphic is courtesy The Aurora Banner.

Greg Locke was interviewed for this article (excerpt below with full article following).

In King Township, blogging is also poised to be a big deal in the fall election; just ask Ward 4 council candidate Greg Locke.

His greglocke.ca website boasts a blog, contact information as well as links to his Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

Social media is a useful tool, he said, and one that allows him to keep the public informed about his stance on various matters.

“I’m fortunate, as a municipal candidate, to have a new media background on top of my career marketing experience,” Mr. Locke said.

“(It has) allowed me to construct my own campaign blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn tools, but, most importantly, it’s really me talking and writing, not a back-room campaign team that is massaging every message. I want to come across as ‘the real deal’ and I mean this quite honestly and frankly. Social media helps me do this very effectively.”

And such tools aren’t merely a campaign vehicle, Mr. Locke insists, noting he plans to keep the conversation going if he’s elected to ensure his constituents continue to get the open and transparent representation for which they voted.

SEAN PEARCE    May 28, 2010

Politicians go searching for votes on social networking sites

In the lead-up to this fall’s municipal election, more and more candidates are turning to the Internet to get their message out.

And that’s not really all that surprising to York University political science professor Fred Fletcher.

Candidate websites have been around for some time now and the next logical evolution of that has been for those seeking office to make the migration to other new media vehicles, such as blogs, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, Mr. Fletcher said
he expects to see social media used with increasing frequency in politics and government as time goes on.

“It’s certainly changing election campaigns at the local level, because, compared to the federal and provincial level, those candidates have more trouble getting their message out,” he said. “There’s a multiplier effect, because the reach (of the Internet) is so much greater. If I had to put my message out somewhere as a new candidate, I would use social media.”

However, social media is by no means the be all and end all when it comes to campaigning, Mr. Fletcher said.
New candidates and incumbents need to ensure they’re not just sitting back and letting their blog or Twitter feed do all the work, he said, adding door knocking and all-candidate debates are still important.

One needs to remember Internet use in Canada hovers around 60 per cent, with just 25 to 30 per cent of those classified as regular blog readers, Mr. Fletcher said.

The majority of those engaged in social media are adults and tend to view the information they read online with more scrutiny than with traditional media, he said.

Still, it would be a mistake to underestimate the potential there, he added.

“(United States President Barack) Obama was able to bring in people who were previously non-voters, so that shows you how social media can mobilize people during an election,” Mr. Fletcher said, adding social media can stir avowed non-voters out of their apathy.

Hoping to tap into the growing popularity of social media, a number of local candidates in York Region are online.

In Aurora, mayoral candidate Roger Clowater has his own campaign website up and running at rogerclowater.ca, is using SMS to keep people up to date and has also uploaded videos to YouTube in an effort to connect with voters.

Social media is a great way to reach out to prospective voters in an unobtrusive manner and also obtain feedback, he said.

Using social media during an election is no different than at any other time (as) the principle is the same: it engages people on more of a pull and not a push strategy, where it is on their terms, the conditions they have set and when they have the time, he said via e-mail.

“Hopefully, you do connect with the voter more often. The other aspect is the feedback. The voter has a chance to provide thoughts and concerns.”

At the same time, Mr. Clowater agrees with Mr. Fletcher that social media isn’t meant to completely replace more traditional methods of spreading one’s message, such as lawn signs, brochures and good old-fashioned door knocking.

Of course, no discussion about the use of social media on the Aurora political scene can be complete without making mention of Councillor Evelyn Buck.

Ms Buck began blogging not long after the last municipal election and has kept with it, publishing at least a few posts a week. Her evelynmbuck.blogspot.com site has had nearly 70,000 visitors.

In Newmarket, Ward 3 council candidate Jane Twinney has her own website, janetwinney.ca and has taken to Facebook and Twitter to keep the electorate aware of her events and positions on the issues facing the town.

The daughter-in-law of late former mayor Ray Twinney said she has come a full 180 degrees since running in the 2006 municipal election, during which she didn’t even have a website. She likes the capacity for engagement online tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, provide.

“In this day and age, (social media) is the most wide-spread use on the Internet … especially among the people in my age group,” she said. “It’s really a no-brainer and if you’re not on there, you’re behind the times.”

In King Township, blogging is also poised to be a big deal in the fall election; just ask Ward 4 council candidate Greg Locke.

His greglocke.ca website boasts a blog, contact information as well as links to his Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

Social media is a useful tool, he said, and one that allows him to keep the public informed about his stance on various matters.

“I’m fortunate, as a municipal candidate, to have a new media background on top of my career marketing experience,” Mr. Locke said.

“(It has) allowed me to construct my own campaign blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn tools, but, most importantly, it’s really me talking and writing, not a back-room campaign team that is massaging every message. I want to come across as ‘the real deal’ and I mean this quite honestly and frankly. Social media helps me do this very effectively.”

And such tools aren’t merely a campaign vehicle, Mr. Locke insists, noting he plans to keep the conversation going if he’s elected to ensure his constituents continue to get the open and transparent representation for which they voted.

It will be interesting to see what role social media plays in elections to come, Mr. Fletcher said. It’s a great tool, but it’s also one with inherent risks candidates might not immediately consider when they sign on.

Studies have shown the most popular social media vehicles are the ones with some measure of interactivity, Mr. Fletcher said, but the danger is one’s opponents or their supporters may make critical or potentially damaging comments on your page or feed.

The other potential problem is you may shoot yourself in the foot without any help.

“The risk is that your supporters may say something your opponents can use against you or, if you’re tweeting on the run, you may say something that gets twisted around,” he said.

The other caveat is that much of the posting and commenting done online is anonymous, meaning candidates and their supporters can slag one another incognito or under various aliases. Such behaviour does occur, but it isn’t really anything new, Mr. Fletcher said, as people have written letters to the editor with pseudonyms since their inception.

“That’s a serious problem and we get arguments on both sides of that,” he said. “My position is that if you want to participate in a democratic discourse, you should at least put your name behind your opinions.”