Looks like Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal Party leader, has taken a lesson from Barack Obama. Ignatieff is now using Facebook to promote himself. He also has a YouTube channel where you can watch him wrestle a duck and a twitter where you can follow his tweets.
Obama has paved the way of campaigning by means of Web 2.0 and social media. But, I think if/when every politician starts using it, then it just becomes another cold tool used for campaign. The warm and special bubbly feeling that we first got when we saw Obama accept our friend request, will turn into a cold, dark numbness. There won’t be anything special about it anymore because the politician won’t have any part of it. It will be their campaign team doing all the updating and personalization. Where’s the heart? Where’s the connection with the people? Gone. Gone. Gone like the mother sea turtle after she lays her eggs on the beach.
Until I see a politician playing Barn Buddy and doing those survey things on Facebook, I will not support them on the basis that they have a FB, YT or T.
Is Michael's Facebook status "it's complicated?"
ReplyDeleteLOL we laugh, but you're absolutely right, Mike. Having a presence on these sites is one thing -- using it to build relationships is quite another. You've hit on exactly what separates good public relations from shallow attempts at publicity: the "relations" part.
ReplyDeleteAudiences want a connection beyond the one-way megaphone stream of messages (we always want this, but especially on social media sites, where personal relationships are the foundations of communities). Politicians may not have to become citizens of Farmville or tell us their favourite 25 novels of all time or which Muppet they would be; but to use social media effectively, they have to share more insights than the news release headlines -- and to listen. The stakes are higher in the social media space if they don't, because their "friends" or "followers" are expecting more.