Local political blogger Kirk Schmidt says federal politicians haven't quite grasped social media — yet.
First came Barack Obama, who in 2008 brought social media tools to the vanguard in political campaigns. Next up was Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who last fall took a page out of Obama’s book, then wrote his own chapter;he even has a phone app.
With the first Canadian federal election underway since those two trendsetting campaigns, expectations are that social media will again play a key role leading up to the May 2 election.
The day after the election was called the Globe and Mail boldly declared: “Canada’s first social media election is underway.”
Indeed, political parties and candidates are taking to sites such as Twitter and Facebook, pumping out policies, platforms and, of course, some good ol’ fashioned partisan jabs.
But for the most part, politicians don’t understand how to use these new political tools to their full effect. A quick perusal of candidates’ tweets — of all political stripes — reveal little more than one-way conversations tinged with saccharin Hallmark card wholesomeness.
“Had a great campaign open house today, met lots of volunteers. #elxn41 #cdnpoli” tweeted one Calgary candidate.
Hardly a rallying cry for campaign troops, let alone the politically disengaged — and seemingly miles behind the engagement Calgarians witnessed during the 2010 municipal election that saw mayoral, aldermanic and school trustee candidates flock to social media sites.
During that election, local political blogger Kirk Schmidt organized a Twibate, an online debate with candidates answering voters’ queries in 140-character missives.
The experiment was, arguably, a highlight for the nimble-fingered and hyper-engaged, but don’t count on that same level of engagement during the federal election, says Schmidt.
“I don’t really think we can do a candidates’ debate over Twitter at all without people and parties just spouting off talking points and not really engaging the same way we got engagement in the civic election,” he says.
Part of the problem is that social media sites such as Twitter highlight individualism — a plus for municipal politicians promoting only themselves, but a problem in party politics where the party line is generally towed.
Eventually parties are going to have to surrender control whether they like it or not, and provincially it’s already happening, says Schmidt.
Tory MLA and leadership party hopeful Doug Griffiths and Wildrose Alliance MLA Rob Anderson, for example, are prime examples.
“They’ve let their individualism shine through and the party hasn’t stopped it,” says Schmidt. “I think party politics federally will go to that level, but there really hasn’t been a push for it yet.”
In other words, it could boil down to the basic tenant of economics: supply and demand. Until voters start demanding more real engagement through social media, politicians will be slow to supply it.
A recent survey by Ipsos Reid found only six per cent (1.47 million) of Canadian voters are using social media sites, including blogs and more traditional news sites, to specifically discuss politics and policy.
Albertans, according to the survey, appear to be the least politically engaged on social media sites at four per cent compared to eastern brethren in the Atlantic provinces at 11 per cent — mirroring Alberta’s near-bottom-of-the-barrel voter turnout in the 2008 federal election.
There is, however, room for exponential growth as more than five million Canadians use those same sites in some capacity. The question is: How can voters be effectively engaged in 140 characters?
In his 2008 paper Politics and the Web, Simon Fraser University communications professor Richard Smith writes that broadcast media effectively brought long-form political speeches to an end.
Radio and TV would trim and chop the messages to fit the medium, politicians began reducing their speeches into “slogans” and “sound bites,” hoping the clips would be played and passed on to the masses.
“There has been an era of fake politicians, people who hid behind a broadcast façade,” says Smith. “Those people will disappear and the real, engaged politicians will re-emerge. I think we’re going back to an era of the enabling type of politician.”
It may seem counter-intuitive, but Twitter’s 140-character limit doesn’t mean further erosion in the conversation. Whereas broadcast media distills political messages and curtail dialogue,Smith points out that “the tweet is really the beginning” of a conversation.
“It’s not a reduction, it’s actually an expansion,” he adds. “Many tweets are links to web pages, photographs, podcasts, so it’s actually an explosion of complexity and depth.”
It’s just going to take a while for politicians and the public to fully grasp the potential, says Smith. “We’re kind of at the in-between stage with social media,” he says. “People have figured out how to use it and they’re reaching out with it, but the real power comes when they actually engage with people, and people are engaged in the political process as a whole, rather than getting the message out.”
Keiran Green, director of communications with Green Party of Canada, says his party is actively targeting “Canadians who are disengaged from politics” through all avenues, including social media.
“We’re trying to be using social media the way it’s supposed to be used — it’s not a bulletin board that you put things up for people to read, it’s a place for engagement,” he says.
A prime example of this engagement is using videos produced by Green Party supporters based on the party’s platform. “Somebody out there just went ahead and made that and gave it to us,” says Green. “We thought it was great so we posted it.”
“There is an interesting dynamic that has happened — call it open-sourced democracy,” says Green.
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