It’s being touted as the first social media campaign, but many political candidates trying to get elected on May 2 seem to regard Twitter as a soap-box rather than a conference call, using their 140-character limit to swagger or announce policy, but passing up opportunities to engage voters directly.
So says an article posted to the Globe and Mail‘s website. They give some legitimate examples: a class trying to use Twitter to learn more about politics and a fellow asking a local candidate a question are both good uses!
Not good uses: the two examples they give where people are just begging for retweets. If someone’s vote will be swayed by who first acknowledges the Canucks, who needs them? Add on that Twitter, it turns out, doesn’t have as huge a number of users as you might think, and why even bother with these shenanigans?
The basic premise of the piece is solid: if you can’t do something right, don’t do it at all. But constituents should also temper their expectations. Twitter can be a busted website, or sometimes tweets can just be missed. If @PremierBradWall or @ralphgoodale won’t retweet your Roughrider love, just get over it.
