Politicians urged to get on Twitter, it’s ‘next frontier’ of campaigns

When Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett's mother died a few years ago, she recalled newspaper articles that accused her of deliberately skipping a difficult vote in the House. But when her father died in October 2009, she was able to use her Twitter feed to tell her followers, a number now more than 2,100, why she wasn't in Ottawa. "It is a way of getting information out to a lot of people in a hurry that just wasn't available to us previously," said Ms. Bennett (St. Paul's, Ont.) last week. She has 2,181 followers on Twitter. Not only that, but it gave the public a chance to understand her as a person, not just as a politician. "To have a human face on the people seeking public office is hugely important. It's the reason we go into classrooms, it's the reason we want people to come to know us—our sense of humour, our genuine motivation for what we're doing, our family, sometimes the stresses of trying to be two places at once," she said. That connection through Twitter with voters on a human level, not just through a narrow partisan lens, could determine whether they succeed or fail to grasp a medium that political observers say will become important in the next federal election campaign. Almost half of Canada's 308 MPs, 44 per cent, are on Twitter, according to PoliTwitter.ca, a site created by British Columbia web developer and politics fan Trevor May, that tracks Canadian politicians using social media. Ms. Bennett said she's used Twitter for research. For instance, while she was her party's health critic in 2009, she searched the term H1N1 through Twitter and discovered a pediatric unit in Alberta had been closed during the worldwide outbreak. She said she's also used Twitter to share news from invitation-only meetings she was able to attend, but others who might have been interested were not. On the other side of the aisle, Industry Minister Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) is one of Parliament's most talked about tweeters in the media for his quirky lines ("I just used 'keep on truckin'' in an email. "Am I bonkers?") and willingness to engage with the public. He told The Hill Times last week that Twitter has changed the way he reads the news. "I'd say probably about 75 per cent of the news articles I read now are via Twitter, because people are pushing news to me rather than me having to go out and search for it," he said. The ability for a government minister to chat with the world instantly and directly through a live microblogging social network site without media or minders mediating the message makes Twitter "probably the most remarkable development we've had in the political debate in a century," said CBC Hill journalist Kady O'Malley, a prolific live-blogger and twitterer. "I think it's fascinating." Dozens of Hill journalists are on Twitter tracking politicians and if something interesting pops up—like Mr. Clement's dramatic tale of a drowning woman rescued near his Muskoka home this past summer—it spreads out of the twitterverse and into headline news. Journalists are taking Twitter to heart, and politicians are responding, knowing their voices will be heard. The Globe and Mail, for instance, reported last February when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.) announced that his department would tweet parts of the 2010 budget while he presented it live in a speech before the House. And the political tweeting may only grow louder in the next election campaign if people such as National Citizens Coalition director Stephen Taylor, has any sway. "My advice to politicians would be to get on Twitter," Mr. Taylor, who has 10,335 followers on Twitter and is also a Tory blogger, told The Hill Times last week. "Twitter's the next frontier, and social media is the next frontier. And those who don't capitalize on social media to their full potential are really just missing that opportunity to have that edge over their opponents who would." Canada is home to the third largest population of Twitter, according to a May 2009 study of 11.5 million Twitter accounts in 17 countries and analysed by Toronto-based social media monitoring and analytics firm Sysomos. Next to the United States and the United Kingdom, Canada has 5.69 per cent of total users, which now numbers upwards of a more recent estimate of 175 million. But it's still early days, said Mark Blevis, who specializes in digital public affairs as an associate vice president with the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard's Ottawa office. "I think that, ultimately, in this coming election, the biggest impact Twitter will have is it's going to help journalists in the traditional media coverage," he said. Members of the public who don't follow politics on Twitter might still be influenced by political stories emanating from it during the next election through consuming news produced by journalists who do follow the social media site. Just as blogs have an amplification effect, said Mr. Taylor, "I think you'll see the same thing for Twitter; it's sort of this emerging new front for reporters to tap into." Ms. O'Malley, who has 6,271 followers on Twitter, said she started following hashtags and local media in the ridings affected by this past November's byelections. "It really did help inform me. I'm not in Winnipeg North; I'm not even in friggin' Vaughan. It gave me the ability to see what all sides were saying....Imagine that 308," she said. Besides being a newsgathering tool, Mr. Blevis said politicians may use Twitter in the next campaign to answer questions of undecided voters and spur supporters to get out and vote, just as Naheed Nenshi's team did in his successful campaign to become Calgary's mayor in October. As part of Mr. Nenshi's Purple Revolution, supporters following his Twitter feed gave a purple hue to their own profile images. Other campaigns have used Twibbons, small icons such as a poppy for Remembrance Day that are digitally laid over profile images. "If you have, say, 7,000 followers ... if they all have that avatar, that Twibbon, then any time they tweet, their followers or people who find their tweets are going to see that 'Vote for Tony.' So that becomes like a digital lawn sign," said Mr. Blevis. "You still have to get out of your chair at home and cast your ballot. But as far as the digital tools, that's going to play significantly into it." NDP spokesperson Drew Anderson told The Hill Times his party has already had success in campaigns, for instance, in which several hundred supporters and their friends retweeted a message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) Twitter account. Prime Minister Harper has 78,437 followers on Twitter. "Most of these people, I would suggest, we don't have on any more traditional list, but they're willing to get involved if it's something that they care about," he said. The party has found that if, particularly, younger voters know their friends have posted or shared with them information via social networking, they're more likely to pay attention because it seems more credible than news heard elsewhere, said Mr. Anderson. "It's just a new way of doing word-of-mouth politics," he said. But with all the people watching and spreading political messages on Twitter, there is risk that parties could be burned by loose-lipped candidates. That, too, could cause candidates' or their competitors' profiles to rise or fall, said Ms. O'Malley. In the last general election, Ms. O'Malley said it seemed that every party had a candidate drop out because an inappropriate YouTube video or online posting involving them was unearthed and publicized. This time around, she said Twitter is still new enough that no MP has yet been burned badly enough to trigger a party clampdown on messages posted. When asked whether they had given rules or guidelines to MPs or candidates on how to use Twitter effectively, Mr. Anderson said the NDP caucus has within the last year or so discussed tactics that do and don't work, "but no, we don't put on boundaries on how MPs can talk to their constituents." He said the party has provided candidates with guidelines as well, separately. Ms. Bennett said a session on social media will take place at the next Liberal caucus meeting before the House resumes Jan. 31, which is to include both candidates and MPs. Conservative Party spokesperson Fred DeLorey wouldn't comment on Twitter guidelines or rules for candidates or MPs, although he noted many Conservative candidates use Twitter. "As is the norm, we never comment on campaign strategy," he said. Ms. O'Malley said she's not convinced that Twitter alone is going to decide someone's vote, but she agreed that it could put a more human face on a politician, if that person uses the tool correctly. "From my perspective, I think those who do it well actually have their own voice and have the courage to actually get into discussions with not only journalists and people they know but also just ," she said. Mr. Blevis credited Mr. Clement and other popular twitterers such as NDP MP Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury, Ont.) and Liberal MP Denis Coderre (Bourassa, Que.). While many other MPs just broadcast canned press releases from the party or have their staff update their Twitter accounts, these MPs tweet themselves and let their personalities show. Mr. Clement is a classic case. Despite joining Twitter relatively late—he only started last March, according to PoliTwitter.ca—he has garnered more than 7,300 followers. He can go from tweeting about a Taylor Swift concert with his teenaged daughter to noting his glee for Gummy Bears in a Detroit airport lounge to debating new copyright legislation with a follower. "It's much more direct, and people appreciate that, that I'm going to engage on Twitter on the public policy issues of the day, and also show a different side of my personality, that I'm multi-dimensional and have other interests other than politics 24/7. It's a way to show a more accurate reflection of who I am and what drives me, what I'm passionate about," said Mr. Clement. That kind of desire to engage and show personality makes today's successful political twitterers so popular and potentially more electable, said Mr. Taylor. "Some of the MPs out there are perhaps some of the most boring people I follow on Twitter. It's because they have this strict party message discipline, and they don't like to go so far out of the box," said Mr. Taylor on CTV's Power Play Jan. 7. "It's the MPs and the Cabinet ministers who push those limits, who show us some of their personality, that actually helps them connect. If they do it well, it helps them connect and it increases their electability." Mr. Taylor later explained to The Hill Times that while most twitterers tuned in to federal politics are probably already party-aligned, a politician can appeal to undecided voters through Twitter by showing his or her whole human self, not just the political animal within. "The average person thinks about politics only seven seconds a week. So why don't you talk about things that are relevant to people for the rest of the week? So that brings people in on those topics that they care about, and then when they do think about politics for those seven seconds, they'll hear you," said Mr. Taylor. Ms. O'Malley said she's soaking up every bit of tweeting politicians' candour now. "Because I don't think it'll last. I hope it does, but my feeling is that one election will probably be all it takes before the party decides it's probably a really good idea to maybe recommend that its candidates not go out there before checking their tweets with at least their press secretary or handler of communications. Because there are going to be gaffes by all sides," she said. " may be the one and only unfiltered, raw, unplugged Twitter election we get," said Ms. O'Malley. —With files from Bea Vongdouangchanh kshane@hilltimes.com The Hill Times Most followed political journalists NameEmployerHandle Followers Andrew CoyneMacleanâ€™s@acoyne8,150 Susan DelacourtToronto Star@SusanDelacourt6,489 Kady Oâ€™MalleyCBC@kady6,249 David AkinSun Media@davidakin5,680 Rosemary BartonCBC@RosieBarton4,662 Most followed media NameHandleFollowers Le Devoir@LeDevoir11,422 Toronto Star@TorontoStarNews7,628 CBC@CBCPolitics6,224 Globe and Mail@globepolitics4,265 National Post@nppolitics3,333 Most followed MPs NameParty RidingHandleFollowers Stephen HarperConservativeCalgary Southwest@pmharper78,203 Michael IgnatieffLiberalEtobicoke-Lakeshore@M_Ignatieff 51,926 Jack LaytonNDPToronto-Danforth@jacklayton49,243 Justin Trudeau LiberalPapineau@justinpjtrudeau42,932 Gilles DuceppeBloc QuÃ©bÃ©coisLaurier-Sainte-Marie @GillesDuceppe38,408 Denis CoderreLiberalBourassa@DenisCoderre19,738 Tony ClementConservativeParry Sound-Muskoka @TonyClement_MP7,333 Bob RaeLiberalToronto-Centre @bobraeMP5,446 James MooreConservativePort Moody-Westwood@MPJamesMoore4,527 Rod BruinoogeConservativeWinnipeg South @rodbruinooge4,166 â€”Source: PoliTwitter.ca; compiled Jan. 14, 2011

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Politicians urged to get on Twitter, it’s ‘next frontier’ of campaigns

Twitter could determine electability and influence next federal campaign, say leading political twitterers.

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