Political Debate in Social Media
Political campaigns of the past used persuasive media blitzes often involving paid advertisements on television and radio such as those found at The Living Room Candidate
Although a media strategy could target the desired public, the information was not always available at the right time to the right audience. Enter social media and a whole new world of political campaigning capable of reaching a much wider audience and in particular targeting the younger voters. The underlying question however is: do social media platforms provide an adequate forum for political debate?
A few Australian politicians have embraced social media’s campaigning capabilities amongst the Twitter platform (Jericho 2012, p. 255) and have been ‘noisier’ than the general Australian public (Grant, Moon & Busby Grant 2010, p. 1) – see Australian MP Tweets listing candidates who engage in Gov2.0 (Gruen 2010).
Former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh (cited in Canning 2009) observed:
‘Twitter in particular is a frank and spontaneous way for people to share their views and thoughts – it’s not filtered or tempered by second thoughts, it’s raw and immediate, and it’s 24/7’
To attract younger voters into these debates, a candidate will need to engage in what is seen as important to the age group. Sharing what song lists you have on Spotify, a funny video or meme on Tumblr, an event reminder on Facebook – all of these create “authentic, two-way communication” (Fetcher in Wortham 2012).
Australian politicians running in the 2013 election embraced this ideal from Barack Obama’s campaigning team; that is, sharing with supporters who then share with their friends on social media creating a trust relationship. It provides a tongue-in-cheek opportunity to engage at a ‘grassroots’ level (Rice 2013). See the Liberal Party of Australia (2013) take on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3HtNCv3xvM
In the future social media will enable political parties to realign the messages being communicated to the information that voting citizens wish to know by researching hashtags and having real conversations (Russo in Rice 2013).
Personally, my engagement with political parties has been very minimal. Actually I could safely say I have never engaged in any political debate nor have my friends’ opinions about candidates swayed my own choices in voting. However, I do believe that social media has the opportunity to have conversations where politicians provide ideas and policies and the voting public can support or debate them in a safe and engaging manner.
Canning, S 2009, ‘Social networks a premier tool, but what’s in it for them?’, The Australian, 3 Sep, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26019075-5006787,00.html>.
Gruen, N 2010, Government 2.0 taskforce, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://gov2.net.au/members/index.html>.
Grant, WJ, Moon, B, Busby Grant, J 2010, ‘Digital dialogue?: Australian politicians’ use of the social network tool twitter’, Australian Journal of Political Science, vol. 45, no. 4, Google Scholar, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/campaigns-use-social-media-to-lure-younger-voters.html?_r=0>.
Jericho, G 2012, 'How many votes are there on Twitter?', in The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe, Victoria, Australia.
Liberal Party of Australia 2013, The Headless Chooks in ‘The Gillard Experiment’, 4 May, viewed 13 December 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3HtNCv3xvM>.
MIH 2014, ‘Five lessons your brand can learn from the election campaign’, image in Make it Happen, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://mih.com.au/2013/08/five-lessons-your-brand-can-learn-from-the-election-campaign/>.
Rice, D 2013, ‘Australia’s politicians look to master social media strategies in time for federal election’, ABC News, 24 May, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-24/aussie-politicians-seek-inspiration-in-obamas-digital-success/4711926>.
Wortham, J 2012, ‘Campaigns use social media to lure younger voters’, The New York Times, 7 October, viewed 13 December 2014, <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/campaigns-use-social-media-to-lure-younger-voters.html?_r=0>.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3HtNCv3xvM