The coming General Election won’t be won on the computer
Bubble — By Daran Hill on April 1, 2010 7:00 am
Social media: growing but not influencing?
MY WalesHome.org fellow editor provided such a confessional article yesterday that it seemed only appropriate to match it today with a similar act of penance. My confession is that my involvement with this website is living proof that anyone can make a bit of a success of social media. Indeed, if politics is showbusiness for ugly people, then online politics is a dating site for the socially inadequate.
During the Welsh party conference season, I spoke at a range of BBC Wales fringes on this very topic. It was one that attracted a big audience and always provided a lively discussion. But the opening video shown by the BBC at the fringes may have given a great snapshot of the importance of social media, but it lost me at the end when it talked about 2010 as the first General Election being fought properly online. This was surprising because didn’t pundits say that last time and the time before that? Undoubtedly the various social media strands have revolutionised in the past five years of this very long Parliament, but is it really as dominant a factor as some of us would like to believe? Ultimately does social media matter? To an extent it does, but not as much as some might like to pretend, even to themselves. And also not always in a positive way.
For in as far as social media does count, as with all resources, it’s how you deploy them that matters. Candidates phased by the wide range of options at their disposal need to remember that to be successful online you need not do everything. But if you do use a medium then it is crucial to make sure you use it well and say something.
Every online medium has its positives and its negatives. The most prevalent phenomenon is probably Facebook. It certainly has a big reach, and 50% of users visit at least once a day. As many candidates and local parties are demonstrating, very localised campaign groups can be created easily, making it very flexible for driving forward candidates and specific messages. It is also an excellent medium for sticky content, allowing newspaper headlines, videos, and links can be easily shared. No wonder every candidate in Wales seems to be flocking to Facebook. But the site also lacks control: people can comment easily and often offensively. It is a magnet for those who wish to deploy dark arts. Though if you can get past that threat and rise above the first unkind thing someone writes about you on a page you’ve created, then the network could be one for you.
The growth of twitter has certainly been a major phenomenon, particularly over the past year, and candidates aplenty keep signing up and trying to befriend us. It is a rapidly growing medium, but don’t be overly impressed by its reach and versatility. Only 20% of twitterers are active and it may have the advantage of the immediacy of message, but being limited to 140 characters means it’s hard to do a deep and meaningful and it can also be very dangerous. As David Cameron once said: “Too many twits might make a twat.” There has already been strong journalistic interest in twitter. Expect this to continue throughout the election campaign. But at least candidates can feel a bit safer now that Tweleted is no more…
One particular feature of the last Assembly Election in 2007 was the rise of the independent political blog which seemed to define the campaign in the way that we sought to do back with the Welsh Labour leadership contest. Blogs have come and blogs have gone. Some have been rewarded and others barely seen. The Welsh blogosphere is a transient place and yet it seems unlikely that this medium will be rejuvenated by this election in Wales; and nor will the Welsh political blogosphere make a huge impact other than reporting a few tales and taking party lines. It just isn’t as shaping as it once was when Blamerbell, Chanticleer and Arsembly ruled. Perhaps it will be hyperlocal news that comes into its own this election?
Others are predicting that YouTube will be the big hit this time. Though I’m not sure about this, it does have a particular reach and combines the visual with localisation, immediacy, and authenticity. It is also remarkably sticky, as Daniel Hannan MEP demonstrated so effectively last year. But like every medium it is dangerous if done badly…
Because of the nature of social media, it will always seem first, fresh and feisty. But my prediction is that the 2010 campaign itself will probably see innovation and in a few months our perceptions of what makes effective online campaigning will probably make this column seem very dated indeed. Just as necessity is the mother of invention, and war the midwife of innovation, so political battles will inspire the dogged and square eyed to get ever more clever. And dirtier, too. There’s plenty of filth on the internet, or so I’m told, and that includes some mucky political smearing. Elections tend to bring the worst of this to the fore.
A web of communication can easily be turned into a web of lies. And the dark side of social media could well be what we remember this General Election for.
This column is an adaptation of the speech given by the author to three of the four Welsh party conferences in February 2010 and also, with rather less notice, to the FSB Wales dinner the same month.
Tags: 2010 General Election, BBC, blogging, facebook, social media, Twitter, Youtube
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8 Comments
oh ye of little faith…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2010/03/the_chancellors_twitter_and_se.html
The more that politics is media-driven, newsprint and TV, the more internet will come into is as the vox populi. It may not influence OTHER people, but political parties ignore it at their peril. (Every Twitter “event” is, in effect, a poll)
… online politics is a dating site for the socially inadequate
That’s a pretty funny line. Not quite sure what you mean by it though. Are you saying that people who blog and tweet are ‘socially inadequate’ in their every day life?
The new Tory convert, John Marek, famously said that … “Blogs appear to be used by a disproportionately large number of headbangers and people without a life.”
Are you implying that the few transient Welsh political bloggers are headbangers?
Mind you, I’m sure you are correct in saying that the influence of the Internet on current politics is somewhat overrated. We can get a good estimate of the number of people who follow Welsh politics online just by analysing the traffic stats of political websites and blogs. This figure is in the low hundreds.
My view is that television is still the dominant shaper of politics and political news and discussion. Dragon’s Eye even with its scantily low viewing figures, and rather bland format, is infinitely more influential. One of the main reasons for this is that the electorate is a passive viewer. I include myself in this habit.
Nevertheless, undoubtedly, online has a big future and if the old farts of British politics can’t use it properly at the moment, there is a younger generation, who are more used to ‘interactivity’, who will learn the lessons of the US and figure it out.
Oh and here’s another politician that will rue the day he said …
“So, here’s a message to Welsh Labour bloggers. Most of the Welsh blogs around don’t matter in the slightest. None has ever influenced a voter or made a difference to politics. So, don’t bother with them.” Leighton Andrews.
I have to agree with Daran’s central thesis. Ultimately I think the future for the web and politics is using social networking on a hyper local level. Currently I am trying a number of things in this regard as a Council Candidate, but I think that is about right to really use those tactics currently.
Ultimately the impact will only be amplified by traditional channels such as the broadcast media. So a ‘gaffe’ online only really transfers when the BBC report it, and then only if it is a wider context than blog chatter.
Youtube can be used, because video evidence can provide conclusion proof of something happening, but again I feel that politicos are so desperate to catch other people out, it has become all a bit diluted.
Also a slight style point. It gets a bit tiresome to see all the links merely link to other Wales Home articles within a piece written on Wales Home. The Guardian often does it, but to me it just looks a bit like ‘Wales Home article referencing other Wales Home articles to make an argument’. I know you don’t only link to Wales Home articles, but it gets a bit of a samey loop over the course of an article. This perhaps, it could be argued, shows the rather self referencial aspect of all of us who write and contribute to such sites, who knows.
“It gets a bit tiresome to see all the links merely link to other Wales Home articles within a piece written on Wales Home. “
Hi Marcus
You’d have a point if there was an “editorial line” or campaign being pursued on the site, and all we were doing was recirculating the pieces. But bear in mind we have both a large of number and a wide variety of contributors, many of whom disagree passionately with one another. Often we’ll link a piece which touches on the same subject, but argues a completely different point. I think that’s fair enough. And sometimes we’ll link back to a piece that expands upon an argument touched upon tangentially or in passing. Again: fair enough, I think. It’s only self-referential if you think there’s a “self” at work”; I tend to think the only unified element is the platform itself.
Best
Adam
Hi Adam.
Thanks, although this was an article by a co-editor, not a contributor.
Anyway just a small point from a supportive viewpoint.
I have to agree with Cambria Politico that the electorate is mainly a ‘passive viewer’ or on many occasions not a viewer of anything politics.
We have the general election coming up, yet I was speaking to a couple today and they were convinced it was the Welsh government elections drawing near!
Somebody else remarked to me ‘that there was too many bloody elections’.
A friend after playing squash asked me about the elections last year (2009), what were they? I had to tell him they were European elections. With the reply ‘What do we want those for’. (like it was my fault !!)
I think the internet will have a telling effect, when people google politicians lots of stuff will emerge. Also the blogs of course are a source for journos with deadlines and others simply to fill gaps.
Dragons Eye has low viewing figures, just needs some imagination, not necessarily money to get it moving.
The Internet may have the final say before the electorate votes, who knows?
Totally agree. Moreover, in 2009 the Office for National Statistics estimated that 32 percent of Welsh households did not even have internet access. The internet is a wonderful at reaching and uniting the converted but in reaching new audiences it is very, very difficult to utilise.