He said what? - Holding our politicians accountable through social media

“In the competitive word of politics, leaders are increasingly applying the latest social and new media techniques to traditional campaigning.’ (Banks, S, 2012)

In recent time we have seen much political action occurring within the realm of social media, with politicians reaching out to the masses with the newest forms of communication.  The recent US presidential campaign is a prime example of this trend. President Obama has over 31 million Facebook fans and over 22 million face Twitter followers.  With even, President Obama, possibly becoming the first world leader toclaim  victory on Twitter.

In 2007, Australian political parties involved the use of social media campaigns during the federal election. In 2008, the  use of social media for political communication reached soaring new heights under the US Obama Presidential Campaign.  The University of Technology Sydney provides an interesting research paper ‘ Electioneering 2010: social media in the Australian federal election'.  The report outlines some very interesting facts, figures and studies on the use of social media for political purposes  over election periods from  2007 to 2010.  This report is well worth the read, I wont bore you with the details here though.

Craig Kanalley, from Huffington Post writes an interesting article on “Politics in the Social MedeaAge". He states that ‘things are now so connected and so immediate’ with the ‘Internet providing instant reactions and both parties try to jump to it, if not for now, for an edge in the next election’ and that ‘it has sped up the news cycle, putting pressure on campaigns to respond more quickly and leaving less time to develop narrative”.

John Kean, a political theorist and Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney provides an interesting view on the effects of social media on democracy in his video “Social Media Protects Democracy” suggesting that social media has made politics more accountable to citizens.

I have to agree with Kean, social media has made an impact on politics and through its use, our democracy, is protected and we are holding politicians, parties and politics to be more accountable.  In recent times we have seen Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech go viral and make international news thank to youtube.com.

The online media is increasingly driving political news. The YouTube video of Gillard's scathing recent speech about Tony Abbott has been viewed more than 2.3 million times: nowhere near Gangnam Style's figures, but a lot of eyeballs in the world of politics. The speech has been replayed in classrooms and workplaces around the nation. It has been watched by other world leaders as well. (Banks S, 2012)

More recently, our Prime Minster has shown her humorous side, with the release of the end of the world doomsday apocalypse  where Julia Gillard reassures her remaining fellow Australians that she will be there for us  irrespective if the end of the  flesh eating zombies. The video was released in conjunction with Triple J radio station. 

Social media and politics also brings out the scandals, Diane Abbot (Labour Shadow Minister in the UK recently apologized for  racist ‘divide and rule’ twitter comments which she claims were taken out of context. A Minnesota State Senate candidate posted a tweet calling President Obama “a power hungry arrogant black man” .

Closer to home, we had saw Federal MP Steve Gibbons tweet “Libs are led by a gutless douchebag and a narcissistic bimbo who aren’t fit to be MPs let alone PM and Deputy. Both should be sacked.”

For those interested, “politiwoops" provides record of deleted  tweets of politicians.  If you are interested in following your Australian politics on line and want the latest news feeds and Tweets hook up to TweetMP which lists all Australian politicians twitter details.  The aim if this site is to provide more transparency to Australian Government by tracking Ministers of Parliament on Twitter.

I for one am thankful for social media and the role it plays in todays politics. I not only want to know the ‘official’ statements but I want my politicians and government to be accountable for all they do in public office – even those scandalous ones they regret ‘tweeting’.

Citations

Banks, Simon, All aTwitter as politics goes Gangman, The Australian, 12 November 2012, viewed on 15 January 2013 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/all-a-twitter-as-politics-goes-gangnam/story-e6frg996-1226514684985