Social media to play major role in spring election

President Barack Obama successfully used social media to gain a massive following during his presidential campaign, and Canadian leaders are expected to follow in his footsteps in the upcoming federal election.

Candidates are likely to turn to the power of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to reach more voters in today’s tech-saavy society.

“Twitter has the potential to actually engage people and voters like never before,” said communication consultant Stefan Baranski.

Approximately 16 million Canadians are signed up for Facebook, making it the perfect tool for politicans to not only reach-out to their voters, but also involve them in the democratic process.

Most politicians are still using Twitter incorrectly however, according to Baranski.

“What all three of the parties are doing now is using Twitter as yet another communication channel it’s another way of talking at us, not involving us in a conversation,” Baranski said.

In the federal election of 2000, only a handful of candidates boasted their own websites. Flash forward 11 years, and the Internet has become a critical element of all election campaigns.

Research suggests Canadians are among the world’s most engaged users of the Internet, spending an average of 42 hours online a month.

Social media sites have dramatically transformed the Internet from a mere information source to an election battlefield, with sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube all playing key roles.

Facebook:

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in Canada, but it hasn’t yet been a major factor in a federal election campaign. Most candidates have pages, but haven’t used them effectively to interact with voters. In the 2008 election, the site did become the base for the vote-swapping movement that encouraged people to trade their votes in swing ridings.

Currently, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Facebook page is the most popular, with more than 40,000 people saying they like it. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff’s page is second, with 36,000 likes. NDP Leader Jack Layton is third, with a count of slightly over 32,000.

Parties and candidates all have pages as well. The site will also be used during the campaign to invite people to real and virtual political events.

Twitter:

The microblogging site has been around since 2006, but 2010 was the year its use spiked among Canadians and Canadian politicians. Data from comScore.com, a company that measures digital markets, says the site reaches about 4.5 million Canadians.

Messages posted via Twitter are limited to 140 characters, making it a place to get simple campaign messages out to followers. In U.S. election campaigns, it has been used to raise money, get out the vote or draw people to events.

To eavesdrop on political conversations happening on the site during the current campaign, search for the key phrase #elxn41, referring to Canada’s 41st federal election. The political chattering classes will be appending that tag to all election-related posts to make them easy to find.

The website politwitter.ca is also attempting to build a database of Twitter accounts for all the candidates.

When it comes to the leaders, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has over 100,000 followers. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has just under 65,000, and NDP Leader Jack Layton has just under 61,000.

While Harper might have more followers, he’s tied with Ignatieff for how much influence he has on Twitter.

Analysis of their accounts with a web-based program called Klout found both leaders currently have an influence score of 69. Layton has a score of 66. Among other factors, the score assesses how people use messages that the leaders post, as well as how often the leaders’ accounts are mentioned in other people’s messages.

YouTube:

The video-sharing website is often the first place, and sometimes the only place, to watch campaign advertising, whether for the parties or other groups. Analysis from comScore.com says Canadians are among the world’s heaviest users of the site, each watching an average of 147 videos a month.

In fall 2010, Harper held a YouTube interview, where he took questions from Canadians. There is no word on whether the experiment will be repeated during the current campaign.

Mobile Mobile device applications, commonly referred to as “apps,” were a big hit in the recent B.C. Liberal leadership race. They’ve also been developed for several municipal campaigns.

But at the federal party level, only the NDP have so far rolled out an app for iPhone. It includes photos and videos, a polling station locator and a link to donate to the party. It also allows users to request lawn signs or to volunteer.