Voters "like" politicians who are using social media.
Whether you support President Obama's political platform or not, the 2008 candidate not only stole the show as one of the youngest and first African-American presidents to be elected, but he also set the precedent for political campaigning which will require all future candidates to jump on the social media bandwagon.
President Obama leveraged social media in such a way that now, in 2011 when the primary elections are just around the corner, any activity that encompasses the social Web has become an integral part of the political campaigning process. In a plethora of ways, social media is opening up the information channel between voter and candidate, allowing a direct source of communication on social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
How is Social Media Impacting Politics?
The Politician
- Open Source Politics-What happens online stays online. Social media airs out everyone's dirty laundry, capturing the good, the bad and the ugly of what every politician is up to. Remember Senator Weiner? His x-rated tweets were front-page news for weeks, ruining his political image. On the contrary, the transparency of the Internet is also beneficial. When the president, a senator or a local official does something that positively impacts the community or accomplishes something great, you can be sure to find it trending on Twitter, announced on Facebook or floating around the Web on some current blog article or YouTube video.
- Authenticity - Like brands who spam your Facebook or Twitter feeds with self-promoting updates, politicians who are not engaging and lack personality online will fall behind. Of course politicians are busy and most have a social media team who helps promote their political platform and answer questions online; however, politicians of the future need to realize that allocating even a small percentage of their time to social media will help build a more genuine presence online.
- Creating Brand Advocates/Ambassadors - What drives social media success for brands and should be diligently followed by politicians is the effort to find online advocates. Word of mouth is powerful and it's what drives communication through online channels. Politicians should capitalize on WOM, by connecting with people and groups who will help spread their message for them. The voter, like the consumer is actually more influenced by his or her peers and the buzz that surrounds the candidate (brand) than what the candidate is saying.
The Voter
- Power to the People - Social media allows the public to voice their opinions online and in real-time on feeds, through blogs and on fan pages. This year's political debates saw a great influence from Twitter, sharing politician's Twitter handles and tweets from viewers watching live. Google and Fox teamed up this year to give viewers a more interactive political debate experience:
Fox news reported:
"On Thursday, FoxNews.com will air a preshow and a live stream of the debate. Fox News and Google will also present public data and Google search trends on air to help provide context to the questions and inform the debate throughout the evening.
There will also be poll questions for viewers during the debate featuring a new topic every three minutes. Viewers will also be able offer their reaction to the debate online. Those comments will be visible to other readers and some will be shared at the debate. Fox News commentators will also offer analysis online too."
- Following, friend-ing and subscribing to politicians - Social Media helps voters keep a close look at their candidates by giving them the ability to track their every move online. Voters can "like" a fan page on Facebook, follow the politician's tweets on Twitter and even subscribe to any blog feeds.
Now with social media, it's easier to stay informed and to directly connect with government officials. As seen in the last election, President Obama not only one in the general election, but he also significantly beat out his opponent, John McCain on Facebook and Twitter with the amount of followers and friends he accumulated throughout his campaign. Perhaps it was just coincidence for the 2008 election, but I can bet for future elections we'll be able to see a closer correlation between social media and election outcomes.
The Campaigning Process
- TV Campaigning is passé, welcome to the digital age- Remember what happened to Nixon during the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960? Nixon's failed attempt to prepare for the televised debate (the first debates to be aired on TV) cost him the ridicule of the public who said he looked sickly and was not as prepared as his opponent, JFK who ended up winning the election. Just as TV started to slowly trump radio coverage of political campaigns in the 60's, so we see social media taking over as our main source of information and coverage of all matters political.
This familiar progression should teach politicians to properly prepare for the change or fall behind and face the consequences.
More to come...
If one overriding achievement should stem from the integration of social media into politics, we can only hope that voter turnout increases as information about politicians becomes more readily available to the public. One thing that is certain is if politicians who do not engage in social media will find themselves out of the loop, leaving out a vital part of the campaigning process.