Facebook has shown itself to be the ideal platform for people to run personal political mini-campaigns and exchange views with people across the political spectrum. This election has been the first I can remember where people have been so open about their political allegiances. I’ve had interesting political discussions with some of my friends for the first time, and I’ve also discovered some friends to be more politically engaged than I could ever have imagined.
The quality and diversity of the content they’ve hosted has been nothing sort of astonishing. Articles, video, spoofs, audio of speeches, tweets, images has provided a view of the UK election to me in Sydney significantly better than the 2006 election when I was based in London.
The major parties have also risen to the challenge providing Twitter feeds that delivered the ammunition their supporters required to do their social media campaigning for them. It’s no accident that as a result, the UK experienced the largest turnout for a general election in recent memory.
For the first time since 1929 there was the feeling that the election was to be a genuine three horse race. The Liberal Democrats in particular showing their flair for presentation and using online channels to engage with the public. Cleggmania was very real and ignited the election.
The flip side is they was rather too good at the dissemination of information. Once the British public found out the finer points of their policies, the early fervour didn’t translate into votes. If you live by the social media sword you can also die by it.
Political apathy has been a talking point for years in political circles and 2010 has severely challenged this idea. It’s now clear UK citizens are politically engaged, they just needed to be provided with the right tools and content, delivered in the right manner, hence scenes of public disorder across the UK as polling stations failed to deal with the volume of voters.
The displeasure of those that didn’t get to vote is across social media for all to see. Especially hard to take for the Electoral Commission, who now look mildly ridiculous. Years of encouraging voting and when voters did turn up, they were found wanting.
The British sense of reserve means it’s unlikely someone would be prepared to walk into an office shouting “Gordon/David/Nick for Prime Minister” but a Facebook status update can have a similar, more viral effect to a more targeted audience.
The ‘like’ feature on Facebook has also provided an previously unseen insights with a quick ‘like’ on “David Cameron for Prime Minister” revealing previously unknown allegiances.
Unlike the US political election soap opera, the UK version is almost quaint in comparison with the entire campaign completed in four weeks. (The US takes the best part of two years). When you only have a matter of weeks to get your point across, social media is key to your campaign strategy. Speed and directness are a must.
The BBC, arguably the world leaders in political coverage have used every possible platform to ensure a truly interactive experience with live tweets, forum discussion and user-generated content seamlessly weaved into their flagship coverage. Their 2012 Olympic coverage will surely set a new benchmark for the interactive viewer experience.
Social commentators have been quick to question social media’s difficult relationship with privacy but democratic elections are clearly one forum where the openness, sharing and sense of community provided by social media is of real benefit to everybody.
Social media means that democracy is suddenly a much warmer and engaging experience.
Nigel
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