Ever since Obama legitimised social networking with his campaign last year in the eyes of traditional media, a lot of other politicians around the world have been trying their hand at engaging with the population online. Many candidates have taken to Twitter to connect to their potential audiences including Paschal Donohue, Mannix Flynn and Newbridge candidate Willie Crowley, who incidentally gained visibility thanks to his poster which featured the cheeky tagline ‘Put Willie In’. Twitter is hardly a good platform for debate and the discussion for complex issues yet it is useful for broadcasting where the candidate will be present or relevant party news.
Blogging has been recognised as a more engaging method. The Green Party’s Ciaran Cuffe has been blogging since 2004 (at http://cuffestreet.blogspot.com), Cork Green Party candidate Ian Gallagher has an impressive site with video blogs promising to use the web to give locals a say in City Council decisions through voting on the site.
The parties have also been open to inviting bloggers along to events and talks. The Socialist Party’s Joe Higgins held a blogger press conference recently, The Green Party invited selected bloggers on a trip to the Dáil and in an example of how not to do things, Fianna Fáil didn’t exactly endear themselves when a talk with Joe Rospars (one of the chief architects behind Obama’s internet campaign) wasn’t revealed as being run by FF until people arrived at the talk.
Irishelection.com and Election.ie have been doing a great job of covering the run-up to the elections and they have thrown up a few music gems in the process. Labour’s Alan Kelly thought his message would sound better through the medium of Cork rap , Martin Kennedy went for the cheesy Irish song angle and perhaps Ireland’s most notorious musical politician, John Bracken has a new song called Give John Bracken Your Number One He’s The Councillor for You.
Features
Fri, Jun 5, 2009