Facebook & Twitter

I've been thinking about the impact Facebook and Twitter are having on the election. In many ways Facebook is local, whereas Twitter is national.

Normally the people following political accounts on Twitter are people that have a genuine interest in politics. Most people don't have this avid interest however. Conversely Facebook tends to be much more local. It's people viewing content from friends, family and work colleagues.

I'll go on Twitter and see discussions about Westminster politics. I visit Facebook and see people discussing what's happened on their street, or in their town. It's all just gossip really, but some, like myself, prefer the big gossip to the local stuff. I think people like myself are in the minority though. Most people are predominantly interested in their immediate social circles. They prefer local news and information.

So my feeling is that a strong presence on Facebook is very, very useful when reaching a large chunk of the population. It's very hard to have that though with a standard politics-focused account. As most people don't want their timelines filled with the boredom of national politics. Certainly not all year round anyway. They are however happy to have local gossip (which naturally blurs into local politics) appearing on their timeline.

I think this partly explains the success the current Middlesbrough mayor has had. He's very active on Facebook, and very effective at reaching local people. The Independent candidate Antony High is also now using this Facebook machine to similar effect. It's probably a good example of how local, independent politicians can gain a huge edge over party machines by putting time and effort into building an online presence at the heart of local communities. I wonder how much this is happening around the country.

It may be an indication of the way the Internet will influence politics going forward.