The Politics of Social Media

There was much speculation as to whether current TTC Chair, Adam Giambrone would be running in this year’s mayoral election. After viewing the following Youtube video (which I was linked to by a classmate’s re-Tweet) I set any uncertainty aside.



This video, out for not even a week, has received quite a bit of attention from the media. They assert that Giambrone is not a serious candidate. I think he’s in it to win it.

Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Giambrone is an active member of each. He even has his own blog. All of these outlets are new resources available to every politician, and Giambrone isn’t the first to harness their power.

In the past, a like-candidate probably would not have received the exposure Giambrone enjoys today. Luckily, social media tools make it harder for the status quo to cast him aside and silence his supporters. After all, the online world is arguably the most democratic forum around. It is a place for the masses to gather and even voice their opinion should they choose to do so (and many do, often). The masses are on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and thousands of other social media sites. Giambrone has used his cheesy, undeniably low-budget video to reach his electorate and beyond.


In my opinion, examining Giambrone’s tactics reveals much about his target audience. Youth are extremely comfortable with Youtube and actively seek out new videos-gone-viral. Toronto youth, just like youth around the world, are all over the Internet. We love its immediacy, its accessibility but most of all, its ability to connect us with others.
It seems older generations still can’t recognize the power of this stuff, how else could they confuse Giambrone’s presence in social media with anything other than legitimacy?

After a lengthy conversation with my friends, we concluded that it's wonderful that politicians are on many of the sites we frequent. After all, the prospect of engaging with politicians online is far less horrifying than having a parent request your friendship on Facebook...awkward.

Specs
Age: 32
Youtube Channel: adamgiambrone2010
Twitter handle: @adam_giambrone
Current Occupation: City of Toronto Councillor: Ward 18 Davenport , TTC Chair
Assumed Office: 2003, 2006
Party Affiliation: Served as national president of the New Democratic Party of Canada 2001 - 2006

UPDATE:

Wow. A lot has happened since I blogged about Giambrone's bid to become mayor. Here's the gist of it...he became embroiled in a political sex scandal involving multiple women and had little choice but to drop out of the mayoral race. He's also since announced that he will not be seeking re-election. My guess is that he's going to try his luck in the private sector, gain some experience and then eventually make a well-timed re-entry into politics. But we'll see.

I am on the executive of the Clean Train Student Coalition, and two weeks ago now, we had our "Info Blitz". One of the locations included in our blitz was Old City Hall at the corner of Queen and Bay. We really wanted to garner media attention so we knew that we had to recruit someone the media would want to see. Long story short... one of our CTSC members tweeted Giambrone about our cause and our blitz day and he actually responded! Giambrone was there, along with the CBC, CTV, CP24, CityTV and Global camera crews...and all because of social media. Without twitter, would we have gotten Giambrone's attention? I feel completely confident in saying absolutely not. This city councilor and chair of the TTC was accessible to us students only through social media. Result.

Sign our petition in favour of cleaner transit.

The New Face of Focus Groups: A Review of Uservoice

To do my small part to help my readers sift through the endless stream of social media sites out there, I have provided a review of Uservoice. To say that the Internet is saturated with new (and yet still somehow improved) social media applications is a huge understatement.

Many of the other reviews I’ve come across refer to Uservoice as a focus group for those who can’t afford to run focus groups. Unfortunately I found myself not just wanting to, but having to look at outside sources for more information about Uservoice. Even after I signed up and gave the site a once-over, I still wasn’t entirely sure what Uservoice was. I found this article on appappeal.com to be very helpful.

Also, check out this video for a quick introduction

Much-stressed in the PR world is the importance of customer feedback. Uservoice is in the business of creating accessible forums and encourages customers to make suggestions or voice concerns. Customer satisfaction is key to this business and Uservoice provides an innovative way for organizations to connect with their publics. Uservoice is ideal for small to medium businesses that really value the opinions of their customers.

For a list of social media applications compatible with Uservoice, as well as a great video check out Robyn's blog!

Managing your personal and professional identity: How to connect Twitter to Facebook and LinkedIn

Millions of us have discovered that sending and receiving tweets is an easy way to link us with friends, family, politicians and celebrities alike. What many may not know however, is Twitter's potential for linking them with other social media networks. Tweets can be forwarded to your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts with just one click, updating all networks simultaneously.

(For those of you who are new to the world of tweets, please click here for a brief but helpful tutorial on Twitter.)

Facebook is a space most often set aside for personal use, while LinkedIn is a tool used for professional organization and networking. Keeping the personal and professional separate is just as important in the online community as it is in the office. Selective tweeting is made simple in the following videos. This first video walks you through linking your Twitter account to your Facebook account.

Much like the first, this video offers step-by-step instructions for connecting Twitter to LinkedIn and is brief and to the point.

As the videos outline, once you have synced your applications, simply add hash tags to the ends of your posts on Twitter.

Now you have the option of updating your status on Facebook and LinkedIn from Twitter by adding #fb or #in or both to the end of your tweet.

It stands to reason that you would not want the same information that is hanging on your fridge at home to be tacked up onto an office bulletin board.With selective tweeting you can update your networks with ease, and still retain the all-important separation between personal and professional.

Please have a look at Caitlin, Roshni and Caterina’s posts for more information on this subject.

For other helpful "how to" videos click here!