ACT Politicians: It’s time to get online…
Posted on March 26, 2009 by by madepercy
Most federal ACT politicians are online with Facebook or Twitter, but there seems to be a distinct lack of ACT Government pollies getting involved with the burgeoning online Canberra community. If you know of any ACT government politicians who have ventured onto the popular social networking sites, spread the word!
Comments RSS Feed
18 Comments to “ACT Politicians: It’s time to get online…”
"Leave a Comment"
Typeboard uses automatic spam filters, sometimes comments are sent to moderation
Please read our Code of Conduct
I attempted to track all of the candidates for the 2008 ACT Election.
The following attributes where captured:
* Candidate Surname, First Name
* Party, current MLA status, Electorate in which candidate standing
* Phone, Fax, Email
* Primary Web page
* Facebook Page
* Myspace Page
* YouTube Page
* Wikipedia or Other Web page
* Photograph of the candidate
Whilst this data is now of historical interest you will still find it a somewhat comprehensive list and a good starting point
http://www.canberravotes.com/2008-election-candidates/
(Report comment)
Thanks Jonathon, what a great list! It was very difficult to find ACT pollies via Facebook, and many of these links are still relevant. But I would love to see our local representatives on Twitter, too. It is refreshing to follow the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition on Twitter as they deal with day-to-day politics which often escapes the media.
Cheers, Michael.
(Report comment)
Hey, Jonathon. I’ve missed you.
(Report comment)
That is a great list Jonathon.
Hey I found Andrew Barr in facebook the other day but I don’t know of any others.
I agree 100% on the matter, more ACT pollies should use social networks to communicate more with the Canberra community.
Just found Simon Corbell in twitter, cool http://twitter.com/SimonCorbell
They can use typeboard if they want to.
(Report comment)
I’ve worked in offices of ministers at state and federal levels. Anyone who thinks their use of Twitter, Facebook or other similar things is actually done by the politician in question is sadly delusional. Most ministers don’t even have time to do their own email.
The politicians use these sorts of things purely as PR outlets, the same as their press release lists to the media outlets.
(Report comment)
dermott, I know of 2 candidates at the recent act election who use the social networking environment on a regular basis. one made it to the LA, the other did it for fun….
(Report comment)
Peter, I am sure they exist. I just don’t think we in punter-land should delude ourselves into thinking that politicians online are anything more than staffer-controlled puppet profiles.
(Report comment)
if the punters get warm and fuzzy thinking that K. Rudd or whatsisname from the opposition actually read and maintain their profiles, so be it. I take all this stuff with a grain of salt…
(Report comment)
I doubt anyone deludes themselves as to who is actually providing the content. Regardless, politicians are (generally) accountable for anything said or written on their behalf. New Media enables content which is not edited by third parties, and gives users choice over how they receive the content. This is a significant change from the one-to-many model of traditional broadcasting.
At a time when political systems are losing the faith of the citizenry, bringing elected representatives closer to the people is a noble outcome. Given the recent drive by Obama for New Media to improve transparency in the US public sector, it is only a matter of time before Australia follows suit.
(Report comment)
I agree madepercy. Adding Obama or Rudd to your Twitter-list shouldn’t be viewed in the same way as adding your friend from uni, or someone you met at a conference (for all the reasons Dermott and Peter have pointed out). That said, it’s heartening to think that politicians are starting to embrace new models of communication, and to at least attempt to connect to those people who are turning away from mass media.
L
(Report comment)
There is an interesting article, indirectly about social constructivism (around Twitter etc), here: http://www.purecaffeine.com/2008/05/oh-no-ive-lost-followers-on-twitter/
It seems we are clearly in a period of ‘trial and error’ with New Media technology.
(Report comment)
Funny that you should choose Nathanael Boehm to illustrate a point about losing Twitter followers. I’ve followed him (and unfollowed him) a couple of times now
It does however communicate a point, and it’s that social media and the communication around and within it is changing rapidly. We all use social media in different ways: we want to achieve different outcomes and receive different varieties of information. And because we’re human, those reasons change. Accordingly, so do our ‘followings’, or ‘friends’ and our habits.
L
(Report comment)
Just got this link on Twitter: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7179044
The story shows how users can get out stories on New Media which fail to attract the attention of the traditonal media.
(Report comment)
@madepercy:
For the last couple of weeks I have been following the “No Agenda” podcast which is put together by John C Dvorak and Adam Curry.
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=269169796
Show notes: http://curry.mevio.com/
It is very heavy going @ two shows a week, each 90+ minutes in length, but they are packed with lots of information that is not normally covered by the mainstream media. For example they covered the substance from the twitter link you referenced in their 26/3 show.
Like any biased information source, you’ll need to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. In particular, have the ability to cut through some of extreme conspiracy theories they come up with, however a lot of the material is quite plausible, if at times darn scary and it provides an interesting alternative view on the state of the World/US/Euro politics.
One thing I do like is that their show notes reference all the subject matter that they talk about. Please note that it may take you about 3 episodes to get into the groove with them (they track issues across episodes) but I find it refreshing to some of the mainstream media lightweight analysis (supposedly informed) I read/hear/see elsewhere.
(Report comment)
madepercy, part of the article says The internet is breaking the press monopoly and also the political monopoly. That is very true.
I don’t see why only a few people should decide what is news. I also don’t like reading four or five different newspapers and finding out the information is exactly same.
(Report comment)
Very good article, and further proof that social networking is going to change the way we communicate in ways no other medium has done since the invention of the printing press.
L
(Report comment)
I can’t wait for webtv to become more popular as well… see u later TV Networks!, TV stations better change the way they are doing business or they will go down just like many newspapers in the past few months.
(Report comment)
Anyone noticed Andrew Barr’s new twitter account? http://twitter.com/AndrewBarrMLA
(Report comment)