As I’m not part of the Millennial generation (sadly!) I do recall with vivid memory past Government elections, including John Major’s general election defeat in 1997 (one of the largest electoral blows since the Great Reform Act of 1832 infact), followed by Tony Blair’s rapid rise to fame and power.
So this is the first time I see and experience the current power of social media and digital content in support of what looks like to be a thrilling and, until the very last day, a truly complex nail-biting campaign. Who knows who will stand up tall, proud and smiling after crossing the finish line on Thursday 7th May?
Jokes, jesting and jumping on jugulars have been witnessed, scrutinised and duly noted on social media. Anyone, and with that I mean, absolutely anyone, can express their own opinions and judgements. And so they do.
We are living in a public and open society. It’s a fact. People are not reserved when it comes to expressing their own views on favourite movies, dish of the week or cute puppies, never mind their judgments on political camps. Almost too much information, too many details and commentaries are being fired right, left and centre. Excuse the pun!
Even as recently as ten years ago, it was pretty impossible to share your ideology in a public way. You had the choice of writing a letter to the newspaper editor, and hoping he would pick it to be printed, or the Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. That’s all.
There has never been a better way to broadcast your views, or express what you truly feel about a certain party or leader. Luckily we live in a Democratic Society that allows us freedom of speech and we can get away with (almost) anything on social media. Something North Korea sadly can’t.
I find all this exciting and informative at the same time: no stone unturned for sure. With mobile phones, easy (and clear sounded) videos, politicians cannot hide and they need to be constantly on well behaviour: all ears, eyes and now fingers ready to click at any time and type away are on maximum alert. For the unfortunate Leaders who slip, social media is their worst enemy, like a bad unfriendly Big Brother watching over them. For those who slip now, social media is a PR disaster, particularly now, less than a week away from the voting day.
With social media being so popular, even the past can be damaging or beneficial. Look at Ed Milliband posting romantic sepia coloured old photographs of himself and his brother when they were toddlers. Even less than ten years ago, this would have been difficult to ‘promote’ to attract extra votes. Think about it, where would a leader have posted such nostalgic sugar-coated mini PR bullets? The answer is nowhere. There was no outlet, no tool and no supporting technology in place, with the exception of the Parties’ own websites.
Instead, we are now bombarded by images (some funny ones and some not so); and grilling interviews on videos populating Twitter and Facebook. Tweets and re tweets; likes and shares have helped tremendously getting a much clearer picture of what the Great British Public are really thinking right now about about their future Prime Minister.
However, the irony remains that despite this massive and effortless push of social media, this 2015 election has been branded as the most ‘unclear’ in terms of final results predictions ever. We are only days away and yet, the lines are still blurred.
Social Media has been a great tool to paint a full picture of defects; gaffes; foolish stunts; falls and minor successes but it has yet to identify the real winner. I look back and I think, could you imagine if Social Media existed at the time of Lady Thatcher? Oh well….I am sure everyone would agree social media back then would, and probably could have, have initiated a true Civil War.
By Nada Giuffrida at www.boom-online.co.uk.
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