Twitter diplomacy: Which political leaders do you follow?

Twitter diplomacy: Which political leaders do you follow?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/05/twitter-diplomacy-which-political-leaders-do-you-follow.html

[excerpt]

"...World leaders attending the G8 Summit in France later this week have plenty of diplomatic experience, but are lagging behind when it comes to Twitter diplomacy, according to a social media expert.

Matthias Lufkens, associate director for media at the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been tracking international leaders on Twitter since last year.

"I haven't seen any political leader who has any clear clue of who they should follow," said Lufkens in an interview with the Associated Press.

"It's all very haphazard and inconsistent."

By his count, of the 62 known world leaders from 49 countries that use Twitter, only 25 mutually follow at least one other leader...."

My comment...


Living in the NWT following politicians via Twitter (and/or Facebook) is a very effective way to know what they are doing, what their interests are and most importantly... to be able to ask questions and interact with them.

The problem is.. some of them don't use either medium and worst of all.. some of them have handlers who think that Twitter and Facebook are mere one way PR tools to get their manufactured message out...

Our local traditional media is so restricted in budget and journalistic drive, social media and the web are a very effective way for an adroit politician to get their messages out to the voters..

One local Yellowknife city councellor, Paul Falvo, makes great use of Facebook and e-mail to keep citizens informed of city council activities... but few of the others do...

Our NDP MP, Dennis Bevington, is very accessible via Facebook... long before the recent election.. and carries on an ongoing dialogue with his constituents... whereas the candidate from the Conservative  party never once posted to her Facebook page and the vast majority of posts there were from her handlers and nearly none from her supporters...

On the Territorial side of the political fence... very few MLAs have any internet presence... and most seem to be stuck in the Gutenberg era of paper and the postal service... but we do have a Territorial election coming up in the fall... and it should be interesting to see if any of then leap into the digital age..