Social electioneering

In the run up to the municipal elections, local politicians are becoming increasingly active on social media platforms in an effort to reach voters.

While some organisations have static Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, others are embracing the platforms as a means of interacting and engaging with the public.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is being particularly active in the social media arena, hosting weekly “Twitter Town Hall” live question and answer sessions on Sundays.

The hashtag #DAQA has even begun trending in SA during the virtual town hall sessions.

Hosted by DA strategist, Ryan Coetzee (@RyanCoetzee), the Twitter Town Hall events will continue for the duration of the local government election campaign.

Head of DA election communications Gareth van Onselen says the DA Q&A sessions are the culmination of a much bigger process and a long-standing attempt on the part of the DA to build an online support base.

“Obviously, during election time, everyone is focused on the party and it makes sense to have a forum, such as the one we have created on Twitter, to enable people to engage with party officials and to have their questions answered.”

“Getting a good social media strategy up and going requires a lot of work, and over the last two years we have focused on getting the basics right - such as establishing a well-run and efficient Facebook page - and now integrating all platforms,” explains Van Onselen.

According to Van Onselen, Helen Zille had the first verified Twitter account in the country, and has now up to 24 000 followers.

“We have made sure that we have a wide range of representatives active on Twitter, so now we can take our social media strategy to the next level and do things like host live Q&As, live-tweet events and incorporate multimedia such as video and audio.

“Twitter is growing exponentially in SA, and it is certainly one of the best ways to communicate with people because it opens up new avenues,” says Van Onselen.

The DA has also created specific pages on Facebook for its mayoral candidates.

“It's all about capacity, and currently none of the other parties have the capacity to compete with the DA in terms of social media. We have whole teams dedicated to running our social media accounts.”

The ANC's official Twitter account (@My_ANC) has achieved some measure of interactivity, and has close to 5 000 followers. The Facebook page of the same name only has 404 fans.

The ruling party has also established a Web site specifically for its electoral campaign, www.myanc.org, which incorporates its social media channels, including YouTube.

ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu says the party believes social media to be an important platform. “People are increasingly going online to find information - even to read newspapers - so we can no longer rely on traditional print media alone in order to speak to them.

“Our young people are online, chatting to their friends, posting things on Facebook and Twitter, so why can't we talk to them in the same way that they are talking to each other?”

Mthembu also cited the recent uprisings in North Africa as a testament to the power of social media. “Social media also played a very important role in [Barack] Obama's campaign for the US presidency,” he notes.

“We are receiving lots of questions from South Africans through our social media platforms and we are finding that people are actually starting to learn about the ANC and what we stand for and what our goals are through these platforms,” explains Mthembu.

“It's not just for the elections, but it's important for people to get a sense of who they are voting for and to make an informed decision.”

Mthembu adds that if some questions are highly political, they are escalated to higher ANC officials to provide an answer.

The Congress of the People also has a Twitter and Facebook presence, as well as a fairly well integrated Web site. The party is, however, yet to gain a significant following on either of these platforms, and its Twitter feed consists of largely one-way communication.

The ACDP can also be found on social media platforms, but with only 579 Facebook fans and just over 100 followers on Twitter. The ACDP Youth's page on Facebook has a relatively strong online following of 550 fans. Social media is yet to be incorporated into the party's official Web site.

The IFP and UDM are barely existent when it comes to social media, and both parties have limited and static Web sites. The IFP does, however, offer a “What do you think?” link, where people can submit questions/comments to the party.

Social media isn't only being used locally as a tool for electioneering, and the office of the Presidency, in particular, has been bolstering its social media profile, and is increasingly making use of the platform to engage South Africans in “a social electronic dialogue”.

The latest example of this is the Facebook-hosted National Planning Commission (NPC) “Jam Sessions”, which aimed to aid the process of drafting a long-term vision statement and strategic national plan 2025 for the country. The Presidency also used Facebook and Twitter to help president Jacob Zuma address citizens' concerns in this year's state of the nation address.

“The process of developing this draft vision statement and draft development plan will include extensive research, discussion and engagement across our country and will also provide opportunities for people to come forward with ideas and suggestions,” said the Presidency.

South Africans were invited to engage in the online dialogue in order to “stimulate a constructive nation building debate on values and ethics”. Questions were posted as talking points, and the PresidencyZA page attracted some lively discussion between 28 March and 1 April.

“All those who have participated will form part of the NPC database for future electronic engagement starting in June 2011,” said the Presidency in a statement.