sented the Liberals were online. The support they seemed to have going in to and throughout the cam- paign online had no approximation to their offline (i.e. real) support. The sites tracking those stats all had the Libs way out in front – even on Election Day. To illustrate, on YouTube the Liberals doubled the Con- servatives in number of views (2.1M vs 1.2M) and were even higher than that the NDP, who came in third 890K). Interestingly, Twitter was the only place where PM Harper began ahead and stayed there.


Jack Layton


also had a very strong showing in terms of “share of voice” on Twitter and other places, which makes a lot of sense – in many ways, Layton was the story of the campaign.


But social media statistics need to be re-calibrated


in the wake of this election. Buzz, mentions, likes and views did not translate into victory on Election Day. Especially if you were a Liberal.


The support they seemed to have going in to and throughout the campaign online had no approximation to their offline (i.e. real) support. Canada’s 41st election represents an important next step towards the integration of social media into our national political discourse. I’m quite hopeful we are headed in that direction, but we have much ground to cover before the full potential social media is realized.


Translating Online Activity To Offline Action Is Still A Challenge There were a number of sites, mobs and move-


ments that attempted to use technology to have a real impact on electoral outcomes. Whether it was raising awareness about the election itself or about those run- ning for office, there was absolutely no shortage of projects dedicated to influencing how and if people voted.


But what was missing was real infrastructure – real means for getting people mobilized and inside the polling station. Vote mobs are great and I commend any effort to confront apathy. But how about holding a vote mob to rally at an advanced poll? Were there ef-


14 Campaigns & Elections | Canadian Edition


forts to register and turn out those same people in the videos? It seems there was more effort in promoting the videos than ensuring participants actually voted. The parties themselves seem to be taking incre- mental steps towards using technology to enable activists to campaign and to get voters to the polls. The Conservatives had Tory Nation, which was an Obama-style dashboard that gave supporters access to spread the word on their own. The NDP also licensed a program from the U.S. that created tools for cam- paign workers on the ground. These are both positive benchmarks.


But with limited funds and limited time, the chal- lenge will continue to be how to find effective ways to leverage technology to empower volunteers and voters to take action in whatever way is appropriate. That kind of infrastructure takes time and money – lots of it; something all parties are challenged with. But it has the strongest promise of actually being able to impact the vote, especially in tight races – much more than a Twitter hashtag or a popular video.


This WAS the Twitter Election But not for the reasons you think. I was guilty of some solid eye rolling when I heard breathless com- mentary about how Twitter would be the “game changer” in the election; how this new technology would reshape how politics works in this country. But c’mon - it’s a web app, not the lightbulb. But what Twitter lacked in real electoral impact,


it certainly made up for in attention, discussion and obsession. I’ve seen more reports of Twitter mentions, reach and analysis that I thought were possible to pro- duce in six weeks. Not only were there stories on what was being discussed on Twitter, but countless articles were filed about Twitter itself. There is no question that as the new kid on the


block, Twitter completely dominated the discussion and was the “next big thing” in the eyes of the media, politicians and pundits. So, if this was an “anything” election in terms of social media, it was a “Twitter” election. Canada’s 41st election represents an important next


step towards the integration of social media into our national political discourse. But it continues to be used primarily as a broadcast messaging tool rather than something that empowers and enables individu- als to directly impact the vote count. I’m quite hopeful we are headed in that direction,


but we have much ground to cover before the full potential social media is realized.


(Brett Bell is the principal of Grassroots Online (www.


grassrootsonline.ca). With over 15 years of real campaigning experience, he was one of the early Canadian advocates for the powerful potential of social media in the world of politics and advocacy campaigning)


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