Just in case you didn’t know, we have a March 20 election in Tasmania and it has a Facebook edge to it. Read on,
After promising the requisite clean campaign, Labor posted a web link: liberalsrealchange.com. It looked like a Liberal Party site, but hit the “go” button and up popped: “Will Hodgman’s $2 billion, four-lane Midland’s Highway is a hoax!” And on it went about most everything Hodgman, the leader of the Liberal party, had had to say in his adult life.
The reaction from Liberal and Labor voters was extreme. But rather than pull the link and blame it on overzealous supporters our generation X leader decided to ask his followers on Facebook what he should do.
The idea of a political leader seeking advice from Facebook in the middle of an election campaign when you are meant to be projecting strong leadership was nothing short of bizarre.
The responses were a hoot.
See selected responses and the article Facebook ‘friends’ drop one on Tasmania’s Robin.
While I have no comment on the overall argument of the article, the use of Facebook by our Tasmanian Premier to receive advice shows once again that Tasmania leads the way 🙂
Question: Is this use of social networking (Facebook) ‘bizarre’ or a good way to receive comment and gauge opinion?
To gain an impression of the ‘mood of the electorate’ (especially the younger electorate) on a range of social issues is a good idea, I think. It shows a Premier who is both ready to ‘move with the times’, and to engage people where they are at.
To use Facebook, or any other medium of social interaction, to ask whether one should CONTINUE to engage in an underhanded and deceptive electioneering tactic is ‘bizarre’, to say the least!