#scottludlam

  The 2008 presidential campaign could be labeled as the first social media campaign as suggested by Hesseldahl, MacMillan and Kharif. Obama saw the possibility of impact that social media could have and utilized it to his best ability and ultimately his success. Why then haven’t Australian politicians done the same? Could it be that the majority of votes lie within the baby boomer demographic who aren’t as tech savvy as their younger counterparts or is it because voting is compulsory in Australia so the need to attract people to vote to begin with is a non issue.

            As a Gen Y I collect most of my news from the net, I have the ABC app on my iPhone and follow ABC and other news providers on twitter. I also follow Adam Bandt the federal member for Melbourne and the deputy leader of the Australian Greens and the Australian Labor Party on Facebook. So it’s kind of clear where my voting preferences lie. I think that a lot of my Gen Y ‘classmates’ would gather most of their news and in particular political news from the same avenues, which is all the more reason for politicians to tap into the resource that is youth.

            In recent weeks however we have seen a politician utilize social media to his best advantage and reach over 800 000 people on YouTube alone and countless people on Facebook through shares and comments. Scott Ludlam the Greens senator for Western Australia delivers a speech to the Prime Minister Tony Abbott ‘welcoming’ him to visit his state. His calm demeanor and steady voice only intensify his words that outline all the faults in the government’s current actions. Due too 1400 votes going missing from WA during the federal election last year the state is forced to go back to the polls. Ludlam delivered his speech in an important time for the state. The results from the polls will indicate if he was successful in his attempt to enlighten the public of what he see’s is wrong with the current government.

            For politicians to be successful in engaging with the whole of the Australian public they need to utilize all the resources at their fingertips, this includes social media. Speaking for myself, I would look more favorably on a candidate that embraced social media, not just used it as a platform to reiterate their policies. Sharing information that people can relate too, humanizing them, like if they enjoy eating twiggy sticks, for which I have a craving for right now. So ponder away on my words, or not you really don’t have too, while I go get my twiggy stick fix.

Hesseldahl, A, MacMillan, D, Kharif, O 2008, 'The vote: A victory of Social Media, Too', Bloomberg Business Week, 05 November, viewed 1st April 2014