You have to admire the Russians. They are the ultimate internet trolls…

Seems Theresa May is getting annoyed at Russian meddling in Western politics. From the BBC: Senior Russian politicians have dismissed accusations by Theresa May that Moscow has meddled in elections and carried out cyber-espionage. On Monday night, Mrs May accused Moscow of “planting fake stories” to “sow discord in the West”. She said Vladimir Putin’s government was trying to “undermine free societies”. The Russians hit back with: #UK Prime Minister @theresa_may on @Russia: “We know what you are doing”. We …

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The Conservatives have a mountain to climb to challenge Labour’s social media dominance

In the wake of this year’s snap general election, it has become apparent that age, not social class, has become the new fault line in British politics. Analysis published by YouGov highlights the woeful electoral performance by the Conservatives amongst younger voters. Amongst 18 and 19 year old voters at the 2017 general election, Labour were ahead of the Tories by a staggering 47 points (66% to 19%), and were 40 points ahead of the Conservatives with voters in their …

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Elections becoming a big business for Facebook

Social media is increasingly becoming more important in the fighting of elections. Political parties can post videos or short picture messages with slogans and then, for a price, insert that on the newsfeed of groups according to location, age, gender, etc. If candidates hit the right nerve with the public they can crowd source enough money to run their campaign within a day. It’s less intrusive than phone canvassing (which never really took off here) and besides more and more …

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What is it that our media don’t ‘get’ about social media…

It’s part of my day job to advise on how to engage with social media. For the most part and for most institutions, it is a largely upbeat story. But for politicians, well, it often gets a little complicated. It used to be that only our journalists got intense lobbying from party press offices. Now it’s as likely to come via the soft power of Twitter and Facebook. So today, Mike Nesbitt, clearly getting a little exasperated with some corporate …

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“All the time, journalists were missing out on what was actually happening.”

Post the 2016 Irish General Election, RTÉ’s Science & Technology Correspondent, Will Goodbody, was quick off the mark to assess whether, as billed, #ge16 really was “the first truly social media election in Ireland”. In the coming weeks, when the dust has settled, the candidates and parties will be reflecting on what went right, and in many cases wrong, with their campaigns. As part of that post mortem they will no doubt ponder what role was played by social media, who used …

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Who – if anyone – holds the social media key to the next Irish general election?

DIGITAL POLITICS: The real genius of the Obama 08 campaign was twofold: clear and resonant messaging and effective party governance to ensure that the online campaign had concrete local effect. Who (if anyone) can pull those magic ingredients out of their Irish political rattlebag come the Irish General Election in February or March?

The Pope Is Still A Catholic

Lefty atheists from North London to Northern California are in outrage today at the latest shock revelations that Pope Francis is, in fact, a Catholic. “The pope played us for fools, trying to have it both ways”, thundered Michaelangelo Signorile in the Huffington Post, outraged that the Pope had (briefly) met Kim Davis. Ms Davis, you’ll remember, is the rather silly Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on ‘biblical’ grounds while herself being on …

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Blogging: Why I bother doing it.

Blogging, why the hell do you bother? This is the question that bloggers of all stripes get asked A LOT and in the past week I have been getting this question more often than I usually do. It’s a fair enough question I suppose. There is no secure income from it, it is generally looked down  upon from the main stream media and when most people think of a blogger a tin foil hat or a techie geek image comes …

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It wasn’t quite Twitter wot won it – social media and the General Election

In the end, it was hardly a case of “as Twitter goes, so goes the nation”. If the election had been decided by the number of followers each candidate had before the election, Ed Miliband would have been elected Prime Minister, albeit needing the help of the Liberal Democrats and, um, the Pirate Party. The FT Data blog (£) has some fascinating charts showing how the conversation on Twitter was dominated by supporters of Labour and the SNP. It is apparent …

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If #GE2015 was decided by Twitter – the candidates with the most followers in each constituency

Politicians’ attitudes towards social media have evolved significantly since David Cameron’s famously disparaging comments about Twitter in 2009. Social media is now widely accepted as one of the key theatres of the electoral battle, and is widely being used by politicians and aspiring candidates to build a relationship with potential voters and boost their profile. The excellent dataset created by yournextmp.com shows how different social media platforms are being used by those seeking election to the House of Commons.  Of …

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What Politicians Could Learn from Brand Communication

Peter Purcell works in Marketing and writes a platform for us on how politicians can use online media better for the General Election. As we build up to another election I look through the various social platforms hoping to find a politician that gets it, someone that understands what they are doing, someone with a clear plan. I am disappointed with what I find. Yes there are those doing a decent job, but 49% of adults in NI use a …

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Basil’s call to arms issued to a small room of cats (who may be reluctant to be herded) #tweetupni

At Thursday night’s Slugger O’Toole Tweet Up in the Hudson Bar, Basil McCrea took the opportunity to deliver a more elaborate speech than the informal remarks I’d expected. (Earlier in the evening Máirtín Ó Muilleoir also stopped by for some casual craic.) The NI21 leader has been unusually quiet for a protracted period, though answered a few media questions after his party’s conference in December, and has been speaking much less sporadically [Ed – you mean, speaking more often?] in …

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Using Lemons to make some Lemonade: Naomi Long reads out mean tweets

On Sunday I blogged about Aussie politicians who have taken to You Tube to read out mean tweets that they have been getting from the public and it always pleases me to see politicians try something new on social media. Well, closer to home, one of our local MPs, Naomi Long has decided to share with us some of the gems she has been recieving from the general public on social media. For all of our readers here with all …

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The Annual Tweet Up is Back! Tonight

  Do you remember Slugger and NICVA held separate tweet ups last year? Well….we have decided to bring them together this year for one big social media fest that you will not want to miss. The day will begin at 2pm with some great workshops on social media looking at issues surrounding going viral and how to promote content online. There will be a great chance to network and chat to other people who thrive on social media. To book …

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Politicians read out mean tweets

Politicians in Australia have taken to Youtube to put some humour on the cruel tweets they recieve. Here is New South Wales Premier, Mike Baird reading out some gems he recieves from the punters On the opposite side of the fence, Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young read out some gems she recieves from the voters Just goes to show some the abuse politicians recieve online, but it’s interesting to see some of them Down Under turn it to their advantage David …

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21C Governance: Practical tips for thriving in social media

So whilst we bask in the unbidden glory of getting named as one of the UK’s top political blogs, here’s some timely advice on how to handle difficult conversations in social media… Do stay calm. – That would be dependent on successfully negotiating the what I often call the go-and-stick-your-head-in-the-freezer moment. Do ask questions. – The strength of social media is in the name. The real advantage of social is figuring the weaknesses and limitations in your own arguments. Don’t …

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Shame, Guilt, Narrative and Twitter: “I mean just try to see it human, see it human…”

There was fascinating discussion on BBC Radio Four’s Start the Week, on the scaling of public shame. It should be available later today as a sound file. Core to the conversation is Jon Ronson, and the thesis in his latest book is that Twitter has taken shaming to an extravagant and social destructive extent. Despite advocating the positive use of public shaming (she gives a powerful example of it’s use in California to get tax refusers to cough up what …

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The Social Media Canvass

Well they are all out of the traps as we go into March. If like me you follow a lot of politicians and activists your Facebook and Twitter news feeds have been swamped with pictures of lots of happy people taking selfies, delivering leaflets and telling us how the great people of this place love their candidates  (my thanks to those of you who have stopping using the “great night on the doors” line). However,  a few things I have …

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Sammy Wilson … Reason 254 why local politicians need Atlantic Philanthropies’ money & initiatives like PoliticsPlus

A little over an hour ago and about half way through a response to the rhetorical question “What has new or social media ever done for the peace process?” I suggested to the Critical Approaches to the Northern Ireland Peace Process symposium in Liverpool’s Edge Hill University that it has made it harder for politicians to recover their balance when they slip on banana skins. You can follow conference updates on the #CritAppEH hashtag. And then I spotted a Facebook …

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Politicians and how we treat them online

“Politics is a rough old trade”, John Major noted in his concession speech in 1997. I suppose it comes with the territory of being a politician, you put your name out there and you should be willing to take some flak from the public. Now, this is not a piece defending politicians I have to stress. I read dozens of news stories everyday and lament the missed opportunities and failures of leadership that we often see on our TV screens. …

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