Local Politics use Twitter Poorly

You’d think that the crushing defeat that Obama delivered McCain recently, partially using the power of social networking, would have been taken as an example to other politicians on how to run a successful campaign using social media.

Apparently, local politicians in Vancouver’s civic election didn’t get the memo.

Vancouver is electing a new mayor and city council on November 15th, and the Vision Vancouver candidate, Gregor Robertson’s camp began to “spoof”his opponent, Peter Ladner on Twitter.

A quote from Robertson’s spokesman claimed Vision Vancouver wasn’t trying to pass off the account as Peter Ladner.

“Clearly, it is a spoof,” Ian Baillie said. “I don’t want people to think we are trying to impersonate him because we are not. We are trying to point out in a funny, humorous way some of the ridiculous things he has said.” [source]

Once the Vancouver Sun article landed, and the spoof came to light in the heavily-campaigned-at local Tech Community, there was a flurry of activity and controversy on local twitterstreams. Unfortunately, the outrage didn’t have a tag, but you can see the search string, and watch the drama unfold here.

There’s a fairly well defined protocol for spoofs on Twitter: @fakeNAME, like @fakesarahpalin, @fakejohnmccain. By hijacking his opponent’s name, Robertson crossed many protocol lines and undid almost all of the campaigning he had done in the tech community.

After a little exploration, it looks like the Vision Vancouver camp still hasn’t learned their lesson. They have created a new  twitter account at @fakepeterladner. Ok, so fine, yes, you followed “the rules” but it’s still not good politics or campaigning to take pot shots at your opponent. You want to bring light to some of the things your opponent has said? Fine. Do it in a debate, when he’s got an opportunity to respond. Debate the merits of your platform, and tell me why I should vote for you, not what the other guy has done “wrong”.

The lessons to take out of this? Register your name and your company name in all of the social marketing sites right away. Not owning your own name could come with serious consequences. And, if you’re trying to get people to choose you over another option, don’t try to win that vote by point out what the other guy is doing wrong.  In this age of transparency and honesty, you just look petty and childish.