The Politics Of Tweeting
I enjoyed following the presidential debate last Friday night… on Twitter. Although the TV was on, it was Twitter that held my attention with a kind of town hall-ish feel.
Thousands of people with at least some interest in McCain or Obama were tweeting their opinions in bursts of 140 characters or less, which generally follows Twitter’s “what are you doing?” premise. The pace of tweets appearing on Twitter’s Election 2008 ‘channel’ was such that you could barely read messages on screen before they scrolled by to make room for others.
This got me thinking about the utility of Twitter in mass appeal scenarios. On Friday, for me, it was mostly a way of polling people’s immediate thoughts. That’s very helpful. But think of the extended impact a more formal use of Twitter with, dare I say, some light moderation could provide.
What if Tom Brokaw chose a couple intelligent questions from Twitter to ask candidates during the second presidential debate in Nashville on October 7th? It is scheduled to follow a town hall format. I’m sure the rules are strict, and they have already been agreed upon by both parties. Perhaps he could get a pulse from twitterers about what they would like answered prior to the debate, if he has that latitude and interest.
A good example of doing just that is CNN’s Rick Sanchez who has recently used Twitter to monitor and ask for viewers’ opinions before doing his broadcasts. Social media expert Brent Leary recently detailed and analyzed this in one of his posts. It’s a good read if you have another minute.
There were some light-hearted moments during Friday’s Twitter debate viewing too. Someone sent a message to @jimlehrer essentially saying “Jim, stop letting McCain run over his allotted response time!” I took this to be intended as comical, although this person could have just as easily meant it. Regardless, monitoring and respecting the ‘vibe’ as a groundswell of tweets occur is a good practice. You can obtain priceless feedback about the topic at hand. (Note: searching on Twitter, it appears the name @jimlehrer is registered but with no updates. Lehrer, or one of his associates, does appear to post updates via @NewsHour.)
I also noticed the “national drinking game” being promoted on many Twitter threads. The rules stated that every time McCain said “my friends” or Obama said “change” you were supposed to take a drink. I didn’t notice either candidate using their buzzwords much though. Perhaps their campaigns did some monitoring of their own and advised each to tone it down, and avoid the embarrassment of elevating the joke.
Whether for amusement or advancing targeted objectives, it is clear that Twitter and other social tools similar to it are gaining critical mass and can help a candidate or organization better convey its message with a sense of immediacy.
To this final point, each campaign is doing a fair job of formally embracing social media. Mashable recently posted a thorough list of each candidate’s various sites and community pages. Take a look and weigh in.
