In what was supposed to be a lighthearted post on June 14, I jokingly compared the social media following of the two declared WRAP candidates. It set off a funny set of comments, including some from Mr.Dyrholms team.
I thought it would be interesting to see how the numbers stand up now, almost 10 days later....
June 14:
Danielle Smith:
Facebook: 140 Followers.
Twitter: 696 Followers
Mark Dyrholm:
Twitter: 90 Followers
June 24:
Danielle Smith:
Twitter: 911 Followers
Mark Dyrholm:
Facebook: 212 followers
Twitter: 727 Followers
Looks like a big jump for Mr. Dyrholm. I know I have received 3-4 requests to add Dyrholm as a "friend" on facebook from a certain well known member of his campaign team, so they are obviously pushing the social media well.
What does this mean? Absolutely Nothing!
Young Liberal candidate ( Calgary Glenmore) Cory Hogan had 222 friends on facebook....yet he could not sell enough memberships ( 100 people total voted at the glenmore nomination meeting) to win the nomination. Pretty sad.
Moral of the story? Social Media is important in getting your message out...but unless you actually sell memberships and gather supporters, you will find out who your "friends" really are.
Very true, to a point.
ReplyDeleteFacebook, Twitter, etc. don't replace old school organizing, but they have strengths that can complement old school organization.
Facebook in particular seems like a good way to keep in touch with organizers and volunteers. In that sense, it's less about who's going to vote for you than who's an active supporter. This list can then be mined for volunteer hours.
And your cautionary tales seem to bare that out.
According to a poster on Tiny Perfect Blog, Corey Hogan had more supporters at the nomination meeting than Avalon Roberts. But clearly, none of them lived in Calgary-Glenmore.
So politicos beware: keep your eyes on the prize. Showy displays have their place, but in a nomination contest or a leadership contest, it's all about raw numbers.
Which Facebook are you looking at?
ReplyDeleteSmith = 172
Dyrholm = 214
I wonder which friend this would be ^^^^ facebook and twitter followers mean absolutely nothing in the race, nor does selling memberships. In the end it is who would you like for a leader. Be glad there is only two running, Stelmach came up the middle if my memory is still OK.
ReplyDeleteMr.Chandler, I now see that Mrs.Smith has 2 Facebook sites, JUST LIKE MR.Dyrholm has 2 sites. I had used the HIGHER rating for Mr. Dyrholm to be fair (his other site has 172) so the result is still the same. Had i known that Mrs. Smith had 2 sites, I would have amended the #'s. I trust this clears up any confusion...
ReplyDelete