Ever since TV Anchor Barb Higgins entered the race for mayor I have lost track of how many times I have heard people say, " She is a great communicator"! While I am sure she was very popular with many Calgarian's for her skills as a news presenter, I am not sure that being able to read a teleprompter and change the pitch of your voice when instructed qualifies anyone as a "great communicator"? I was having a brief discussion on Twitter last night about Ms. Higgins lack of actual communication, at least on Twitter, and thought I would share my thoughts.Twitter is a pretty unique communications medium. It allows you the ability to interact with other people on a real time basis, on pretty much any topic you can imagine. Some candidates in the upcoming Calgary Municipal Election use Twitter quite well, often engaging potential voters in policy discussions and debate. Other candidates feel that they should use Twitter as a 140 Character Press Release, letting everyone know where they will be and what they had for dinner. Barb Higgins, the "great communicator" falls into the latter category. Here is a sample of her Twitter page...
As you can see, the "great communicator" only follows two people on twitter, yet of the 692 people following her, she does not see the need to interact with them. It looks like Barb has taken the SOCIAL, out of SOCIAL MEDIA!!
I am not sure why the "great communicator" does not want to interact with Calgarian's on Twitter, but perhaps some of the following ideas apply?
- Barb does not want to waste time talking with the "dirty, common Twittering Calgarian's". Unless we belong to the Mount Royal/Rideau Park Elite, of course? Tea over Twitter?
- Barb still has not got a grasp on the issues facing Calgarian's and what is really going in this city once you leave Signal Hill. ( Is that City Hall? I recognize it from the teleprompter view....)
- Barb is not sure of what to do, as there is no Teleprompter app for Twitter.
- Barb's handlers do not want her to discuss any issues with the public at all and hope to ride her good name recognition into the election night sunset. ( Barb? I know her...no, no, not from Twitter. From the TV!)
- After repeating that she has both "Respect for Money" and "A Social Heart", there are too many characters left in the 140 maximum for her to complete a tweet on twitter. What to say....what to say?
- Rod Love told her... "Ralph Didn't need no stinking internets....we didn't even have an internets back in 1980. We had an old motor home and dimes for the payphone. "
With two followers ( one being Calgarydemocracy.ca, which is an excellent site headed by fellow CalgaryPolitics.com blogger Grant Nuefeld) and no interaction with the Calgary voters, I give Barb "the great communicator" a failing grade.
** Update** Here is a link to my post about my follow up coffee with Barb Higgins... http://www.calgaryrants.com/2010/08/coffee-with-calgary-mayoral-candidate.html
Old Man Hughes gets twitter. Thanks, YYCRants! I should, I've been on it since early 2007.
ReplyDeleteSo it’s Rod Love acting as the Puppeteer; that should send a chill down the spine of many Calgarians. The only saving grace is Donn Lovett as campaign manager which would guarantee a loss.
ReplyDeleteSeriously - you need to get a handle on your apostrophes. They're almost all wrong and it's really distracting.
ReplyDeleteHello Mr. Rant - have we ever met? You don't seem to know much about me. Would you care to go for coffee?
ReplyDeleteBarb
Does anyone know anything about Barb? Married? Children? What school(s) did she graduate? Political leanings? Religious leanings? All "We" really know is she has a short, short haircut, rides a Harley and did a tango on TV. Mmmmmm... does that experience qualify for Mayor? The public wants more transparency with the public figures whether they like it or not. Just "who" is Barb Higgins and why should I vote for her?
ReplyDeleteI don't think she should have quit her "day job", frankly.
So... you gonna go for coffee with barb now? Do an Interview, I'd love to read that blog post.
ReplyDeleteYou're 100% right about her lack of social media communication. 90% of the stuff I know about this years election is from twitter, and that's why Nenshi is winning my vote thus far.
Speaking of being a good communicator, some corrections for you. In order:
ReplyDeleteCalgarians*
Higgins'*
Other*
Calgarians* (again)
ideas*
Calgarians* (third time)
Calgarians* (fourth)
Of course, one could always argue that a mayoral candidate should have more to say than she could comfortably fit in 140 characters; and furthermore that Twitter for a lot of politicians has been a publicity nightmare (see: Sarah Palin) precisely because it combines an open-use platform with an absurd character limit which we then expect the writer to use to advocate for complex issues. Twitter is a social platform, not an informational one, unless the tweet is an outgoing link. This entire article - aside from being poorly written and badly copy-edited - sets up a straw man (the idea that an expert use of Twitter is essential to creating and maintaining a political profile on the internet) and uses it to attack Higgins from an entirely ridiculous perspective. Questioning her qualifications, her politics, her ethics, her position on public policy issues - these are all valid questions any politician should have to answer during an election. Whether or not she can use a fad platform more popular among celebutantes and ideologues is perhaps less interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe "problem" is trying to seperate the medium from the candidate.
ReplyDeleteWhat if I love Social Media as an engagement conduit, but don't support the only candidate really using it (eg. Nenshi)?
If Nenshi loses the election, then it only cements the notion among the Calgary elite that Social Media is a waste of time / poor ROI and it will become even more taboo in this city than it already is.
Hey Everyone... Sheesh, some people are so serious!
ReplyDeleteWazoo... thanks! I think you may be correct about this.
Anon 7:27..( Mom is that you?) Thanks for your comment. I do not pretend to be perfect or a great communicator, lol. I do however put my name and picture on the side of the blog, and its not ANON!
Anon 9:20. Thanks. This was probably the best written comment that I have ever seen. Too bad you didnt put your name there, I'd love to chat. I think you are taking the post too seriously as there is a lot of SARCASIM intended. Loosen the tie and relax my friend! :) My point is...if you are not going to use Twitter well, why use it all? Thanks for posting.
twitter is by nature a broadcast medium. Whether or not she chooses to use the other aspects of it are unique to the individual.
ReplyDeleteyou could make your exact same argument about many companies that are using twitter with great success. Some engage their followers, others do not. there is a distinct difference between the two. barb's use of the broadcast tool is fine.
No wonder it's difficult to get people to run for political office when there are so many others willing to sit in the dark behind the curtain and criticize (often in a cruel way) the good people who choose to serve the public by running for election. People like Mr. Rant and other negative responders are doing a disservice to the electoral process when they try to discredit and destroy the credibility of candidates through personal attacks.
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ReplyDeleteOf course, one could always argue that a mayoral candidate should have more to say than she could comfortably fit in 140 characters; and furthermore that Twitter for a lot of politicians has been a publicity nightmare (see: Sarah Palin) precisely because it combines an open-use platform with an absurd character limit which we then expect the writer to use to advocate for complex issues.
So... you gonna go for coffee with barb now? Do an Interview, I'd love to read that blog post.
ReplyDeleteYou're 100% right about her lack of social media communication. 90% of the stuff I know about this years election is from twitter, and that's why Nenshi is winning my vote thus far.
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