23 replies to this topic

[Bob Fugger]

In another thread I was opining how pretty much every candidate in the November municipal elections has deserted VV, once they counted their votes.* I focused on one individual in particular because I happened to be discussing politics pertinant to that municipality. But it applies equally throughout the CRD.

So I suppose the topic that I am posting for discussion is this: do you consider it "real" engagement when polticians show up around election time sniffing around for votes, and they go all Keyser Söze on us by pulling a disappearing act? To be honest, I feel a bit used and dirty. Or are we expecting too much from them to continue participating in a forum such as this? Or does this mirror the level of intra-election engagement for other media? For example, I've not seen many coffee klatches of "World Cafes" since November.

My thoughts are: it's not real engagement; we're not expecting too much from them; and, sadly, yes.

An online forum can be the low hanging fruit of engagement for otherwise busy local politicians. Discuss amongst yourselves.


*I grudgingly admit that Ben Isitt has continued to doge the slings and arrows of this forum (many tossed by me) by conitinuing to engage the electorate on issues of the day. Kudos...you damned Marxist!

[Bernard]

The only elected officials I have noticed interacting with the public via any social media since the election are Ben Isitt, Lisa Helps, Shari Lukens, Shellie Gudegeon and Frank Leonard.

There could very well be ones I missed, but those are the ones I have seen post something somewhere on moderately regular basis

[vandervalk]

It's funny you mentioned that. I was just discussing this the other day with someone. Around election time in Sooke I had numerous potential candidates follow me on Twitter and my Faceook Fanpage. They were discussing and talking about the community as if they cared.

As soon as they didn't get elected that was the last time I heard from them.

I tell you. If they acted the way they did BEFORE the election over the next few years, engaging with their locals and I get to hear what they say often, they might get my vote.

But once bitten twice shy. I consider these people social idiots now and they were only in it for themselves.

[SamCB]

How is it not real engagement? Sure, it's not lasting engagement, but it's no less real just because they didn't stick around.

I don't see an issue here.

[Bob Fugger]

How is it not real engagement? Sure, it's not lasting engagement, but it's no less real just because they didn't stick around.

I don't see an issue here.

Fair point. But to me, engagement is two-way. It felt to me that most candidates using social media pre-election swooped in, talked the talk, got some voted and then totally ****ed off. To me, that's disingenuous and therefore not real.

Maybe my expectations of these people are too high.

[SamCB]

do you feel the same about candidates who only knock on your door pre-election?

This site is a platform for platforms. No one should be surprised it's used that way.

[Bob Fugger]

It's funny you mentioned that. I was just discussing this the other day with someone. Around election time in Sooke I had numerous potential candidates follow me on Twitter and my Faceook Fanpage. They were discussing and talking about the community as if they cared.

As soon as they didn't get elected that was the last time I heard from them.

I tell you. If they acted the way they did BEFORE the election over the next few years, engaging with their locals and I get to hear what they say often, they might get my vote.

But once bitten twice shy. I consider these people social idiots now and they were only in it for themselves.

Funny, and here I was convinced that I was completely mental for deigning to question their motives.

[Bob Fugger]

do you feel the same about candidates who only knock on your door pre-election?

This site is a platform for platforms. No one should be surprised it's used that way.

Actually, I do. I never hear from them nor do they want to hear from me between elections, if I have an issue. I'd think that VV was low hanging fruit to help bridge that gap, which is how I would view this forum. But then, I'm not a local politician.

[Bingo]

How is it not real engagement? Sure, it's not lasting engagement, but it's no less real just because they didn't stick around.

I don't see an issue here.

I like that politicians believe enough in VV to participate at whatever level or length of time they feel comfortable with.

After all, we all know them by their real names. We are all somewhat anonymous so it is not quite a level playing/debating field when we decide to rag on them. I'm not surprised that some of them don't stick around

[vandervalk]

do you feel the same about candidates who only knock on your door pre-election?

This site is a platform for platforms. No one should be surprised it's used that way.

Absolutely I do.

If I saw a candidate use social media for 3 years leading up to an election, taking pictures, promoting local events, sharing stories and answering questions, I would be so engaged with this person that I would have a great understanding of this persons platform and agenda and might think this person is here for the community, not just for themself.

To barely know someone who runs around with their head cut off trying to get as many social media followers, who "pretend" they care and share stories and information months before an election is a let down.

If you TRULY care about a community you will continue to do this social media stuff after the elections as well.

Do NOT use social media as a quick method to try to get potential votes and then screw off. It back fired and I can tell you right now if this person(s) try to the same again next election, if they should be running, I will not support them.

That sounds harsh, but if you are not using today's technology to reach and answer questions with the masses and only come around once every 4 years. I'm not interested.

I follow #sooke hashtags and know who the culprits are.

[Bernard]

I tracked the twitter use by candidates during the election, I thought today I would see who has been using twitter and who has not

There are 119 elected councilor, mayors and school trustees, where is who I found twitter accounts for

Shari Lukens - Colwood - 151 followers - 867 tweets mainly retweets
Lisa Helps - Victoria - 693 followers - 648 tweets
Frank Leonard - Saanich - 1,100 followers - 608 tweets
Dave Hodgins - Esquimalt - 133 followers - 517 tweets
Carl Jensen - Central Saanich - 611 followers - 415 tweets
Catherine Alpha - SD#61 - 202 followers - 354 tweets
Steve Price - Sidney - 84 followers - 342 tweets
Shellie Gudgeon - Victoria - 322 followers - 235 tweets
Diane McNally - SD#61 - 76 followers - 222 tweets
Michelle Kirby - Oak Bay - 78 followers - 102 tweets
Dean Murdock - Saanich - 380 followers - 95 tweets
Vicki Sanders - Saanich - 109 followers - 57 tweets
Dean Fortin - Victoria - 1,818 followers - 50 tweets
Ben Isitt - Victoria - 338 followers - 48 tweets
Terry Siklenka - Central Saanich - 335 followers - 38 tweets
Kevin Murdoch - Oak Bay - 43 followers - 29 tweets
Tim Morrison - Esquimalt - 241 followers - 26 tweets
Deborah Nohr - SD#61 - 31 followers - 25 tweets
Adam Olsen - Central Saanich - 121 followers - 12 tweets
Rob Martin - Colwood - 27 followers - 6 tweets
Larry Cross - Sidney - 78 followers - 5 tweets
Charlayne Thornton-Joe - Victoria - 58 followers - 4 tweets
Tara Ney - Oak Bay - 60 followers - 3 tweets
Michael McEvoy - SD #61 - 37 followers - 2 tweets, 0 after the election
Marianne Alto - Victoria - 454 followers - 0 tweets
Lillian Szpak - Langford - 460 followers - 0 tweets since May 1 2011
Zeb King - Central Saanich - 27 followers - 0 tweets
Teresa Harvey - Colwood - 8 followers - 0 tweets

For a couple of people I did not record their number of tweets as of November 7th so I can not track their activity since then unless I want to individually count them, though both of them are active and I expect would be in the top ten

Barb Desjardins - Esquimalt - 351 followers - 424 tweets - since she was acclaimed I did not track her in the election
Judith Cullington - Colwood - 106 followers - 304 tweets - somehow I missed during the election

[Bingo]

Big Brother is watching?

[Hotel Mike]

Big Brother is watching?

Actually it's little brother who is watching. Big brother is still watching tv, or reading old school newspapers.

[Greg]

Big Brother is watching?

Maybe the opposite. It seems to me that the above example, and lots of others (iPhone cameras watching police arrest people for example) are exactly the opposite of what 1984 warned against. I think technology is being used at least as effectively by the public to monitor the state as it is by the state to monitor the public.

[cakeman]

To respond directly to the initial post in the thread..

Thinking about it, it seems to me this situation is similar to a big new movie coming out. In the weeks prior to release, you are bombarded with ad content across all available platforms, then, a couple weeks after release, it dies out.

Consider the nature of advertising today and how apathetic many are to the entire political system. While poli-geeks will notice the wannabe politician engaging and being active in the 4 years between elections, the majority of average joes wont. The publics attention span fits well with the 2-3 week spurt of 'look at me! look at me!' we get..

Admittedly, I know little about municipal politics in general, it would seem to me though that all the work engaging in a growing variety of media over the lead-up to an election would take a fair bit of time. How much time would you expect someone who was unsuccessful in their bid for a job to dedicate? Where would that time come from, their 9-5, their family?

I guess my last thought is, who would I rather vote for, someone who's spending time every day promoting themselves on facebook, twitter or chatting with a small percentage of the population on an online forum.. or someone who's actually out there working in their community?

How many regular, active, involved users does VV really have, that would drive a potential representative to want to involve themselves regularly?

cheers,

cakes..

[Ryan Windsor]

I tracked the twitter use by candidates during the election, I thought today I would see who has been using twitter and who has not

There are 119 elected councilor, mayors and school trustees, where is who I found twitter accounts for

Shari Lukens - Colwood - 151 followers - 867 tweets mainly retweets
Lisa Helps - Victoria - 693 followers - 648 tweets
Frank Leonard - Saanich - 1,100 followers - 608 tweets
Dave Hodgins - Esquimalt - 133 followers - 517 tweets
Carl Jensen - Central Saanich - 611 followers - 415 tweets
Catherine Alpha - SD#61 - 202 followers - 354 tweets
Steve Price - Sidney - 84 followers - 342 tweets
Shellie Gudgeon - Victoria - 322 followers - 235 tweets
Diane McNally - SD#61 - 76 followers - 222 tweets
Michelle Kirby - Oak Bay - 78 followers - 102 tweets
Dean Murdock - Saanich - 380 followers - 95 tweets
Vicki Sanders - Saanich - 109 followers - 57 tweets
Dean Fortin - Victoria - 1,818 followers - 50 tweets
Ben Isitt - Victoria - 338 followers - 48 tweets
Terry Siklenka - Central Saanich - 335 followers - 38 tweets
Kevin Murdoch - Oak Bay - 43 followers - 29 tweets
Tim Morrison - Esquimalt - 241 followers - 26 tweets
Deborah Nohr - SD#61 - 31 followers - 25 tweets
Adam Olsen - Central Saanich - 121 followers - 12 tweets
Rob Martin - Colwood - 27 followers - 6 tweets
Larry Cross - Sidney - 78 followers - 5 tweets
Charlayne Thornton-Joe - Victoria - 58 followers - 4 tweets
Tara Ney - Oak Bay - 60 followers - 3 tweets
Michael McEvoy - SD #61 - 37 followers - 2 tweets, 0 after the election
Marianne Alto - Victoria - 454 followers - 0 tweets
Lillian Szpak - Langford - 460 followers - 0 tweets since May 1 2011
Zeb King - Central Saanich - 27 followers - 0 tweets
Teresa Harvey - Colwood - 8 followers - 0 tweets

For a couple of people I did not record their number of tweets as of November 7th so I can not track their activity since then unless I want to individually count them, though both of them are active and I expect would be in the top ten

Barb Desjardins - Esquimalt - 351 followers - 424 tweets - since she was acclaimed I did not track her in the election
Judith Cullington - Colwood - 106 followers - 304 tweets - somehow I missed during the election

What service did you use to track Tweets?

[Sparky]

How many regular, active, involved users does VV really have, that would drive a potential representative to want to involve themselves regularly

It's 7:31 AM on a Monday morning. There are 16 members logged in and 176 non members who come here to read.

[Holden West]

Attention politicians. Don't do this:

Alberta’s Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith says it was a mistake for her to tweet that properly cooked tainted meat could feed the homeless.

Ms. Smith told an open line radio show that if you can’t explain your position in 140 words on Twitter, you shouldn’t try.

On the weekend, Ms. Smith went on Twitter to suggest meat that had to be recalled by XL Foods in Brooks, Alta., could be cooked thoroughly to destroy E.coli bacteria and then fed to the homeless.

Alberta Wildrose Leader apologizes for tweet suggesting homeless could eat tainted meat - The Globe and Mail

[LJ]

^Yeah just because it makes sense is no reason to say it if you're a politician.

Always be safe, never answer anything directly.

[Holden West]

She could have said the meat could be fully cooked and served in the Legislature cafeteria. But of course we know that would never happen.