Chavez, Brown and Cameron 2.0
So Hugo Chavez has been out threatening to start his own blog, saying he will build his “own trench on the Internet” to fight against the oh so evil Venezuelan activist Twitter users. How dare they tweet? “Tweeting” may be a potty word in Venezuela, but to me it just echoes of the good ol’ days of Looney Tunes…
When I started my blog (or many numerous blogs), I didn’t realize I was building trenches a la Don Draper in the Korean War, but thanks to Mr. Chavez, I now know that I am sitting here and fighting all my own little wars with the magical powers of my sword-like pen or keyboard and firing with the words of each blog post.
Now I feel much more powerful.
On the other hand, I guess this isn’t entirely a laughing matter. For instance, the general election in the UK is heating up…and it’s doing so on the internet. Taking a note or two out of President Obama’s handy social media election book, David Cameron’s people, otherwise known as the Tories, have launched myconservatives.com as well as a Facebook page for Cameron.
As for our favorite tweety bird, the Labour party’s Gordon Brown has appointed Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, as his “Twitter Tsar.” Pretty sweet title, I think.
Paul Staines, British-born Irish political blogger, who is famous for his “Guido Fawkes” blog, however, commented that parties should be focusing on policy rather “obsess” about youth-friendly presentation. While, in the long run, policies are the most important to be successful in actual politics, success in an election is slowly having less and less to do with policy, but rather good marketing and social media practices. And this didn’t just start with Barack Obama. No one will ever forget the first televised presidential debate, Kennedy versus Nixon, or how Margaret Thatcher was coached by Gordon Reece to lower and deepen her voice.
Politicians today need to not only be wise (hopefully), but also charming, good looking, not sweat in public, have a Facebook, Youtube channel and whatever else makes them cool. This is not a fad. It’s not going away anytime soon or ever. Our generation is already raised to value friends, dates and job applicants by their internet savoir and presentation skills. Politicians are no different than job applicants, but they do have the opportunity to get more interview rounds (votes) than the rest of us.
Tags: david cameron, facebook, fad, gordon brown, gordon reece, guido fawkes, hugo chavez, labour, looney tunes, paul staines, telegraph, thatcher, tories, tweety bird, twitter, youtube