VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

Even if facebook was a great campaign tool for the previous US Elections and plays a big part in any western European political communications plan; we can clearly understand the power of facebook in politics by analyzing the recent ban in Iran. The upcoming Presidential elections in Iran are set for the 12th of June. The current opposition is utilizing the Internet and social media sites to connect to young and first time voters, while appealing to Internet users. facebook was banned in Iran for one reason - politics. The current state owned, or controlled, media provide the opportunity even for Iranian politicians to be pro-active in Internet political communications, and connect with voters that use the Internet as a medium of non-biased news. facebook in Iran provided a clean platform for all politicians to connect with citizens and campaign like in any other western country. The ban, only made facebook a more legitimate place to campaign and clearly demonstrated, that even in a...

Reading the recent investigations on the UK MPs' expenses, I really had laugh looking at the telegraph MPs' expenses on Google Earth ! At the same time I do think that there are excellent examples of UK Members of Parliament using the Internet to be more open, transparent and connect in two way communications with the general public and their constituents. One great example I came across is Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson in this video from the UK Parliament's YouTube Channel and I must say that Ms. Swinson comes across as a very fresh and innovative UK politician. I do believe that online engagement with politics gives the opportunity to politicians to become more active in direct communications with members of the public. The segmentation of Parliamentary constituencies provides UK MPs with the opportunity to engage with people in their local community and create virtual constituencies in dealing with the problems in the local community, while connecting with peop...

I had a chat with my brother recently and ...like you do, the subject of communication reach in social media came up ;-). When he asked me about twitter, I urged him to open an account and start tweeting! "Yes but, what is twitter?", he asked. Just repeating a twitter definition seemed very obvious. I remembered watching Biz Stone in an interview at the Colbert Report saying that one of the reasons that twitter has a 140 character limit, is because a txt SMS is 160, so in order for twitter to send out tweets (as SMS updates) it had to be less than 160. The extra 20 character space is for the @username and other network info. So, I think twitter as being, not just a mini-blogging platform, but an open SMS pool, where you SMS "OR" answer to " what are you doing? "; BUT everyone can see it, and reply back. It is a compilation of thoughts, news, information, and advertising all together. Tweets as public SMS is like searching for tweets in your area. Twi...

I came across this video from Mike Bloomberg, welcoming the 15,000 supporter to the Mike Bloomberg facebook page . The NYC Mayoral elections are scheduled for the 3rd of November 2009. Mike Bloomberg comes out with an active facebook campaign. I really like the straightforward message by the Mayor, keeping the facebook campaign active, while asking people to get the word out and grow the Bloomberg facebook presence. The campaign is trying to involve people (Not just ask for their vote!). Jill Hazelbaker , communications advisor to the Bloomberg campaign, writes: "Over the next six months, countless supporters will organize, knock on doors, write to their local papers, and make phone calls into their communities. We know this to be true: whether you lend us one hour or one weekend, whether you can make 25 calls or 250, your time will make a difference in this race."

I truly believe that most people want to be involved and vote in the upcoming European elections, although I clearly disagree with the communication policy of the European Parliament on GOTV . The major European Parties (which are a result of transnational party collaborations) do not have pan-European campaigns, EU citizens will vote for a national and not a pan-European party. The problem is that individual country issues and local politics play a bigger role than European issues in the upcoming elections . This is what this new party the Newropeans is trying to accomplish. According to an interview by Bart Kruitwagen in EurActiv " Only with the proliferation of trans-European parties can we build the "strong and stable democracy needed to see the EU achieve its potential as a "world power". Also have a look at their magazine . However they are in need of a sound communication strategy, especially online! When we also start to explore the role of youth enga...

You might think that a pan-European "Get out the vote" campaign will be an opportunity to embrace and promote the upcoming EU elections . Well, after watching this video clip I must say that I feel disturbed and surely not motivated to go and vote. I cannot believe that the EU Parliament has not put more research into it. As I commented to the European Parliament facebook page "Who does these commercials?! did you ever thought of consulting a Marketing or Political Communications consultant? This is amateur stuff!!! Plus it is repulsive to look at; do you honestly believe that screaming women and Friday the 13th figures will make EU citizens go to the polls? Really?..."