Skip to main content

The Speaker of House and online communication strategies


The US mid-term elections were held about the same time that the Greek Mayoral elections, and unfortunately I was preoccupied in keeping up with the local campaigns. But, I did manage to follow some of the news and catch up on US politics online.

John Boehner was elected Speaker-designate by House Republicans and when the full House votes in January, Boehner will become the 61st Speaker of the House.

When you visit the official speaker.gov website it's all about Nancy Pelosi And if you want to connect with the Speaker of the House you are directed to Nancy Pelosi branded social media.

Twitter Twitter»
http://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi
Facebook Facebook»
http://www.facebook.com/SpeakerNancyPelosi
YouTube YouTube»
http://www.youtube.com/SpeakerPelosi
Flickr Flickr»
http://www.flickr.com/SpeakerPelosi

I would have expected for the Speaker of the House, whoever that might be, to have an independent presence on social media platforms, and not be centred around people that occupy the position.

The consequence of having multiple accounts in social media, depending on the campaign or position, is that you will disenfranchise people that want to follow the Speaker of the House, and not necessary the politician that is the Speaker.

Nancy Pelosi has a twitter username @SpeakerPelosi, this will be obsolete when she steps down, likewise for facebook (Speaker Nancy Pelosi) flickr (Speaker Pelosi's photostream) and YouTube (youtube.com/SpeakerPelosi).

It would have been much more simple if the speaker.gov website linked to the personal social media sites of each speaker of the House or, in my opinion, for the Speaker of the House to create an independent social media presence that is geared in connecting with people that want to engage with the Speaker regardless of who is, or who will be in office.

I hope the next Speaker will follow a much more structured approach in connecting with people online.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iranian elections, so what?

There has been so much press coverage on the fallout after the Iranian elections, and most of it coming from social media sources, YouTube, twitter, facebook, Blogs etc. What I don't understand is that: Did people in Iran just woke up to their reality? They are living in a totalitarian state, under the dictatorship of a religious figure (Ali Khamenei), citizens are afraid to talk openly, and always need to be anonymous in case someone from the state comes knocking at their door. So, did some people in Iran just woke up? Why did they have to wait for an election to protest and express their concerns? If the system is corrupt and biased towards the population now, then it must have been like this before the elections! I did also manage to watch some of the press conferences by the Iranian State representative, but I have not seen anything from the Mousavi campaign. Why doesn't the Mousavi campaign have a daily press briefing? Why doesn't Mousavi go on an Interview with a ...
1 comment
Read more

Become a Member of the Conservatives and get free wine!

In a recent email to supporters, the UK Conservative Party asks people to become full members of the party in order to help shape party policies, attend party Conferences and select the Party's candidates. Also worth mentioning.. members get a free Membership card. That's all good, but then the email also offers a £40 wine voucher if you register now! WTF? As an added bonus, new Members will also get £40 off at Naked Wines . After joining online, you'll be directed to the Naked Wines website - where you'll get £40 off any case of wine worth £59.99 or more. (You must be 18 years old to take advantage. Terms and conditions apply More info about the free wine at the Conservative website here .  I believe this offer from the UK conservatives is hilarious!  There are so many ways to rip on this move! But as they say in their email (after ordering the free wine):  join today and help shape the future of your Party and your country .  I wonder if the deci...
Post a Comment
Read more

EU - Greece - hammer and sickle

So, I traveled to Thessaloniki for the Greek Easter, and you can imagine my surprise when at the tolls just outside Athens I saw these flags by the Greek Communist Party please note the hammer and sickle symbol at the top of the flags. Now, my first reaction was total surprise! I asked myself whether this photo would be possible on any other European highway; I am now back in Vienna, Austria and it really strikes me as impossible. Also, along with the flags, there were volunteers covering all lanes, with fryers explaining the values of the communist party with the slogan "Trust the KKE in the upcoming EU elections". I must say that this is one of the first campaign moves from a Greek Political party for the upcoming European elections, scheduled between 4 and 7 of June 2009. The message was clear enough: even if you don't agree with the Communists, vote for them in the European elections to send a "message"... whatever that means... Also in the same fryers the...
2 comments
Read more