Media Me - Politicians and their social media use

Rtl is organizing a political debate on Twitter, led by journalist Frits Wester. He will ask the political candidates some questions, which he received from the audience. Due to the maximum number of words, questions have to be asked using 140 words maximum. The same goes for the answers from the politicians. Unique about this debate is that the broadcasting station will only use Twitter. Dutch broadcasting stations have used Twitter before, but they always combined it with an actual television programm, Twitter has never been used exclusively.

Harm Hasselaar, who is the editor in chief of RTL Nieuws, states that nowadays social media are taking a prominent spot within the landscape of news. The debate can be seen as a special way to contact the viewers of RTL with politicians

(Source: Emerce.nl)

It appears that the debate, which will be held on the 2nd of June, will comprise the first actual "political" Tweets of some politicians. According to media expert Jasper van Gils, most politicians mainly use social media to talk about personal things, like putting the children to bed. Their political message does not come across. Van Gils also notices that politicians use Twitter to attack each other and debate with one another, in stead of using this social medium to connect with their (potential) voters. According to the media expert, politicians should use social media to present their points of view in a clear way and provide their voter with arguments. "Internet should be an extension of their campaigns. In that way interactivity can arise between the voter and the politician, which brings politics closer to the citizen. That is what politicians want to accomplish with the use of social media, right?" (Source: RTL.nl).

I have no desire to repudiate the media expert. However, I was wondering why politicians would mainly use Twitter for personal messages? It is highly impossible that they are unaware of it or do this without any purpose. I believe politicians are 'revealing' some things from their personal life in order to work on their image. A lot of female voters might be sensitive for - the perfect daddy - act. Besides, if Jan Peter tweets he just put his children to bed, he must be a true family man, right? A man, who strives for family values (what a coincidence). It all revolves around image building. But how about using Twitter to attack the competition? Well, with a medium that does not require face to face contact and does not require you to directly provide an answer, it is a lot easier to come up with a good, striking argument or an insult. Twitter may be seen as a medium that allows you to react instantly, it is still different from being faced with an insult form a person in the same room and having to come up with an answer instantly, while a camera is constantly zooming in on your face.

I am very curious about the 2nd of June and how that is gonna work out. Will these politicians still be able to come up with some great statements, while being held under pressure by the stopwatch Frits Wester has? And will they be able to keep up their good standards and values, keeping their 'personally created image' off the ground?