Politicians are scrambling to enlarge their online presence and engage with internet users, whether it is through web conferences, Facebook pages, Twitter announcements or YouTube videos.
Both parties are using social media to push political messages, without a human touch
But social media experts are neither convinced nor impressed by the “conservative” approaches adopted by the political parties, where interaction is far from raw and somewhat staged.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was accused of being selective during his web conferences, where he meandered through some of the multitude of questions sent by the public online.
In addition, the PN’s website mychoice.pn allows users to send messages, but these remain private.
Meanwhile, the Google Hangout initiative recently organised by Labour leader Joseph Muscat saw seven people living in Malta asking prepared questions via webcams in an event rife with technical hitches.
However, it seems political parties are more concerned with “appearing” to be current and open than actually using the internet to its maximum potential.
Blogger Alison Bezzina said their attempts so far have been half-hearted, and genuine interaction has been limited.
It would make more sense to have open internet forums where people were left free to criticise and ask questions while someone diligently addressed issues, she said.
“This gives people the opportunity to voice their opinion and at least gives them the illusion of being heard. I’ve seen this being done a few times by both parties but both are finding it hard to keep up,” she said, pointing out this could be a nightmare to manage. It should not end up, she stressed, in comments being deleted from Facebook walls.
“Both parties are using social media too blatantly to push their political messages without a human touch.”
Social media expert Toni Sant said the PN’s efforts seemed “forced” and presented ideas and people “ill at ease with new media”.
As for Labour’s hangout initiative, it was “too little, too late”.
“Both parties are still too focused on traditional media and broadcast modes,” he said, adding that they were both late starters at the online game and lacking in years of experience that only a handful of professionals could offer.
Social media researcher Alex Grech said the political parties were simply trying to demonstrate their willingness to engage openly with citizens, while showing off their 21st century credentials by using modern technology.
But this approach is “very cautious and conservative”, he said, even though this is to be expected at this early stage of the game.
“At some juncture, the parties will need to make a genuine attempt at two-way, live engagement. Otherwise people may tire of the initiatives and equate them to party political broadcasts and PR.”
He said politicians needed to understand that the internet allows everyone to voice their opinion instantly, even if they were uninformed or mistaken and if they did not form part of an organised initiative by a party.
It remains to be seen, however, whether social media will be a game-changer in terms of improving one’s political chances. What is certain is that social media campaigns are relatively cheap to produce and last longer than broadcasts on traditional mediums.
Blogger and lawyer Aron Mifsud Bonnici said social media also gave parties the opportunity to reach out to the growing portion of voters who were no longer willing to participate in traditional activities, particularly in summer.
“The PN’s web presence is polished and sleek but for interaction it relies on Facebook pages that do not see much activity. Labour seems to have a stronger presence on Twitter and, possibly, has an edge on Facebook,” he said.
What was particularly interesting to Dr Mifsud Bonnici was the “meme phenomenon”, where culture-specific parodies were shared by internet users, such as the recent mockery of party billboards.
“With traditional media being so saturated with politics, this is the voters’ message to the politicians that they’d rather not take politics too seriously,” he said.