Last week, Twitter launched its US Presidential Election microblogging site and, with social media likely to play a big part in the outcome, politicians this side of the pond should be looking closely at its impact, experts say.

As the 2008 US Presidential Election enters a critical phase for both candidates, the race for the White Horse has taken on a new dimension to previous campaigns – Social Media. Twitter has just gone in an act already being played out by the likes of Digg, YouTube and MySpace.

Twitter said: “We’re filtering hundreds of Twitter updates per minute to create a new source for gathering public opinion about the presidential election and a new way for you to share your thoughts.”

One US reader told NMK that he’d been following the feeds but that it moved too fast to keep up, although that hasn’t stopped thousands joining the live debate.

Social Call

Second Life has also become an active arena for campaigners. Last weekend the virtual world hosted a major music festival in support of Senator Barack Obama's run for the Presidency. The rally was arranged by the Obama for President organisation, Second Life's largest pro-Obama group, who invited Obama/Biden supporters from across the world for “an afternoon of music, fun and activism.”

Organisers said that “Obama Fest ‘08” was designed as a drive to register some of the more than 50 million Americans who failed to register to vote in 2004. Obama for President set up virtual registration computers with links to online voter registration sites. Experienced group members were available to answer questions on registration procedures and deadlines, as well as specific Obama policy questions.

Obama for President founder Keith Mandell - known on Second Life as ‘Cubsfan Pugilist’ - said that Obama Fest '08 hoped to go beyond inspiring Obama activity in Second Life.

“The goal of Second Life events is to reach people who might otherwise be unreachable, and encourage them to become involved in Senator Obama's real-life campaign at a time when such involvement is essential for victory,” he said.

UK Politicians Missing a Trick

With a UK general election due before 3 June 2010, digital media observers are looking closely at the US election to see how social media sites impact politicians’ chances of success. In recent years, UK politicians have shown signs of getting to grips with using new media to reach their audiences, as illustrated most recently in this summer’s London mayoral election, where all three main candidates’ campaigns involved an element of social media. At the Labour Party conference recently Second Life was experimented with, but are UK politicians really making the most of social media?

Thomas Power, chairman of business network Ecademy, is sceptical. “I find [Brown and Cameron] poor compared to the US. They need to be surrounded by decent techies at the next election,” he warned.

Power said that he found social media coverage of the US election more entertaining and insightful than television news coverage and analysis, adding that social networks could be used as an effective way to raise funds as well as reach potential voters in Britain as they have in the US.

Will McInnes of new media consultants NixonMcInnes said that Trade Union bodies could significantly gain from social media technology. “Perhaps the most disappointing is the Trade Unions, who have yet to leverage their huge memberships online. Imagine their power online if they could motivate their memberships to show their might through social media. Now that would be cool and prove the oft-touted 'democratising' effect of new digital technologies,” he said.

Political Counsel – Getting Social Media Right

Social media has seen the democratisation of information from a content creation, discovery and interaction point of view, according to Michael Chin, Marketing Director of social media platform, KickApps.

“Politicians have a unique opportunity to engage with people directly through a highly interactive and cost effective channel. No longer are you bound by expensive ad buys or are you beholden to editors or news programmers, you can talk to your electorate 1:1 at anytime,” he told NMK.

Chin sees the below as the keys to success for politicians:
1) Know your objectives. What do you want to get out of social media? There are generally two things you can do: listen and talk. Do you want to create
a 24/7 communications channel that is highly interactive and engaging? Do you want to use social media as a listening post to get an accurate, real time 'pulse' of your electorate?
2) Design your social media strategy based on these objectives. If you're giving your electorate a voice, how will they express themselves? Blogs, videos, photos and message boards are extremely popular. Are you giving them the ability to comment on articles or videos and engage in the ‘multilogue’?
3) How does your own social networking website engage with users on Facebook, MySpace or Bebo? The large social networks are great audience aggregators and gateways into your own website. Use them.
4) How are you using viral social media technologies like widgets to reach a broader audience?
5) What's your voice in a social media setting? Preaching rarely works, it's a conversation. Authenticity rules the day. Are you committed to it? If you are, you could foster the types of relationships with your electorate that will put you in a position to win. If not, you will fail.
6) Remember, it all comes down to relationships. If you treat nurture your relationships you will come out on top. If you don't, well, what do you expect?