Alberta politicians battle for votes in cyberspace
Posted Mar 27, 2012 7:12 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Campaigning for the hearts and minds of voters has certainly changed over the years.
Politicians still put signs in lawns, stuff mailboxes, knock on doors, shake hands, and kiss babies, but now they also have to engage voters via various social media sites.
A communications consultant says at the moment, Tory Premier Alison Redford has the most followers on Twitter, but Wildrose leader Danielle Smith is more engaged.
Matt Wright says people only have to look at what transpired this past weekend at the federal NDP leadership race in Toronto to understand the power of social media.
Wright says party supporters were directly interacting with candidates on the convention floor before casting ballots.
The founder of Wright Results says candidates realize the importance of controlling the message that is going out, adding one erroneous Twitter posting or Facebook comment could hurt them at the ballot box.
Wright expects the leaders of the Liberal, NDP and Alberta Party will start to focus a little more on their cyberspace campaigns in the coming days.
