PEACE, ORDER AND GOOGLEABLE GOVERNMENT PEACE, ORDER AND GOOGLEABLE GOVERNMENT FEBRUARY 2011

A lot has happened over the last year in social media and Introduction politics. Prime Minister Harper experimented with an asynchronous video interview; the Liberal Party incorporated “Stop punching the keypads and start representing your live audio streaming and real-time text chats in Michael constituents...a message to ALL political twits.1” Criticism of Ignatieff’s cross-Canada community town hall meetings; and my February 2010 report House of Tweets: Twitter and the Jack Layton discovered the power of social networks and House of Commons was decidedly blunt. Yet the House of the sincerity of the digital world when he announced his Commons and its members once functioned without prostate cancer diagnosis. electricity, radio and television, computers and the Internet. Just imagine the outrage when telephones landed on the The social web has become a key tool in Canadian provincial desks of our federal politicians. and municipal elections, by-elections and now leadership races. The media reported that Twitter was a significant Politics has always been heavily driven by relationships and character in the story of Naheed Nenshi’s election as the communication. That hasn’t changed. Technology has; and new mayor of Calgary – a welcome relief for digital with it, the many ways in which politicians are able to stay communications folks who’d tired of hearing Barack connected with Obama’s name anytime constituents anywhere, someone thought of “anywhen”. There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run. politics and social -- Gordon Lightfoot, The Canadian Railway Trilogy The social web has media. shrunk the Which brings us to the return of MPs to the House of communication supply chain. In these few years of rapid Commons at a time when the media and political watchers change, we’ve come to expect to be keystrokes from the are buzzing about a possible spring election. A perfect people we elect. call up the websites and social opportunity to take stock of what our politicians are doing, networks of our elected officials looking for MP positions on and not doing, within the digital culture. specific issues and to locate contact information we can act on in the moment. Sometimes our efforts are rewarded with This report gives a glimpse of how MPs are slowly adopting an enlightening virtual visit; often they’re not. seven major social networking tools to communicate and build relationships with Canadians. It’s based on ongoing So, why a new report? Why now? research and monitoring. If I’d published as much as I’ve The role of search engines, social networking, and creative discovered and included comprehensive suggestions on content is always evolving. Tools including blogs, Flickr, what politicians could do to improve their digital impact, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter provide new and more Peace, Order and Googleable Government would be a book. powerful ways for politicians to connect with their 1 Comment left by Lucifer’s Hammer on Jane Taber’s article How MPs use Twitter. constituents, share their points of view and react quickly to news in their own words -- this is a real opportunity for politicians to showcase their talents, triumphs and Mark Blevis personality. The public no longer waits for the evening Tel: (613) 762-9704 newscast, the morning paper or the monthly mailer from their Email: [email protected] MPs. Journalists also follow online conversations. The Blog: http://markblevis.com chatter informs (sometimes even results in) news stories. In Twitter: @markblevis fact, Tweets, blog posts and other digital updates are often quoted when MPs aren’t available for comment. Peace, Order and Googleable Government by Mark Blevis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License. Based on a work at markblevis.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at markblevis.com. likely to trust neglected sites. In the Websites digital world, currency is well... curren Some MP ¢y. Routinely updated websites get Tim Berners-Lee introduced the world websites that to websites in 1993. By 1996, the greater weighting in search engine geekiest among us were creating results. They also suggest to site caught my eye visitors that the MP’s communication personal web pages to share system is working. information and stay connected with friends. Today, websites are the most Gimmicks can also be problematic. basic online real estate, like a digital Two MPs have websites with auto- constituency office, where Canadians play animations of themselves walking have come to expect current policy, across the screen and introducing the events and contact information. This visitor to their website. People who do makes it even more surprising that 17 their web surfing at work or in public (5%) of the 305 current MPs don’t places are likely to scramble to close Bernard Bigras have websites, have posted “under those sites when a voice http://bernardbigras.com construction” notices or suffer from unexpectedly jumps out of the broken sites. One MP has let his computer speakers. domain name lapse (never let them see you expire). A website needs to be the MPs digital home base. It should be attractive, One of the many challenges of the easy to navigate, arranged to highlight web is shelf life; how quickly styles important information, written in clear and standards evolve. Many MP language and optimized to help websites are based on standard looks search engines such as Google direct and layouts prepared by their parties. relevant traffic to the site. Most The new NDP green theme is by far Bev Oda importantly, it should be easy to find. http://bevoda.ca the most eye-catching. The Liberal Each MP should have a “vanity” Party updated the look and structure domain name (e.g. http:// of their common look and feel. The markblevis.com) for their website. Conservative party template is looking very dated and in need of a refresh.

Not all MPs are using the party-prepared themes. Many have invested in eye- catching sites that Bryon Wilfert punch up important http://bryonwilfert.ca and timely information, and provide links to other online properties such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Some sites feature outdated content; as much as two years Olivia Chow old. Visitors are less http://oliviachow.ca It’s not entirely surprising that few some of the many political benefits to Blogs politicians have blogs and even fewer blogging. maintain them. For the purpose of my Blogs (web logs) Maxime Bernier used his blog to post came into research, blogs were only considered a clarification of his stance on the existence in 1999 if they incorporated Really Simple Syndication (RSS), a type of Quebec City Coliseum. It was a direct and gained distribution method that allows blog response to a journalist who Mr. popularity in the followers to receive content using Bernier felt misrepresented his view. political world The post was timely, a quick read and beginning in 2002. These low-barrier- special software, rather than having to written in the first person – all qualities to-entry, do it yourself sites allow visit the blog site to determine if new content is available. To be considered that make for an effective blog post. individuals to publish content in an “current”, authors must have By the way, Mr. Bernier maintains both organized, categorized and published at least one new article in English and French versions of his sequenced manner. Some blogs are blog. personal journals, others niche- the last three months (since November 1, 2010). A very loose specific digital magazines. Glen Pearson, who often inflects his definition, I know. blog with personal views in a Blogs allow MPs to conversational tone, published a great communicate directly post relating life as a politician to life with the public, in their as a family man, tying it together by own words. In this way, pointing out he returned home to blogs empower MPs to discover his beloved porch swing was be their own media already packed away for the winter. outlet. While it can be time consuming, Fifty-one MPs (17.7%) blogging is a great way to publish have blogs, only 19 points of view, timely updates and (6.2%) have posted even the odd personal musing to fresh content in the last demonstrate to readers the author is three months. Almost all human and involved – something the MP blog content is public doesn’t always recognize in official statements. their politicians. Also, a regularly updated blog can help increase an Two blog posts in MP’s site rank in search engines such particular demonstrate as Google.

It’s easy to get nostalgic about old formats, but there’s no historical justification for this. -- Richard Branson, Business Stripped Bare, page 112

Blogs updated since MPs returned to the HoC

The following MP blogs have been BloCgue Québécois Dan McTeague updated since January 31. Most of Irwin Cotler Maria Mourani the content is official. The Bloc Rick Dykstra Brian Murphy Québécois has a single feed for all of Ralph Goodale Joyce Murray its MPs so I’ve indicated it here only Mark Holland Glen Pearson once. Gurbax Singh Malhi John Rafferty Keith Martin Brad Trost some neglected since 2007.

Liberal MP Jim If a picture is worth a thousand words, Karygiannis gets photo sharing is probably one of the special mention for his simplest and most important ways for 29,261 photos (there politicians to keep their constituents can be too much of a up to date, share their busy schedule, good thing) putting him and reveal their authentic selves. This well ahead of second is true whether the MP uses their place photo-sharing smart phone to snap photos of events MP Michelle Simson and activities, or has a staff (6650 photos). Rick photographer do it for them. Dykstra has a great collection of photos Launched by a couple in from a full spectrum of 2004 (and acquired by Yahoo! In events. Albina Guarnieri 2005), Flickr has become the de facto and identifying the people in them. gets bonus points for digging into her photo-sharing site for Canadian Still, some politicians post photos with old albums and sharing pictures from federal politicians. I’m happy to say the camera-assigned name leaving her formative years in politics. that those who use it generally use it the viewer guessing about the story very well. Just as important as posting the the photograph tells. photographs is proper labelling. Thirty-eight MPs (12.3%) have posted Sharing is an important part of the Overall, MPs do a passable job of new photos in the last three months. A digital culture. Most people who titling and describing the photographs further 26 MPs have Flickr accounts; produce online content look for other content to include in their own creative projects. By protecting their photos with the default message “All Rights Reserved”, almost all politicians are missing a great opportunity to have their photographs considered by those content producers. Only one MP has given permission for others to share his photos. ’s photos have been made available under a Creative Commons license, a Some Rights Reserved model which allows Mr. Ignatieff to retain copyright while making his photos available for others to share under specific conditions without fear of reprisal.

While Flickr is the photo repository 2011 Walk for Memories - AlzheimerPhoto: Society Radey Toronto Barrack http://www.flickr.com/photos/ignatieff/5399056804/ tool of choice, many MPs with Twitter accounts are including “real-time” photos taken with smartphones in Michael Ignatieff makes his Flickr photos available under a Creative their Tweets. These are Commons attribution-share-and-remix license. This allows others to complementary methods that allow include his photos in their blogs, videos, reports, etc... provided they MPs to reach two different audiences. credit the Flickr account and photographer (whose name appears in Both are near-effortless ways to share Mr. Ignatieff’s photo descriptions). their stories. something the average Canadian can’t With a Little see in the media. Help From My Short video reports and interviews are peppered throughout some YouTube According to a recent eMarketer channels, among them are Meili Faille Friends publication of summarized data, and John Rafferty. Olivia Chow’s “Green Canadians love their online video. We House Tour” video has been watched watch and share more video than our more than 42,426 times. James Bezan’s friends in (separately) the United States somewhat controversial horse-and- and United Kingdom. While there are long-gun-registry video is the type of many online video sharing services, purpose-built political content that gets YouTube is by far the most widely views. Unfortunately, it also got the known. It was created in 2005 and attention This Hour Has 22 Minutes and bought by Google a year later for a was subsequently pulled. This is whopping US$1.65 billion. significant not because it highlights a Politicians have not yet recognized the case of social media trouble (remember, full potential of online video. While 125 many non-digital events have been While I can do without the fanfare at MPs (40.6%) have YouTube accounts lampooned by This Hour, Rick Mercer, the front of the video, I rather like that and 89 (28.9%) have posted new The Air Farce and other political satire the famous performance of With a videos in the last three months, very programs) but because I feel the video Little Help From My Friends by Prime few MPs are exploiting the opportunity was aligned with the culture of digital Minister and Yo-Yo to operate their own media channels. engagement. Perhaps it was too early Ma at the 2009 NAC Gala is part of the to the party. Almost all the videos (I’ll guess about PM’s YouTube channel. It’s real. There 90%) posted by MPs are individual In my view, made-for-the-web video should be more of that in online segments from Question Period or content is going to become an political content. television news. There is very little extremely important way for MPs (and made-for-web content. However, the especially political candidates) to total views metric of the various communicate with their supporters, YouTube channels reveals MP videos voters and the media. get more views when they show You Can Leave Your Hat On

Kudos to Canadian politicians for trying new ways to reach and connect with Canadian citizens. To those who suggest the efforts weren’t without mistakes, I remind you that the digital culture evolved from all of us going through the same process. If we don’t give politicians a chance to “get things wrong”, they’ll never have the opportunity to “get it right”. Fan Pages are the tool of choice in the engagement, questions and political Facebook toolkit. There are comments can come in at such a rate 205 MPs (66.6%) with Fan Pages, 116 that makes it difficult to keep up let (37.7%) are active. Some active Pages alone respond in a meaningful way. have as few as 27 fans (Andrew That’s at the best of times. When crisis Scheer) and others as many 39,050 strikes – and there is such a thing as fans (PM Harper). Naturally, high good crisis which can be just as The grand digital gathering place for profile MPs such as party leaders overwhelming as the bad variety – it federal politicians is Facebook. There, boast the most numerous and active can be completely overwhelming for MPs have established themselves in “fans”. any number of people to keep up. three primary features of the site: There’s also the challenge of having to personal profiles, Facebook Groups Some MPs have cultivated large and “police” off-topic contributions, and Facebook Fan Pages. Each active Facebook communities. Most unsolicited promotional statements feature brings certain capabilities. MPs are using Facebook Fan Pages and advertisements – SPAM. That as broadcast channels. Some, I’ve elected not to scrutinize personal required effort may explain why some including Glenn Thibeault, Facebook communities have been profiles since they tend to be geared occasionally join established dormant since the last federal election. to personal relationships and, in some discussion threads. User Cash Tastic cases, rightly secured from public recently left a comment on Olivia It’s my observation that the MPs who access. It’s worth noting 133 MPs Chow’s very active Facebook Fan are most successful in building and (43.2%) have personal Facebook Page saying “Could you please make activating communities are those who profiles. more Facebook posts that aren't routinely post fresh content, respond tweets? Tweets make for pretty to queries and keep their community Facebook Groups make it possible to garbled reading, and if I wanted them, up to date with information that can’t create and manage online special interest groups. Groups come with I'd be on twitter.” This confirms my be readily found elsewhere. Engaged certain restrictions which make them a long time belief that each digital online communities are largely driven gathering place should be managed by valuable and timely information -- less effective tool for political independently and be filled with and occasionally entertainment. So, purposes; nine MPs (2.9%) currently content that appeals to the purpose of it’s best to build the community and have Groups registered, only two (0.6%) remain active. that community. Facebook and Twitter have it at the ready now, when you are very different. may not need to activate it, rather than during an important debate or election Facebook communities can be when you do. amazingly demanding to manage. Depending on the level of

Of all the major social networking sites, the professional networking service LinkedIn is probably the least suited to political careers. So, I only mention here in passing that 56 MPs (18.2%) have LinkedIn accounts with which they have done little or nothing to build complete profiles or establish connections with others. Some accounts boast as many as 446 connections, while others have none.

Four MPs have published written recommendations of others on this site.

One MP’s LinkedIn profile misreports his party affiliation. Twitter has a reputation for causing still measure influence by follower immediate public relations crises for count. That’s certainly one metric. those who use it. While there are However, the size of the network is many such examples, Twitter, indeed not nearly as significant as its level of Of all the major social media social media, does not hold the engagement -- having a network that platforms, Twitter is perhaps the most monopoly on crisis. I often suggest responds, shares and acts based on misunderstood. It was launched in that the Liberal sponsorship scandal the relationship with the hub of the 2006 under the premise that users and the Helena Geurgis airport fiasco community. Services like Klout.com wanted to share what they were doing did “just fine” without digital tools. have developed algorithms to at any given moment with a group of Things do spread much more quickly measure the influence and reach of friends. It sounds incredibly mundane online. I’ll give you that. Twitter accounts. Individuals with and has been accused of being such. higher Klout scores are thought to However, as is the case with many One of Twitter’s greatest strengths is have a more meaningful connection social media tools created with one that it’s a public tool. Twitter can be with their Twitter communities. True purpose in mind, the user community indexed by search engines meaning Reach is a metric that determines the built on the idea and changed it. results of a particular Google search size of an individual’s engaged Twitter is now one of the most are likely to include relevant Twitter audience. important real-time communication accounts and up-to-date content. tools. It’s become the go-to place for This means a properly configured For example, @TonyClement_MP has breaking news and has played an Twitter profile and relevant tweets can 7,848 followers, with a Klout score of important role in emergency help strengthen a politician’s digital 62 and True Reach of 3,000. This communication, advocacy, footprint. means MP has a information sharing, technical support respectable amount of influence and a Twitter use by MPs has evolved since and general staying-in-touch. reasonably attentive audience. By House of Tweets was contrast, @PMHarper, the official published February account of PM Stephen Harper has 2010. Active use of 80,698 followers (the most among Twitter has grown since Canadian MPs), a Klout score of 58 then from 62 MPs (20%) and True Reach of only 9. to 101 (32.7%) at the time of this report. There Since he started Tweeting in March are 160 MPs (51.9%) 2010, Tony Clement has set the bar with Twitter accounts. high for Tweeting MPs. Mr. Clement Many haven’t used them Tweets a nice blend of information, in quite some time, or at entertainment and political value. Like all. many, he’s experienced some of the dizzying highs of social media What hasn’t changed success and flirted with the since last year is the dangerous waters of digital missteps. confusion regarding However, he’s navigated the culture Twitter influence. Many very well. HoC Firsts Conclusions Here’s a little trivia on the increasing role of digital in Federal politicians need to increase their digital influence Canadian politics. I present to you first appearances in the between elections and issue-specific campaigns. They must House of Commons (according to the full-text searchable continue to develop their online skills, using them to create Hansard database). and strengthen constituencies of support which can be activated when needed. Election time is not the time to start. Google MPs need to be more methodical about their use of social Google’s first official mention in the House of Commons was media, remembering that each digital outpost (Flickr made by Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla on September 9, 2009. account, YouTube channel, Facebook Fan Page, etc…) “With regard to government spending on Google adWords reflects well, or poorly, on them. Each property must be since January 2006: (a) how much has each department maintained with relevant and current information and should spent; (b) what keywords were chosen; (c) what daily limits serve as a beachhead for their primary digital headquarters – were set; (d) what was the cost of each keyword; and (e) how their website. many clicks were made per keyword?” (40:3 Hansard – 66; 2010/9/20; question 241) It’s not necessary, nor is it always possible or practical, to establish a presence on many different social networking Facebook sites. However, doing so means making a commitment that all channels be unique rather than redundant. If it’s worth Bloc MP Nicolas Dufour introduced Facebook to the House doing, it’s worth doing in a way that gives supporters and of Commons on October 20, 2009 when he said “Let us take potential supporters a reason to follow MPs in multiple for example the social networking site Facebook. This is a places. new technology that has been in place for a few years already.” (40:2 Hansard – 96; 2009/10/20; 1215) Bravo to the MPs who are experimenting with the new digital tools and culture. You are the ones willing to take risks to It’s interesting to note that Mr. Dufour was 17, just shy of discover new territory. It can be scary. Progress often is. legal voting age, when Facebook was launched in 2004. Gotta get on our way cuz we’re movin too slow Twitter -- Gordon Lightfoot, The Canadian Railway Trilogy

Mere minutes after MP Dufour introduced Facebook to QP, Twitter earned it’s first This report is a glimpse into my ongoing research mention in the House as Liberal Hon. MP Ujjal Dosanjh stood and monitoring. I continue to share findings, up to announce “Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I wish statistics, recommendations and personal to inform you and the House that I inadvertently tweeted musings on my blog, markblevis.com. about matters that I ought not to have tweeted about; that is, the in camera proceedings of the defence committee. That Email me if you would like to receive updates: was an error on my part and that entry will be deleted at the [email protected] earliest possible opportunity, which is right after I get out of here.” (40:2 Hansard – 96; 2009/10/20; 1505)

YouTube Mark Blevis On March 15, 2010, Bloc MP Paule Brunelle said “Mr. Tel: (613) 762-9704 Speaker, last week the Prime Minister decided once more to Email: [email protected] control how one of his speeches would be broadcast, to Blog: http://markblevis.com thumb his nose at traditional media and to post his response Twitter: @markblevis to the Throne Speech on the popular website, YouTube.” (40:3 Hansard – 9; 2010/3/15; 1410) Peace, Order and Googleable Government by Mark Blevis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License. Based on a work at markblevis.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http:// markblevis.com.