Donegal candidates prefer Facebook to Twitter

This month’s election is being hailed as the first in Ireland where social media is playing a huge and important role but it would not appear to be that high up on the agenda for most candidates in Donegal

And it would seem that when the candidates in Donegal (in both constituencies) do embrace social media, they much prefer Facebook to Twitter.

Indeed, of the Donegal candidates who are listed as being on Twitter, few actually tweet on a regular basis.

Donegal North East candidate Betty Holmes – a relative newcomer to both Facebook and Twitter was active on both social media outlets over the weekend, but perhaps the most active candidate on the social media front in either Donegal constituency is Labour’s Jimmy Harte.

The Letterkenny-based councillor not only includes regular updates on his Facebook page and more recently on Twitter, he also has his own blog page that is updated with the latest news from his campaign.

It is perhaps not too surprising that Inishowen-based candidate Ryan Stewart is also active online since he came to prominence through a Facebook campaign opposed to Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT).

Like Jimmy Harte, he too has his own blog page with updates on his campaign, but it seems hasn’t yet embraced the world of Twitter.

In Donegal South West Tánaiste Mary Coughlan hasn’t a presence on either Facebook or Twitter, but it is interesting to note that he running mate Senator Brian O’Domhnaill has recently begun tweeting updates on his campaign.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty is among the country’s top politicians in terms of the number of friends he has on Facebook. He is also on Twitter but tweets infrequently. His colleague in Donegal North-East, Padraig MacLochlainn is well ahead of the rest of the candidates in that constituency in terms of Facebook friends but has no Twitter presence.

What does any of this translate to however? For instance the number of Facebook friends a person has is no barometer for the number of votes they might get.

So why do they bother?

Well for one, the use of social media is an effective method of getting up to date news and information out – almost instantaneously.

Perhaps more than anything this is why the media has become fascinated with Twitter in particular and in the run up to the election, the heave in the Fianna Fáil party and the political events that followed were reported widely and almost instantly on Twitter.

In Donegal the news that Niall Blaney had decided not to stand again in Donegal North East flew around Twitter like wildfire before the doors had barely closed at the party convention.

So with Twitter candidates can get news out quickly (if they can keep their message short) while  candidates can update their status on Facebook with latest news from their canvas - but it is interesting to note that different approaches are being taken.

Some candidates have set up fan pages, while others have established personal pages, which usually means, you must send a friend request to them before you can view their page. Whether this would put off casual potential floating voters seeking information on a candidate remains to be seen.

Aside from the candidates of course, the media’s fascination with new social media has meant that Twitter and Facebook are being mentioned more than ever - and for this election Twitter certainly has stolen a march.

Indeed many of current affairs programmes discussing events in the run up to the election either now show tweets on screen from viewers or in the case of some tv and radio shows - have a section to discuss the tweets.

Much of the weekend’s Twitter focus was on the Valentine’s Day e.card spamming that emanated from Fine Gael’s headquarters, not the first time that Fine Gael have been blasted for their online activity in the run up to this election.

In that respect, perhaps Dinny McGinley, Joe McHugh and John Ryan, have been right all along to stay pretty quiet online…

(For analysis of the election in Social media terms, check out www.candidate.ie)

How big an influence will the internet be?

For the first time ever in Ireland the influence of new social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter are being analysed in relation to a General Election campaign and while having a presence online will be no substitute for knocking on doors, it is interesting to see how – and if – Donegal candidates are paying attention to their online presence.

Thanks to the brilliant work on the site – candidate.ie – there are some statistics available already in relation to the Donegal candidates and their presence or otherwise on Twitter and Facebook  - but these are likely to change.

For instance in Donegal North East, independent candidate Betty Holmes is on both Facebook and Twitter, but her presence in the field has gone under the radar for the candidate.ie site as yet and, as such does not appear although I've no doubt it will soon.

Fianna Fail’s Charlie McConalogue and Fine Gael’s John Ryan are not listed either, but like Betty Holmes they too have a presence on Facebook.

Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty is among the most popular candidates in the country in terms of his Facebook friends numbers and is certainly way ahead of the rest of the Donegal candidates.

What it all means though is open to all kinds of debate. For instance Facebook friends is no indication of the number of votes a candidate might secure – after all the friends could be anywhere and not necessarily inside the boundaries of the constituency.

And what about Twitter? Certainly less popular in Ireland at present than Facebook, it is growing rapidly in popularity.

Not many of the local candidates are on Twitter for instance, although it was interesting to see a number of Tweets from Labour’s Jimmy Harte today on his campaign updates.

I’m hoping over the next few days to have a more in-depth look at the online presence of our various candidates and doing a more in-depth piece.

In the meantime have a look at this link for brilliant video post from the cutbacks2010 videos which would seem to indicate that not all prospective TDs think the internet is the way to go!