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FINE GAEL HAS encouraged its new TDs and councillors to be authentic and not to be afraid of being themselves when using Facebook and Twitter in a revealing social media guide.
The party, which has its own dedicated digital media team, produced an extensive 24-page best practice guide to social media for its general election candidates.
It is now planning a refresher course for newly-elected TDs and councillors, who have been co-opted to vacant local authority seats, later this month.
Eyebrows were raised during February’s election campaign when several Fine Gael ministers sent identical tweets during the live TV debates as the party attempted to keep everyone on message.
“Social media allows a candidate to broadcast, engage with and listen to voters. It’s the world’s online public space, a one-to-many communications platform where conversations happen that shape opinions,” the guide states in its introductory text.
It urges candidates to be “be authentic” in their use of Facebook and post personal reactions to current events:
Speak in an authentic voice about the issues that matter to you and your constituents.
It also encourages them to keep the word count of their posts as short as possible and to post in the evening when most people Facebook.
“An effective Facebook strategy is about reaching people and building trust,” the guide states. “People who may not be interested in politics are likely to be connected with friends who are.”
It also encourages candidates to post images as “people like to look at pictures when they’re online” and to “be personable.” It adds:
Humour, insight into your personal life and showing a more human side works best on social media. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.
https://www.facebook.com/AlanJShatter/videos/vb.1154308734597060/1241852332509366/?type=2&theater
There is also extensive information on how to access information on how popular posts are, report abuse, hide comments, and create adverts on Facebook.
On Twitter, the guide says that the site allows a candidate to”pull back the curtain and give your constituents a peek into your daily life”.
Whether you’re snapping a family “selfie” on the campaign trail or announcing breaking news, each tweet demystifies the process and personalities of politics by letting your followers learn a little more about you.
Candidates are encouraged to approach Twitter “holistically but with strategy around specific Tweets” saying conversations on Twitter are “just like the face-to-face encounters you have with constituents each day”.
The guide says there should be no limit to how often a candidate posts, that it should tag journalists in posts they might be interested in. They are also urged to use established hashtags and not to make up their own ones.
The guide encourages Twitter-using politicians to go “behind-the-scenes”, adding:
People love to see the other side to their public representative, use Twitter to give people a greater insight into your daily life as a politician.
On video, the guide provides a step-by-step guide to shooting video, encouraging candidates to make three types of video: a campaign diary, an interview or an introduction to themselves.
Budding filmmakers are urged to keep it simple, less than two minutes long and to ensure the quality is of “basic acceptable standard”.
The party’s digital media team is running workshops for newly-elected TDs and co-opted councillors next month. The events will focus on what they need to do to develop and maintain their social media presence between now and the next election.
Single people have it tougher in society – if housebound that becomes worse. Good to see an article on this issue.
Oh please, give me a break. It was a bit of snow FFS!!!!
@Ciaran Fairley: You read that whole article in less than three minutes? Impressive.
Tell that the someone living alone who was recently bereaved.
@Glenn Caulfield: I seriously doubt that two days of snow was a significant additional stress factor in that case.
Snowflake seems an apt word these days
@Dara O’Brien: oh aye I’m sure you both know way better than the fully qualified pyschotherapist. Her point isn’t that snow can cause significant stress and loneliness, but magnify stress and loneliness that’s already there.
@Dara O’Brien: I myself suffer from depression and found a lot of the points in the article rang true. I personally could not leave the house for 4 days with poor conditions as i live rurally rather than the 2. Just because you have no empathy or understanding for those who suffer with their mental health doesnt give you the right to start attaching more labels to people. If youve nothing nice to say and all that
@Neal Ireland Hello.: It took you longer than three minutes to read that? Worrying.
@Anomander: hahaha exactly what I was thinking.
I loved the peace
@Ashling Fenton: I loved the peace too
The is a flip side for those of us for whom dealing with people is an absolute chore, time to actually relax without having to make an excuse, time when you can leave the mask off and save your energy without the relentless oppression of people telling you to cheer up because you’re not projecting a mindless obliviously happy persona and messing with their fragile superficial perceptions
@Brendan Gordon: Totally…I went out on Friday and people were out walking their dogs in the snow, there was little or no traffic on the roads as people weren’t hurrying to get to work or to school, people seemed happy to get away from the rat race for a few days.
@Fifty Shades of Sé: because people were walking around my estate instead of driving, I connected with neighbours I barely knew I had.i remember as a kid walking to the shops with my mam. She’d stop every few minutes to chat with neighbours, it used to drive me mad. I’m convinced that the car culture we have nowadays contributes to social isolation and lack of community spirit: now if you need a pint of milk you hop in the car to drive a couple of hundred meters down the road, go to the self service And you don’t even interact with shop staff. And yes , I do it myself.
@Dermot Lane: Very well put, economic and technological advancements over the past two decades have certainly lead to a seismic shift in culture towards communal interaction, the price of progress however can be the sacrifice of good values.
Times like this people turn to God…..as answer to the emptiness….
@John003: how does that work? If a few days of time dragging slowly and in terminal boredom is enough to induce depression, surely eternity would be a nightmare?
@John003: Really. Which one?
@John003: Peace be with you brother
It’s not all that bad it’s a bit of snow and you can’t get out for a few days hardly the end of the world now is.
I a biker 365 days of the year and i haven’t been able to get outside the gate yet but the world and all it’s madness will still be there waiting for me whenever I do manage to get out.
At this time 2 years ago we had the recent Dublin level of snow in the west. Being west of the M50 and west of Shannon, did not make the news so these issues were not talked about. It was, as the first comment reminds us, a bit of snow.
Very good article, isolation be it self imposed or circumstantial has long term detriment to mental health well being along with stress and anxiety. The past week more than most in recent times has highlighted the benefits of community interaction and human contact can counteract such problems, maybe when looking for solutions it’s time to get back to basics.
Very good comments. Very relatable.
It’s great if you’re an introvert though or so I hear :)
The doctor would have been well served if she added those navigating homelessness in family hubs, emergency accommodation, and on the streets; and those living in fear of losing their homes to VF, respossession, or extortionate rising rents to her list of those whose daily stresses are amplified by the isolation they bring…on a daily basis, along with the emptiness of endless time…. no matter what the weather.
People also need to learn to be alone with thier thoughts, to easy now distract yourself with social media if have 2 mins to spare, guilty of it myself.
Love to travel and part of reason is I’m unplugged and have time alone with my thoughts. That can actually be a joy rather than a problem if allow yourself engage with your inner self rather than seek external distraction.
Realise some have genuine isolation, and that needs addressing, but for some is self taught and can be Untaught
People belonging to big happy families where there’s a bit o’ land, a horse or two, a jeep and no one can even spell “rent,” wouldn’t know which end of the gas/electricity meter to put the coin in. Would that be the thing you use to measure the tyre depth? The same folk who laugh at mental illness and marginalised lives and think human trafficking is what the lollipop lady does.
Their frame of reference blinds them to the misery other people go through and, understandably, the same happens vice versa. Hence so much living in a parallel universe. It’s all bollocks really, all we can try and do is make the best of a bad job…
It says a lot about us as people if we can’t handle a few days indoors
Ooops when I said “from experience” I meant experience of loneliness DEFINITELY not prison. Lol
I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said “There is nothing worse than an endless holiday. I know from experience to quote tihe guy in Shawshank Redemptiin who says “the nights here are long….. time can stretch out like a razor blade” am not sure if it’s word for word but it sums loneliness up aptly.
I can only quote from Shawahank Redemption when the guy described his feelings of loneliness and isolation “prison time is slooooow time….in here time can draw out like a blade”
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