The Tweetminster website, which monitors UK political activity on social networking site Twitter, has produced an interesting report which details how politicians and aspiring politicians of each party are connecting with the audience on Twitter.
It is a bit of a crude tool, as there’s no way of knowing whether the references to each politician are positive or negative; Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy tops the charts by some considerable distance, but she very much has the “marmite factor” with multiple references to her by both strident supporters and opponents.
Nonetheless, as a broad measure it works, so it is pleasing to see that I’ve made the top 20 lists of Prospective MPs – ranked the fifth most “retweeted” candidate and the eleventh most mentioned candidate in the UK. Thanks to everyone who follows my Twitter posts – @cllrilindley.
Now I’m not going to make a song and dance about social networking, but I’ve always believed that politicians should be as accessible as possible. As a Councillor and now Prospective MP I have always tried to use as many methods as possible to keep local residents informed of my views and of the work I’m doing on their behalf – be that through sites like Twitter, through this website, or through the time-honoured methods of leafleting and knocking on doors!
It is disappointing to see Twits (is that the correct collective noun?) are doing it during Council meetings and presumably at Community Committee meetings too. I think those attending these meetings should be respecting those that are contributing to the meeting – or is that old fashioned now?
I make absolutely no apologies for allowing a wider audience to follow what is happening at Council meetings, Aled. That is unquestionably a good thing.
It’s not often Iain and I agree but there is now a place for twittering from meetings. It is amazing how many people follow the proceedings. It’s here to stay!
From a media perspective I also agree. The MEN’s liver coverage of council meetings has been extremely popular. It’s great to be able to open up these events, in their entirety, to a wider audience. And it’s great that politicians have grasped the importance, too.
Iain, John, and Salford council in general deserve special praise. They are in the vanguard.