Elections used to be fought with door knocking, letters through your door and interviews with the press. But these local elections we are seeing social media being a strong weapon in the candidates’ arsenal.
But this isn’t the case for all parties. In the northwest and beyond there are two parties really stepping forward when it comes to the online and social media presence, Reform and The Green Party.
But is this presence a double-edged sword?
This is not a new phenomenon for local elections; the US president has a long history of using social media to gain following. Zohran Mamdani also became a regular fixture on our socials during in running for Mayor of New York. Closer to home, Nigel Farage has become a regular face on our ‘for you’ pages.
In terms of local elections in the Northwest, MNL found that the two parties have taken different approaches. The Green Party have a presence mostly on Instagram in the form of personal candidate pages and pages dedicated to whole council areas. Reform has separate Facebook pages for each ward area.
Mersey News Live spoke to St Helens Green candidate Amber Johnson about her party’s strong social media presence during these elections. She said that as a group they decided that it was vital to show each candidate’s stories, and a little about them – not just their policies.
She said: ‘You know, we’re not just names on a ballot for you to vote for. We’re real people with real ambitions for the town, for the people in it, for the communities that live here.”
We also spoke to Nick Brown, who is chairman of the Green party in Chester, about the party’s aims with social media. He said it is all about positivity and to ‘”focus on the candidates, what they are going to do in the area and what they have been doing in the area.”
He added: “Social media actually had a much less effect than old fashion door knocking, but it has its place definitely.”
On the opposing side of the political spectrum and also using social media as a big part of their campaign are Reform.
Reform’s national presence on social media can be summed up in one single comparison – Nigel Farage has more Instagram followers than the Prime Minister, the Deputy PM, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary combined.
We spoke to Reform Preston East Councillor Luke Parker about his use of social media. He said it is a huge part of how he communicates and allows for more authenticity. He highlighted that one of the main elements of social media being a part of politics is how it allows accountability. He said: “Voters can engage, challenge and form their own opinions based in what they see directly.”
Mersey News Live also spoke to Jonathan David Mackie, Reform UK candidate in Central & West Bank in the Halton local election, about his use of social media. He said that social media is part of what they do during elections, saying that most things they do go on to their Facebook page. He also told us that he does not moderate the comments on his page but when asked he felt as though other did moderate their pages.
The question of moderating people’s comments had been part of social media use in the last few years.
This same question was put to Ms Johnson, who she said that as a group they chose to not moderate comments but instead did hide comments that were discriminatory.
She said; “We hide those comments because we don’t feel that it is right for us to be complicit. But you know, for us it’s like silence is complicity. So, if you allow it to be there, you’re sort of allowing it to happen.”
The importance of social media to election campaigns has only been boosted by the decline of local media. For some local candidates, in the absence of a local paper seeking an interview, socials can be the only means of getting their message out – and without the need to answer sometimes challenging questions from journalists. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy MP recently said as part of plans to support local media that: “When local journalism declines, trust declines with it. Accountability weakens. And voices across the UK are silenced.”
For Mr Parker, “social media hasn’t just changed politics, it’s exposed it.” He went on to say that it has handed back the power of media to the public.
However, Mr Brown said that it is “‘very good to have local traditional media.” He went on the say that local radio is still a part of their campaigns due to its local natural and unlike the print media in the area now effectively cover a national rather than local agenda.
This relative lack of local coverage could be one of the driving forces of this wave of social media in politics and a reason behind the new battle ground of politics being on out phones.
What these elections seem to be highlighting is that the public are no longer solely relying on journalists and traditional media. They can go straight to the source without waiting for public appearances or canvassing. What they lose in this, perhaps, is that source being scrutinised and fact-checked.
Meanwhile, candidates are no longer waiting for their moment on camera for their story to be covered and instead can create their own moments to share their personal story. Social media makes people real; it makes their views a reality and it builds the vital element – trust. Yet social media is not a level playing field, and it seems that some parties are engaging more actively than others. What this means for May 7th remains to be seen.
