Last week I really enjoyed a Digi Media class blog discussion on how awkward politicians are when it comes to manipulating social media. Or even using it with any finesse. I thought it was funny to see the mistress of the social faux pas, Sarah Palin, proving my point for me this week. Politicians are no better at pulling off social media then they are at keeping election promises, (or conducting themselves with any social prowess when in public). Earlier this week, when Palin was Twittering some moral-panic inducing nonesense about the unsuitability of building a Mosque somewhere close Ground Zero, she asked ‘Muslims to pls refudiate’ (instead of repudiate) their plans. So as well as being capable of stirring up bucketloads of unnecessary racial tension, she can now lay claim to toppling entire dictionaries worth of etymological sense by creating her own words. And all this without even being elected….? The inevitable back lash that followed is quite entertaining, but then making fun of Sarah Palin always is.
Among other amusing comments following the incident is the suggestion that Palin may have used the term ‘refudiate’ before. She has probably been using it all her life in place of ‘repudiate’. It isn’t just a typo. It couldn’t be. Note where the p is on your keyboard in relation to the f. In keyboard terms it is roughly the distance between Washington DC and Tehran. Miles away.
So here she is again, quite rightly smack bang in the firing line for even more ridicule by the media. It just goes to show that politicians just don’t gel that well with social media. Even if it was spelt right, the whole sentence looks stupid. We have the casual ‘pls’ against a word that seems to be at odds with the casual tone of Twitter. It sounds politicized. I am not overly comfortable with politicians using ‘pls’ and ‘bcoz’ and other ‘netspeak’ expressions. Hell, i’m not particularly happy when my own friends text me like this.
There are countless issues that come up when politicians use social media. For a start, it is probably not even the politician who is actually doing the updating, but some PR ‘professional,’ (although i’m sure Palin can take full credit for this little incident). Then there are the other issues that surround politicans; integrity, honesty and authenticity. And claims that social media outlets are meticulously policed and sanitised before being going live to the public. Often they are not the independent forums for debate and scrutiny that they should be, but a chance for a politician to indulge in a narcissistic ego-stroking where only pro-party comments are allowed to be posted.
It is very interesting to observe how highly vetted Palin’s Facebook account allegedly is. Apparently her page unequivocally supports her and all comments praise her actions and trumpet her good name without exception. Ha! Of course, all negative or challenging posts are instantly deleted. Some little skivvy is probably employed with the soul purpose of adminstering a chemical peel and an enema to Palin’s Facebook on the hour every hour. Are Palin’s 2 million fans real people? Of course they’re not. They are the botox injections and plumpers that follow the chemical peel. Fake.
I mean, would you be friends with Sarah Palin on Facebook? Even for the purpose of research, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
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