ON THE FLY How news media are making friends in the world of social networking

How twitter could lose the election for gaffe-prone politicians

Tweetminster.co.uk aggregates the feeds of MPs and PPCs on twitter

As MPs and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates flock to twitter to share everything from their thoughts on policy to the inane details of their private lives, could the main outcome of an election fought on twitter be embarrassment for politicians in the media rather than a meaningful connection with voters?

At a discussion about the next election at City University tonight the speakers played down the impact that twitter will have on voters. However, the Independent’s Chief Political Commentator Steve Richards said that it will have a profound impact on the control parties have on the campaigns and therefore will make an important difference to political reporting.

He said: “British general elections have been highly controlled, little goes wrong and what is planned happens. In the past if a candidate said something off message or poisonous it was not recorded, now it could become a massive story. The massively choreographed campaigns could be taken off the rails.”

Stories generated from even the most experienced politicians tweets have already started to make the headlines. Culture Minister Ben Bradshaw has made the headlines twice over the last couple of weeks after first tweeting that the Today programme was biased and then suggesting David Cameron was wrong to criticise the NHS because of the care received by his late son.

This afternoon I was interviewing Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South. While she would not be drawn to comment on her Lib Dem opponent tweeting about her chinchilla Ash’s trips to the vet, she said she had personally taken a conscious decision not to join twitter.

Emily Thornberry's rival, Lib Dem PPC Bridget Fox, tweets about her pet chinchilla called Ash

She said: “I think they [tweets] are either very discrete and therefore boring or indiscrete and exciting and interesting. I’d be tempted to do the latter but I probably shouldn’t. I would tend to shoot from the hip, which is probably not a good idea, so it’s probably best I don’t.

“I am not going to be judgemental about it, but I just don’t think it’s for me. I have plenty of access to the media and people have plenty of access to me, they don’t need me in one sentence size bites.”

I am beginning to think she is right. While twitter has the potential to help politicians connect with voters, showing what they are doing politically alongside their softer more personal side, there is more of a chance for it to go wrong and end in media embarrassment as ill-conceived tweets get picked up and made into stories.

The odds are stacked against the politician. The number of followers most MPs or PPCs have is slim, allowing little engagement with real voters. Most of the followers they do have are either party loyalists or others in the political sphere such as journalists.

In only 140 characters it is also not always easy to clearly make a point and clarify meaning, leading to the possibility of messages easily being misrepresented and a gold mine of opportunities for journalists. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that tweets are unlikely to be subject to proper proofing and can be sent out in a second at any stage in a busy candidate’s cycle of tiredness.

Therefore I think that an election fought by politicians using twitter will prove to be one that has little positive impact for wannabe MPs, but one that could prove highly interesting for journalists and their readers, with unrestrained candidates putting quick thoughts on record with little regard for consequences. It will be interesting to see how the parties choose to deal with this if it does start to become a widespread issue.

UPDATE: Twitter reaction so far...

@LukePollard (Labour PPC for South West Devon) - twitter is only a trap if you believe in old-school political control. social media has changed the world of politics. fact

@BridgetFox (Lib Dem PPC for Islington South) - Interesting piecehttp://abgv873.portfolios.c... Politicians are human so gaffes will happen but I value openness

@CharlotteMacK1 (Labour PPC for Truro & Falmouth) - It's an authentic, open, rapid, and direct communication platform, so good for democracy.

@tom_watson (Labour MP for West Bromwich East) - provided they don't labour under the misapprehension that twitter is in some way private, they'll get by.

@KerryMP (Labour MP for Bristol East & Labour's twitter tsar) - Thanks... saving my thoughts for Hansard Society debate later today! Potential trap, yes, but a risk worth taking.

@tonywrightmp (Labour MP for Cannock Chase) - thank you for sending me that blog, lots of interesting stuff there.

What do you think?