0 Tweet of the Day - 9 July 2014

Here's a turn-up for the books. Either Grant Robertson has stood aside ( and we have no reason to suspect he has), or Labour is planning to stand two candidates against each other in Wellington Central:

The lower image comes directly from the Labour Party website - the one with the Vote Positive branding. But how do you Vote Positive when you have to choose between two candidates in the same electorate. People may just as well vote for National's Paul Foster-Bell!

Labour is making so many cock-ups with its digital and social media proclamations that keeping up with them all is becoming very time-consuming. We might have to start charging for our proof-reading time, and as a nod to our Scottish heritage, Labour should be warned that we charge like a wounded bull.

But it really is a worry that a party that wants to govern New Zealand in just over a couple of months time is making so many basic errors and displaying such ineptitude. It certainly doesn't fill the floating voter with confidence.

0 Whatever happened to Tamati's tweet?

We blogged on Wednesday about a rather unfortunate tweet from Tamati Coffey. The former TVNZ presenter and Labour candidate for Rotorua had made a rather unflattering reference to "Tory scum". Here's the tweet in question:

It's just as well that we took a screenshot, because it seems to have disappeared from Mr Coffey's Twitter feed; Whaleoil reports:

What page doesn’t exist?

That was the Tamati Coffey tweet where he found it was lovely to talk about Tory scum.

We've got some advice for Tamati, if he'd like to listen to it. If you make a cock-up (which as a first-time candidate, you may well do) own up to it and apologise, then move on.

But pulling the offending tweet without any acknowledgment and pretending it didn't happen is NOT the way to go. People already have a low enough opinion of politicians, and even former television personalities who aspire to be politicians. They don't need any excuse to diss them, so don't give them ammunition.

Social media can be a very useful tool for politicians or aspiring MP's to connect with their followers. But it can also turn to custard very quickly. Builders have an old saying; "Measure twice, cut once". 

We reckon the same logic should be applied by politicians to their social media engagement; type it out and read it, then read it again before hitting the "tweet" button. It might save some embarrassment later in the piece from future SMOG's (Social Media Own Goals). 

0 Tweet of the Day - 11 June 2014

Mark Mitchell, the National MP for Rodney doesn't seem to have taken too kindly to suggestions that Colin Craig will be cut a deal in his electorate; check this out:

It sounds as though there'll be no cups of tea in Rodney in the immediate future. 

In the meantime, instead of inane tweets about election signs having been blown down during last night's storm, Mr Mitchell is using Twitter to feed information to his constituents:

Matthew Beveridge notes:

Some hold that there is a difference between electorate and list MPs, that electorate MPs are directly elected and represent a geographic area. If we hold that this is true, then surely the time to step up and help your constituents is when things are not going well. I am not based in Auckland, so I don’t have first hand knowledge of how bad things up there are, other than Stuff and The NZ Herald’s coverage. But they are both reporting 40-50,000 customers without power, wind speeds of over 150km/h, and a truck blown over on the Harbour Bridge. Twitter would provide a great way for MPs to point people in the right direction of where to ask for help, or offering to do what they can. So far, the only MP who has really done that is Mark Mitchell.

Even though he is a new Twitter user, he seems to get how it can be used. My personal view is that all of the other Auckland based electorate MPs have been found wanting in their response.  Twitter can be a great way to show support for people who feel vulnerable, and to point people in the direction of either help, or how they can help. I think this is a sign that MPs still don’t understand the power and usefulness of Twitter.

Well done Mark Mitchell. That tweet should be framed, then go straight to the pool room!

0 A bouquet for the PM

John Key has been praised for his response to the Maurice Williamson affair. Andrea Vance at Stuff opines:

Neatly done prime minister.
The handling of Maurice Williamson's cloddish attempts to intervene in a police investigation was textbook.
Key axed his statistics minister with ruthless efficiency.
As he admitted this morning, he had little choice. Williamson had crossed the line where careers can be saved.
After Judith Collins' questionable dalliances with Chinese company Oravida, National could not afford another whiff of cronyism.
Even the best spin doctors would struggle to contain a scandal that involves a long-serving minister, domestic violence and a wealthy donor.

John Key has since told media that he first became aware of the issue on Tuesday. There was obviously a flurry of activity yesterday, and there was a lag of only three hours this morning between the story breaking and the PM accepting Maurice Williamson's resignation as a Minister.

On the other hand, David Cunliffe has received nothing but scorn for his response to the resignation announcement. A number of journalists ripped into the Labour leader via social media for his answers by rote at the media conference he himself called on the issue, whilst Barry Soper mocked Cunliffe relentlessly when he was on with Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB. And as we type this, Seven Sharp is taking the piss out of Mr Cunliffe.

Here's but one example of the social media comment:

The general feeling is that David Cunliffe has had some media training, and that his automaton-like responses today when HE had called the media to gather for his words of wisdom was proof that the training had worked. But not necessarily in the desired manner.

0 Tweet of the Day - 15 April 2015

Check this out:

What would be the response if National Party president Peter Goodfellow posted something like this on social media? Or Moira Coatsworth from the Labour Party? Or Naida Glavish from the Maori Party?Or Anne Martin, the president of NZ First?

We reckon there would be outrage, and even moreso if the person posting the image was a male. So why is Kim Dotcom, founder and "visionary" of the Internet Party getting a free pass? 

It's time that the New Zealand media stopped fawning over Dotcom, and now that he is directly involved in politics, holding him to the same standards that others involved at a similar level are held.