We recently saw the Tories go viral with ‘Cash Gordon’ - a hash tag campaign (the ‘#’ makes it easier to search for) attacking Labour’s involvement with Unite the union. They hoped to build momentum to rival some of Twitter’s largest spikes, such as the death of Michael Jackson in 2009, which crashed Twitter’s servers. But on this occasion, while servers didn’t crash the campaign pretty much did. It was popular, but not for the reasons the Conservatives had hoped.
The campaign stacked up well. Think of a good hash tag, ride the media wave and go viral. Unfortunately social media is a harsh and unpredictable animal, which will bite you if you don’t prepare for every possible outcome. Starting a campaign on a User Generated Content website isn’t the same as sending out leaflets. The key is the word ‘user’ - better defined as the ‘general public’ – many of whom have strong opinions and lots of time to air them. The public are harsh, and can be brave from behind a keyboard, as Cash Gordon administrators witnessed first hand.
An open forum on a website that publishes users’ tweets without vetting was risky and prone to abuse. Yes, create a forum for debate and be genuine in your interaction with the public. But no, do not allow the public to publish content on your website without your permission or moderation. In this case, word spread quickly that if you tweet with the hash tag #CashGordon, any content, including obscenities, will be published in a twitter feed on the site home page (which has now been suspended).
Inevitably crass one liners started taking over the website, and the Conservative Party saw another web campaign consigned to the same fate as the 2007 Flash Gordon TV remake. To make matters worse, some of the public quickly discovered that lines of code could be included in their tweets and promptly began uploading pornographic material, Rick Astley videos, malware, and, ironically, redirections to the Labour party website.
The Conservatives’ idea was a good one and opportunistic, but they failed to keep control. If they wanted to create debate and encourage user interaction, then they should have had a separate forum on their website, requiring users to sign up before they post. They could have kept the hash tag idea and wouldn’t have been at fault if it turned sour. Alas, many developers are more interested in promoting their new websites or software than considering the ramifications of an online political campaign going bad.
The list of examples of politicos attempting to bulldoze the electorate with social media and making a complete hash(tag) of it is growing. We’ve seen the fall of David Wright, Sion Simon, David Cameron’s air brushed billboard and now this. You must tread a careful line when promoting yourself on social networking sites. On a relatively new platform, blunders are all too easy to make.
Jay McGregor - Linstock Consultant
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