This document summarizes the history of using social media and the internet in political campaigns and governance. It traces the evolution from early email and websites in the 1990s, to the rise of blogging and social networks like Facebook and Twitter in the 2000s. It discusses both opportunities like new forms of civic participation, as well as challenges like ensuring an informed debate and preventing the spread of misinformation. Maintaining a work-life balance and data security are also raised as issues politicians now face with digital communication.

1. 19.8.2010 www.kasvi.org Social Media and Parliament Jyrki J.J. Kasvi Parliament of Finland, Committee for the Future

2. Social media is as revolutionary as the printing press Creates new media and new culture and changes societies Wikimedia Commons

3. 15 years of Internet elections 1993 USA: First campaign to use email 1994 USA: First candidate web page 1995 Pioneering election: First campaign web pages as a curiosity 1996 First voting application (YLE) in an EU election 1997 First city council members through a web campaign 1998 USA: First successful web campaign 1999 WWW election: Hand made candidate web pages 2000 USA: million $ campaing money from web 2000 USA: first party to have a million supporters in Internet 2003 Voting application election: Who writes the questions? First member of parliament through a web campaign Parties were still totally lost 2007 Blog elections: Interaction with and between voters Good and terrible campaign videos Copy-pasting traditional campaigns to the web 2008 facebook elections: several city council members elected 2009 USA: organising and managing the campaign with social media 2011 Twitter?

4. http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~wexteen/vaalit99.html http://live.nuorsuom.fi/

6. 19.8.2010 www.kasvi.org The power of social media Google Yahoo Facebook (Social media)‏ YouTube (Video sharing)‏ Windows Live Wikipedia (Social encyclopedia)‏ Blogger (blog service)‏ Microsoft Network Myspace (Social media)‏ Twitter (micro blog service)‏ Rapidshare (file sharing)‏ Microsoft Corporation WordPress (blog service)‏ Bing eBay 16. Craiglist (ad community)‏ 17. Amazon 18. Flickr (photo sharing)‏ 19. AOL 20. hi5 (Social media)‏ 21. The Internet Movie Database 22. Photobucket (photo sharing)‏ 23. Go 24. BBC Newsline 25. Doubleclick 26. Ask 27. YouPorn (social porn media)‏ 28. Pornhub (social porn media)‏ 29. Blogspot (photo sharing)‏ 30. Conduit Alexa top-30 (English) ‏

7. From IRC Gallery to twitter In 2007 IRC Gallery was the most used social media Works still fine if you are trying to contact the younger voters Spread your own “ihqu-sälä”,! Remember to visit your profile often and answer _all_ the questions Facebook is the most popular social media at the moment Remember to open your facebook profile to all users Management of your “friends” and invitations to different happenings are very useful funtionalities Do you want a closed support group profile or a public fan page or both Micro blogs are getting lots of new users With twitter people can follow and comment on a politicians life live Requires constant online life with appropriate tools

8. Opportunities for digital democracy New technologies involve new people in governance New tools for public awareness and interaction Participative and deliberative democracy Citizen can follow political processes, get background information and participate in public debate Challenge: How to include less active people in decision making Interactive ”amateur” media or edited broadcasting media Anyone can become a mass media provider New interactive participative media create new social cultures Network identities, cultures, even nations replace geographical identities and corresponding nation states

10. Challenges Populistic pollcracy is replacing democracy Constant direct interaction with voters does not necessarily encourage informed, compromise seeking decision making Democratic legislative process is way too slow e.g. the new Finnish modem hijacking prevention law Easy to pick only those information sources that support our preconceptions e.g. CNN vs. Fox and U.S. public debate on Iraq As ICT becomes ubiquitous, the digital divide evolves into an activity divide ICT gives active people more opportunities to be active members of the society ICT gives passive people more opportunities to be passive.

11. Informing Participation feedback Public debate Political decision making Civil servant preparation Knowledge management Interaction “ Back office” “ Front office” “ Client office” ” Old democracy”

12. From campaigns to politics First Internet was used only for election campaigns ” Thank you to all who voted for me” for four years Slowly web pages were updated also between elections The web pages were still a kind of an online political archive It is impossible to produce the content in a few months Technical updates were often neglected Blogging has made campaigns interactive All did not quit after the elections Social media allows constant contact with voters and supporters Reporting political activity and getting feedback Social media and cloud computing for group and party Creating communities and sharing and creating information

13. Social media on two fronts Voters MP Campaing manager Media manager Support group Support group cloud services

14. Muista henkilörekisterin hallinta Do not forget data protection laws you have made!

15. Lähtökohta Enää ei ole nettikansaa – On vain kansaa

16. 19.5.2010 www.kasvi.org (Epä)sosiaalinen media Unsocial Media

17. Unsocial Media Social media seems to bring out the worst in some people The flame wars of the 1980's usenet Many politicians have been forced to disable comments in their blogs and other social media Social capital has not developed as fast as social media Asymmetric faceless communication is psychologically challenging Younger generations have already developed better manners in the web Anonymity is essential for democracy But the same laws apply as in any public space, slander is slander

18. Wikimedia Commons Memetic civil movements

19. Go 2 EDSA. Wear Blck Spontaneus self coordinated memetic civic movements can spring up and wither down within days Viral messaging: An SMS ”Go 2 EDSA. Wear Blck” in 2001 was essential for the resignation of Estrada Red shirts in support of Myanmar monks Copyright law demonstrations in Finland Politicians have trouble to address a leaderless self coordinating ”mob” ” Who the f*** is machinating this?” No wonder many governments fear social media Iran, China, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia etc. In Iran, twitter, YouTube and blogs have been essential

20. Wikimedia Commons No leaders to arrest

21. Person and Politician

22. Person and politician A balance between two things in social media Private life – reflections on day-to-day life Political life – commenting political issues Citizens know much more about their politicians than ever before Party offices cannot review every tweet Voters can follow MPs' lives 24/7 Surprise surprise – they are human beings Drawing the line somewhere between ” Till Lindeman is blowing the Arena away #Rammstein” ” My hair is hurting – gotta pass the plenum today” Having two profiles in social media One for friends and family and one for voters and media

23. Social net life Social media is cheap But Internet ad campaigns can be very expensive Social media is laborious Following and interacting with other politicians net life may take hours every day Requires particularly cultural skills Internet has its own culture and norms Even writing style and conventions are different Humour and self irony are appreciated Too polished style and backfire Internet communication is interactive and continuous You have to update and follow others several times a day! You cannot come to the web only before elections Every comment – even slander – is a direct contact with a voter

24. Anything can be misused In Internet anybody can become a mass media Easy to spread anonymous lies Negative viral messages spread fast Seen particularly in presidential elections Internet social culture is still weak Open discussion forums are easy to take over Discussions deterioraty easily to flame wars Data security of political web sites is weak ” Who on Earth would like to break to my web site?” Web site spoiling and counterfeiting has already started Face facebook or twitter accounts A plea for fair play in the web!

25. 19.8.2010 www.kasvi.org Sukupuolten välinen digikuilu? Discussion U.S. Army Photo