Tech Blog

[#1]

The first rule about elections is don't tweet about elections.

This was supposed to be the "social media election," yet with just a week until election day, there's an issue vacuum in the Canadian campaign. 

Instead of being embraced as a way to reach out and engage the electorate, social media is being silenced.  Sure, I've had some engagement with the politicos (I've had tweet exchanges with Ignatieff, May and Clement), but I haven't seen the swell of support for social media tools from the parties.

Maybe it's because none of us really wanted this election in the first place.  For the third time we're ready to send a Conservative minortiy back to Ottawa with hopes this time they'll get we mean it and make it work.

Even Elections Canada is getting in on snuffing the social party candles out by saying we can't tweet results on election night.  Facebook post regarding results are on the "do not" list too. Despite promises of a "Tweet In," there are threats of stiff fines and jail time if the ban is broken.

Tod Maffin argues its important for results to be secret across the country so apathy doesn't settle in the west.  He'd like to see a universal closing time for polls across the country to solve that problem. 

I disagree.

With politics so geographically broken in Canada (Maritimes are Liberal, Que is Bloc, West is mostly Conservative), it will be Ontario (as usual) that decides who will be King and how big their crown will be.  I don't think a tweet from Twillingate in Newfoundland will have an effect on turnout in Esquimalt, BC.  The issues and motivations are different now that we have, in effect, a 5 party system.  Not to mention the law has been on the books since before the days of radio, let alone the internet.

So in an election devoid of emotional and dividing issues, why not take a stand on something you're already savvy about and vote for the internet?

Vote For The Internet is from the same people who started the OpenMedia campaign just before parliament was dissolved.  Their big push back then was on UBB (usage based billing) where the ISPs were wanting to place a meter on your internet spout at stop the unlimited drinking from the fountain.

With Vote For the Internet, they hope to keep the issue alive and internet rights, in general, in the headlines during the campaign.

Leaders, parties and candidates have been urged to use social media to put forth their platforms for the future of the internet in Canada.

Jack Layton is right into the issue (as you can see from the above image), laying the geek smack calling Harper a "Commodore 64 in an iPad world." 

In the end, though, the issue might fall flat for what Vancouver social media speaker and author Darren Barefoot calls a lack of sexiness.

"I’m no political scientist, but it seems to me that most Canadians don’t understand these issues, nor have they been impacted by them," he writes. "When you compare a hypothetical higher cable bill with issues of healthcare, military spending and Arctic sovereignty, convincing people to care is an uphill battle."

Regardless of the sexiness of your issue or reason to vote, do it - just tweet about it.  Advance polls are open today. Elections.ca has everything you need to know.

catch the buzz ... pass it on.