Adnerds

Yesterday, when I was driving home from work, I heard an interview with Terzake editor Jan De Meulemeester about Politicians on Facebook on public radio. He stated that Facebook has little electoral value for the politicians. His analysis was as shortsighted as (apologies for using the same comparison over and over) the music industry’s reaction to the new media.

I was astonished by this reasoning and the fact that a premium (public) radio station was airing this kind of crap (oopsy-daisy, strong word!). Because Jan was wrong.

And I will try to proof to you why. In a minute…

First this. On top of that, in Ter Zake, I saw Katja Van Putten from ad agency Fé, explaining the audience that “a politician who is not on Facebook isn’t missing out on much”. Her statements were less bold than what I heard on the ride home, yet I was once more flabbergasted. To make this story even more hilarious, I looked for her profile on Facebook and noticed she has only one friend in common (which is rather odd in a small world like ours, but it’s possible). And when Facebook showed me the popup underneath, requesting to give this “newbee” some help in finding friends, I couldn’t resist but to think: “great move to ask social media virgins for their opinion”. But that is exactly the problem with media companies these days: they tackle a story, but don’t care about the quality, speed is more important, beating competition. But thanks to the Internet, missteps like this are set straight faster than the speed of light. I am getting a little carried away here, however this is not personal – I even bought Katia’s book and loved it – but as a (public) media station it is your job to inform your audience correct, meaning inviting the right people. And Katia was not the right person at that time. The Internet is flooded with social media experts that have better understanding. Search for AdNerds on Google, or search my name and have a look at the amount of results – almost all social media profiles, blog posts, comments and other entries – all credits to Katja, but search results for her name show a more traditional list including articles and columns for De Standaard, Klara, Vacature.com etc. Only her LinkedIn profile (a mere 48 friends) is a sign of online activity.

This being said, I would like to take the time to advise all politicians that are currently considering using Facebook, to do so.

Why is Facebook this interesting for politicians (or musicians, lobbyists or any other group or person that wants to reach a mainstream public)?

Well, first of all it is interesting – as is being pointed out in Ter Zake’s episode – because you can have a direct relationship with your fans (I wouldn’t want to call them friends). You can talk to them, respond to their questions (preferably in public, because one person’s question might be an answer to many doubting to actually post it to your wall), even engage them like Mm. Moerman did (she was looking for help to hang and spread window posters for her). And sharing pictures or videos might help people to discover the (wo)man behind the politician. Remember Bart De Wever’s participation to Eén’s ‘De Slimste Mens’, all of a sudden he was witty, even symphatethic.

I must give Jan some credit, since he was right when stating that a politicians’ ‘friends’ are probably already convinced voters. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. As soon as someone be-friends you, a message is posted to your wall. This means: if AdNerds would become friends with our Prime Minister on Facebook, this single fact could spread like a wildfire amongst our 247 friends (you are free to join us btw). If only 5% of our friends react and do the same, Mr. Van Rompuy would have immediately 12 additional friends. Supposing this viral effect continues for a while (and keep in mind that some people do have a lot of friends), his friend-count could sky-rocket in days hours minutes. The more friends one has, the faster his network could grow.

But you were right, Katia. Authenticity is key.

Minister-president of Flanders, Kris Peeters, has over 2000 friends and is very clear about his Facebook presence: he has someone monitoring his account and answering. He states this very clearly. And he is right doing so. If you don’t tell people you have someone speaking on behalf of you, but fool them it is the real you, it might fire back at you. It probably will. Honesty, authenticity is key. Those principles applied, a social media virgin had better decided not to go and speak at Belgian Television as an expert.

You can have a look at the episode by clicking the image below (in Dutch).