A twitter conversation
I have been called a political nerd on more than one occasion I will admit, I love the ‘science’ of politics. My latest interests revolve around network analysis and the use of twitter for political communication.
In an effort to study how Florida’s elected officials are using twitter, I embarked on a weekend project to round up the tweets of said leaders.
I put together a quick website FLTweets.com. Here I could read the tweets of Florida’s Federal, State Senate, and State House members, and the website allowed me to focus in on how these leaders are using twitter.
I have been watching the feeds for a little over a week now ( I will release further study in posts to come), but lets just say FL’s political class is for the most part horrible in embracing twitter’s and social media’s potential.
Here is my working hypothesis: If elected officials “talked” to voters over a kitchen table in the same manner they “talk” using twitter, they would be clubbed to death by their own constituents before dinner ended.
It is obvious that elected officials see twitter and most likely additional social media outlets as a one-way broadcast channel and NOT a place to interact or “talk” with people. (Much more to follow on this….)
However, as I pondered my hypothesis, a paper in the Feb 2013 McKinsey Quarterly came across my desk, and I thought I would share due to its relevance.
It basically agrees with my hypothesis; however, it uses much more “diplomatic” language.
It too recognizes the problem that leaders just don’t know what to do twitter and social-media.
It has the added bonus of providing a framework for leaders to decide how they can develop their social media skills.
McKinsey says there are six dimensions of social media leadership
1. The Leader as Producer: Creating compelling content
2. The Leader as Distributor: Leveraging dissemination dynamics
3. The Leader as Recipient: Managing communication overflow
4. The leader as adviser & orchestrator: Driving strategic social-media utilization
5. The leader as architect: Creating an enabling organizational infrastructure
6. The leader as analyst: Staying ahead of the curve
Conclusion: When organizations and their leaders embrace the call to social-media literacy, they will initiate a positive loop allowing them to capitalize on the opportunities and disruptions that come with the new connectivity of a networked society. And they will be rewarded with a new type of competitive advantage.
My fellow Republicans, are you listening?
You can read the paper in its’ entirety: Six Social Media Skills every politician needs
PS. Don’t forget to follow me on twitter @alex_patton
