One of the things I’ve learned over the years, is that just because you really, really want something to be true – and just because it feels like it should be true, doesn’t mean it actually is true.
The hype in the run up to the election was that this was going to be the new media election. You could barely turn on Radio 4 without hearing yet another piece about Twitter and Facebook, and blogs and how the parties were all going social media mad. Today in the paper, Charles has followed this up with a perfectly credible piece about the impact of social media.
And it’s true, there has been Tweeting-a-plenty, and all sort of Facebookery and fun with Photoshop. But a lot of activity is no the same as a lot of impact, and the truth is that it is old media that has led this election and created its focal points.
New and social media has provided a playground for the politically hyperactive; and given those in the business of politics plenty to do. It has allowed news to spread instantly and globally. But it hasn’t, on the basis of this election, changed politics, nor has it changed the nature of the election.
The single biggest shift in voting behaviour has come about as the result of a middle-aged, white, public-school educated politician giving a great broadcast performance on prime-time TV.
Twitter might have provided a wonderful echo chamber during and after the event – but it was good old fashioned TV that swung it. Even more old-fashioned was the fact that this wasn’t a Susan Boyle style moment that everyone just had to watch on YouTube and then racked up tens of millions of views – this was all about the scheduled event itself, and the aftermath – predominately in the mainstream media.
Tens or hundreds of thousands might have been tweeting about it. But millions saw it on the night; and millions more read about it in the papers the next morning. It is so old-fashioned to be almost quaint.
There has been no bott0m-up movement. There has been no mass gathering of the unheard shifting the agenda. The two issues that inspire grass roots momentum: the environment and immigration have been neatly contained, taking their normal minority slots behind the economy, public sector cuts and the personalities of the three leaders.
The biggest ‘story’ of the campaign came as the result of a radio mike, that the PM was wearing of his own consent.
As Rory Cellan-Jones tweeted: “So technology has changed this campaign – the radio mic’
The most telling image to accompany the story – was that of our prime minister with his head in his hands was taken in a BBC radio studio. To make things even more conventional – it was in a Radio 2 studio.
This wasn’t a blogger uncovering something that the old media had left uncovered or something snatched on a cameraphone. It was as mainstream a gaff as you can get.
The newspaper declarations have been real events. The Sun coming out for the Conservatives, and the Guardian’s support of the Lib Dems were headline events. You can argue what impact they actually have; and whether they reflect opinion or lead it. That is almost a side issue – the fact is that for some strange reason here in 2010, this still matters. When the Guardian declared on Friday night, there was a Twitter frenzy. The old lead, the new followed.
The point is that national politics is a mainstream media game. Social media and the internet has provided a new front for everyone to fight on, but it has not changed the rules of the game. There has been no fundamental disruption on a national scale (there might have been on a local scale – but more of that later). When it comes to getting big messages across to mass audiences, you have to admit that old media still does a very good job.
Even on the opinion front, bloggers have failed to make their mark. Simon Jenkins, Jonathan Freedland and Nick Cohen have all done it for me. No blogger, of any affiliation, has, frankly, come close.
So, do we all pack up our Twitter accounts and go home? Hell no – the point is that a general election, particularly one that is actually quite interesting, is the wrong place for Social media to prove its worth. Rather like a World Cup or an Olympics – it is what old media does best.
After the election however, things are likely to change. Single issue campaigns. The changing nature of our public services. Local disappointment with newly elected MPs. A (probable) Labour leadership election. Social media works best mobilising masses on tightly defined campaigns. I suspect there will be plenty of them after May 7.
