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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Online feedback, livestream, and conferences
- Advertisements and Likes
Kornely Kakachia, Tamar Pataraia 112
Georgian (social media) market, but they pay for writing articles in foreign newspapers”. 25 “I know that the president’s (Facebook) page, whether you believe it or not, works very well. They have brought foreign experts, consultants, who lead the (election) campaign and conduct strategy planning”. 26
An analysis of the political parties’ Facebook accounts revealed that the Georgian political parties rarely used the feedback opportunities provided by social media. Parties almost never used social networks for opinion polls. Moreover, they often deleted negative comments on Facebook without responding to them. “It (negative feedback) may be removed, but information is received and reviewed. After the announcement on sending questions to Bidzina Ivanishvili, the received questions were collected, and responses were prepared later”. 27
any criticism directed at a political party, supporters immediately set up their own fake or real accounts on forum pages or Facebook to unleash their rage on the critics. In the words of one interviewee, “If you open, for example, the wall of Georgian Dream and write something which is unacceptable for someone, supporters will ‘stone’ you. They would certainly remove your comments, and this is true for both sides (for presidential supporters and opposition leader supporters). If comments are not removed, you will be stoned”. 28 It was clear during the survey interviews that all of the politicians were interested in reading negative comments. They all read these comments and only then allowed their Facebook page administrators to remove them. 29 However, they were not very active and did not enter interactive dialogue with their subscribers, even during the electoral campaign for the October 2012 parliamentary elections. The political leaders’ Facebook pages used a limited number of applications, such as petitions and online forums. The most popular activities on the Facebook pages of political parties were postings of photos and 25 Interview conducted with T. B. male, 30 May 2012 26 Interview conducted with S. L., male 2 June 2012 27 Interview conducted with T. Z., male, 1 June 2012 28 Interview conducted with E. P., female, 2 June 2012 29 Interview conducted with N. S., female, 17 May 2012 Georgian Political Parties and Online Social Network: Politics as usual? 113
sharing information from materials broadcasted in traditional media. These types of information were very formal and official. Accordingly, the most numerous statuses and shared info were on the political subjects that dominated in traditional media. It can be concluded that political parties devoted very limited human and material resources to conducting comprehensive election campaigns through social media. Many political leaders admitted that electoral campaigns conducted through social media were very new experiences for them and that they learned to achieve political objectives through Facebook and other social media platforms’ applications only during the campaign. The procedures followed by organisers during political party leaders’ online conferences do not differ from those in similar conferences organised in the mainstream media, where mediators immediately delete negative feedback from personal accounts. Georgian politicians use different platforms for conducting online conferences, but they often face technical problems that make communication less attractive for the public. For example, a Labour Party representative complained about the low quality of services provided by the www.usesteam.com platform. Because of technical difficulties and low traffic speed, only approximately 100 participants managed to watch and participate in the online conference conducted in 2012. 30 . The interviews also showed that none of the political parties had extensive experience in organising online conferences. The Christian Democrats organised two online conferences in 2008 and 2010 using their website, but not all questions were answered online in real time. 31 In general, the experts did not see many changes in the approaches to the Internet used by Georgian politicians. Until 2008, the Internet forum platforms forum.ge, Batumi discussion club, and planeta.ge were the most active and frequently accessed organisers of online conferences among the Georgian social websites. In 2007-2008, they hosted a conference with prominent politicians who were representatives of major political parties (Republicans, United National Movement, etc) every week, providing live streaming and feedback services. However, this practice came to an end in 2012, giving way to a different format of conferences. For instance, Bidzina Ivanishvili preferred to hold press conferences. Accordingly, the Internet newspaper “Netgazeti” hosted 30 Interview conducted with I. K., male, 1 May 2012 31 Interview conducted with K. S., male, 2 June 2012 Kornely Kakachia, Tamar Pataraia 114
live stream conferences twice in 2012 that allowed politicians to communicate interactively with the public. 32 So do political parties with well-organised and efficient press services. The president Saakashvili, the leader of Free Democrats Irakli Alasania, and the mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava took part in conferences organised by Tabula magazine website. The conferences were aired on television. The speaker of parliament David Bakradze himself hosted online conferences on his Facebook account.
Not all active political parties are running ads on Facebook, although social media advertising is quite cheap. For instance, the experts claim that in Georgia, such ads cost several hundred Georgian laris and can attract 2,000-3,000 users, on average. It is a constant communication tool; the ad is displayed constantly on a Facebook page for Georgian users. The politicians interviewed during the survey noted that the number of users was not high enough to pay a large amount of attention to Facebook ads during the election campaign: “Most individuals registered on Facebook have already made their political decision. A FB campaign does not make any difference for political parties as more than 80% of their (FB) users had already made a decision (six months before the elections) who to support. Those who receive information from the Internet are politically active individuals”. 33 Thus, using FB ads would be like “preaching to the converted”. 34 According to the interviewed experts, the additional problem with a Georgian language FB platform relates to the fact that only a few professionals in Georgia are skilled enough to run social media advertising, and all of them are employed by either large advertising companies or financially sustained political parties. Political parties’ interest in online advertising is slightly different from the interests of private businesses. Most Georgian citizens have a negative attitude towards politicians and politics in general. In such circumstances, it is difficult to explain to Georgian politicians who are not part 32 Interview conducted with K. S., male, 2 June 2012 33 Interview conducted with L. V., male, 17 May 2012 34 Norris, P., 2003. ‘Preaching to the Converted? Pluralism, Participation and Party Websites.’ Party Politics. 9(1):21-45. Yüklə 2,53 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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