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NAHEED NENSHI PUTTING SOCIAL MEDIA TO WORK

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The article looks at the underdog win of Naheed Nenshi to become mayor of Calgary, and how much of a role his heavy social networking played in this. Essentially what Nenshi did was make his campaign very easily accessible to voters and especially catching the attention of a younger market, getting them more involved in the election. Through a very well laid out website, blogs, twitter posts, and facebook Nenshi and his team continually updated their social media so that everyday there was something new to look at and something new for the viewers/voters to contribute to the campaign. Through the social networking medium, Nenshi was able to make his campaign more interactive, as he himself would participate in Twitter discussions with fans and even non-supporters to get his voice out there. Through his site Nenshi was also able to share a lot about himself, posting fun video's of all kinds from his Family Journey, to How to say Naheed! Video's such as this, as silly as they are, they get people's attention, and when they make people laugh, they will share them with friends and further promote his campaign. Another powerful difference these social networks have compared to other traditional campaigns is how easily they can get supporters to help them out. The internet allows for quick links to follow on where to 'donate' 'volunteer' and even get involved in fun experiments posted such as his plea to supporters to each make 10 phone calls so that they could reach 10 000 Calgarians. Techniques such as these make the voters feel involved and as if they are not only supporting the campaign, but that they are apart of something important. This feeling of belonging is what many people go to these social networking and blogging sites for, and Nenshi's campaign takes full advantage of this and uses it to its full potential. Nenshi not only won the election, but also may have had a part in the increase of voter turnout, as he was primarily promoting to a younger demographic, which may have not been as involved in the election. Sometimes younger adults may feel that they cannot relate to candidates in the election and therefore do not feel compelled to get involved and vote for them. Nenshi's campaign creates a direct connection for the supporters and the team, a collaborative online space, where citizens opinions are actually answered, something very new since typically voters do not get a chance to communicate with the candidates. 