By Daniel Hurst
Politicians reaching out to their communities via social media should avoid getting into public slanging matches with critics, a federal MP says.
Andrew Laming, who represents the Brisbane bayside seat of Bowman, has prepared a list of tips for elected members on how to interact with voters on Twitter and Facebook.
Federal MP Andrew Laming has prepared a social media handbook for politicians.
Included in his three-page guide is a section on dealing with “problematic constituents”.
Facebook wall comments that are overly aggressive towards the politician or candidate should be deleted and responded to calmly via the private messaging feature, the document says.
Mr Laming also suggests politicians respond to insulting and personal comments via the inbox.
Similar advice applies when someone posts a comment that is critical of the political party or its policies. Mr Laming believes it's best to avoid having the argument on the public wall.
The Liberal National Party MP argues that disconnecting or blocking constituents is “the most damaging thing a candidate can do”.
The fact the person has been disconnected will go viral through the snubbed user's network and may trigger a barrage of requests asking for the person to be let back on. A “group” may also be created to lobby the politician for the person's return.
“The key thing to note in terms of dealing with constituents is when they are handled carefully and respectfully the negative behaviour almost never continues,” Mr Laming writes.
The third-term parliamentarian says communication through social media is exploding and elected representatives must engage the space because political gains can be enormous.
But he says sensitivities remain around the way elected representatives conduct themselves on Facebook, with the benefits of cheap, instant and target communication “balanced by the political risk of missteps”.
“Traditional engagement of community groups is now being challenged by politicians using social media to infiltrate ethnic groupings, clubs, societies, high school graduation groups and church groups in their electorates,” Mr Laming writes in the guide.
In spite of the massive opportunities which social media provides, the significant risks of entering this space means the LNP is yet to move confidently into this space.
“In spite of the massive opportunities which social media provides, the significant risks of entering this space means the LNP is yet to move confidently into this space.
“The first step is a protocol which provides guidelines for each element of the party as they build a social media presence.”
Twitter is used to broadcast to journalists, Facebook profiles are for engaging people on a one-to-one level, and Facebook fan pages are for engaging the “die hards” or the party membership, according to Mr Laming's document.
MPs should not use their existing Facebook page – they should start a new profile and ensure their personal page is hidden from searches.
The document says politicians should promote dialogue by asking questions rather than “broadcast posts”, and warns that political opponents may attempt to infiltrate their pages.
It also urges MPs to avoid attacking comments that oppose their party's view on public threads.
In September last year, Mr Laming waded into the fiery world of online comment wars on his local newspaper's website, slamming critics as “keyboard warriors” and “pea-hearts” whose arguments for the National Broadband Network were “pathetic”.
At the time, Mr Laming stood by his forthright comments, saying he responded appropriately in the context of long-running personal attacks on him by two particular readers.