• Sweden edition

'Social media key to election success': survey

Published: 17 Sep 09 10:47 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/22134/20090917/

Social media are set to dominate the general election campaign in Sweden in 2010. Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and blogs will all play their part, according to a new survey of local politicians.

Almost 80 percent of local politicians believe that social media will have a decisive role in the battle for votes, according to the new survey undertaken by the newspaper Dagens Samhälle.

The traditional town square speeches of old are set to be radically overtaken by a plethora of internet tools with which to contact and connect with voters.

Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd, a Stockholm county councillor, explained to the newspaper that social media were an "incredibly simple and effective way of communicating".

"More people get involved in politics. And it takes far less time than many believe," Elmsäter-Svärd said.

Of the 210 politicians interviewed for the survey, 53 percent confirmed that they have a Facebook account, 32 percent actively blog and 8 percent have submitted clips to You Tube.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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13:16 September 17, 2009 by Jan M
Serious issues discussed in a thoughtful way in serious forums. Not really. With all due respect these sites are great vehicles for creating illusions and awful vehicles for rigorously questioning anything or anybody. Consequently ideal for politicians and useless for the voting public. Having said that if the public then chooses to be influenced by what appears on these sites and this skews the outcome of the election then they have only themselves to blame. Goebbels was responsible for 'Public Enlightenment' under the Nazis and you can guarantee these sites would have been a wonderful dream for him in a political context (http://www.psywarrior.com/Goebbels.html). Anyone knows that they only way you figure out whether you can trust somebody's answers is to look them in the eye.
15:02 September 17, 2009 by Nemesis
The internet is full of enough deranged nonsense.

The last thing we nee is more deranged nonsense on the internet.
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