Dubai: Social media should be used to involve more people — especially young people — in politics, a speaker at the first Parliamentary Media Forum held in Dubai said on Monday.
Dr Andy Williamson, an expert in digital and new media strategies, especially effective citizen engagement and online democracy, and CEO of Future Digital, spoke during the first session of the event that was organised by the Federal National Council (FNC) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
More effective ways for parliaments to engage with the media and use new media were discussed as well as tips for better handling of the media.
Mohammad Al Murr, Speaker of the FNC, gave the opening speech, followed by Abdul Wahid Radi, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
“Politics is seen sometimes as reserved for the old, because it’s people with more experience, with more time and who vote who get involved, but if you think about it, it’s more young people who really want to engage, because they are the ones that want a future inside it [politics] and they do not engage in traditional channels,” Williamson said, explaining that social media is an effective tool to connect any institution to the wider public, especially younger audiences. “Social media needs to be part of the [media] plan, not just an add-on.”
He noted that social media is fast-changing and so it is difficult to have a set of rules on how to engage.
“We need to think about it [social media] as a concept.”
Parliaments, Williamson said, have protocols and formal procedures, which are not really compatible with the way social media works, “so it is one challenge for democratic institutions to think about the way they can engage differently using the new tool [social media], and make a new set of rules that they will play by.”
On how to create a social media presence that gives parliament an appropriate image, he said it is important to engage in a way that makes the person human, as that is the key to social media.
He said that his advice to politicians, who ask him how to use social media, is to be a ‘good listener’, as social media is a good platform to hear voices that might not be heard otherwise.
He explained that the real power of social media is viral sharing and spreading the message, adding that it is also a real-time monitor for whether you did or said something right or wrong, as people’s responses are immediate.
