Do we expect more than this?

A tweet from my friend @karimkanji caught my eye yesterday and at first glance I was a little surprised.

I’ve seen these posts before and I’ve used it myself to elicit responses for advice. I’ve talked to people who have also done this type of tweet admittedly to gain some attention. I couldn’t understand why Karim had a problem with it so, I asked.

ME – I look at what he was doing as a bit of an exercise of bringing attention to the upcoming budget speech by adding a “Looking for the public input” mask on it.

How do you see it?

KARIM – I don’t see it that way at all. Asking for public input into what he should wear is kinda silly. The direction of Canadian politics and economy is not silly. Wear whatever tie you want. I could care less. Ask me about my opinion on the budget and what should be funded, cut, downloaded to provinces and you’ll get a different response. 

ME – The big talk in social especially for governments and big business is to make themselves appear more “relatable” or personable with their online personas.

Is that not what Mr Flaherty was doing with his “I need help” plea?

KARIM – I think that’s probably what he’s hoping for. My guess – and it’s only a guess – is that he hopes to come off as relatable. But asking me which expensive tie he should wear is not relatable to me. 

ME – Have we come to a point in the social arena that we expect more from our elected and tax supported organizations than simply being out there?  Should we expect planned and coordinated messaging that provides value?

KARIM – I expect they behave (at least in social) more like Cory Booker and Naheed Nenshi. Be honest, don’t feed me bullshit, and engage. 

ME – What advice would you offer Mr.Flaherty for his social presence as an elected representative?

KARIM – Stop trying so hard to be cute. 

Is there anything else that you would add or would like included?

Maybe I’m just jaded by politicians but I wish they would behave like people who are privileged to serve the people and not as our over lords. 

It should be noted that JimFlaherty has Tweeted a total of 56 times. The Tweet asking for tie advice was number 44. Prior to that, the last we really heard from the Minister of Finance was about this time last year when he was preparing for, you guessed it…the last budget.

Karim is exactly right…don’t give us crap…give us substance. Once you give us substance, then you can have fun and be cute because by that time, you’ve developed yourself, style and tone in the space.

Right now, it’s just slimy to Tweet one time yearly and to only promote one thing you do.  I’m a fan and it bother’s me to see what could be getting wasted this way.  That’s not how you build a following. You build it through consistency, being on point and most of being authentic. By the way…I would have gone with the other tie.

For those of you who don’t know Karim Kanji…I strongly suggest you take some time and get to know him. He is a digital strategist that is plugged in and knows what he is talking about. You can find him:
Blog:       http://bit.ly/1fopPBq
Twitter:    http://bit.ly/1fopAXe
LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/16hTOdg