B.C. Liberals, NDP, and Greens fight for support on Facebook and Twitter

B.C. premier Gordon Campbell has more Facebook supporters and Twitter followers than NDP leader Carole James and Green leader Jane Sterk.

Stephen Hui

The B.C. Liberals, NDP, and Greens are fighting an all-out social-media war in the lead-up to the May 12 provincial election.

The battlegrounds: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

So, who's winning? Judging by the numbers of followers and supporters they've amassed, as of this afternoon (April 26), it's too early to tell.

On Facebook, Liberal premier Gordon Campbell has 2,172 supporters, NDP leader Carole James has 1,959, and Green leader Jane Sterk has 193.

The Liberal party's Facebook page lists 959 fans, while the New Democrats' boasts 332 supporters.

In addition, the NDP has a Facebook group with 1,575 members, and the Greens have a group with 997 members.

Over on Twitter, Campbell has double the amount of followers as James, with 2,732 to her 1,329. Sterk is far behind with 95 followers.

But, in terms of party accounts, the NDP leads with 1,005 Twitter followers. The Liberals have 732 followers, and the Greens have 589.

Ray Lam became the election campaign's first social-media casualty on April 19, when he resigned as the NDP candidate in Vancouver-False Creek after sexually provocative Facebook photos came to light.

You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

Comments

Mark Crowley
you didn't compare the sizes of the BC-STV groups, they are parties but its interesting because the Yes to BC-STV group is approaching 6000 which is about the combined total of all the parties. Don't know what hte no group has.
 
Cmns studier
My goodness, I would never never never link my facebook page to a political party for fear of what it might do to my career. Think on that - most employers go Liberal, and our landlord offered not to put lib signs on our lawn if we didn't put ndp ones - as though that split was a foregone conclusion. Most facebookers are young, not employers or HR powerful. Think on it.

And who has time for Twitter? When articles can be read?
 
Mark Crowley
ugh, spelling mistakes in my first message, I meant "they aren't parties" (the Yes for BC-STV and pro-FPTP campaigns)

But I looked up their group, it has, ahem, 270 members.
 
Duane Storey
Both Carole James and Gordon Campbell are completely missing the point to twitter -- neither of them interact with anyone on their lists.
 
Colleenc
I did have an interaction with Campbell on some forum topic or another and in the end he couldn't keep up and he ended up commenting , "You people just don't understand." I was thinking at the time your type of politician will never understand people as your not really interested in how anyone feels?
 
 
[Comments Disclaimer]
Post a comment
· Use your real name to have your comment considered for publication in print.
· URLs and email addresses will be automatically turned into links.

Jane Sterk is the leader of the Green Party of B.C. Stephen Hui photo.
Jane Sterk is the leader of the Green Party of B.C. Stephen Hui photo.